Name Date Activity Page 9.2 Use with Chapter 9 the Language Of

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Activity Page 9.2 Use with Chapter 9 The Language of Shakespeare

Directions: Read the sentences from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rephrase each sentence in subject-verb-object order.

1. Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung with feigning voice verses of feigning love.

2. From Athens is her house removed seven leagues.

3. In that same place thou hast appointed me, tomorrow truly will I meet with thee.

4. In the wood, where often you and I upon faint primrose beds were wont to lie, emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet, there my Lysander and myself shall meet.

5. What thou see’st, when thou dost wake, do it for thy true love take.

6. Tell me how it came this night, that I sleeping here was found, with these mortals on the ground.

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 1 11/30/16 9:29 AM Fiction Excerpt 1: From A Midsummer Night’s Dream

(retold with excerpts from the play by William Shakespeare)

Once upon a time, in the city of Athens, a young man named Lysander and a young woman named Hermia were deeply in love. The lovers wanted to get married, but Hermia’s father, Egeus, would not allow it. Egeus told Hermia it was her duty to marry the man he had chosen, whose name was Demetrius. Egeus dragged Hermia to a hearing in front of Theseus, the Duke of Athens. “My noble Lord,” said Egeus to Duke Theseus, “full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia.” Egeus pointed to Demetrius and said, “This man hath my consent to marry my daughter.” Then he pointed at Lysander and said, “This man hath bewitch’d the bosom of my child. He hath given her love- tokens and come by moonlight to sing at her window, and stolen the impression of her fantasy. He hath filch’d my daughter’s heart and turn’d her obedience, which is due to me, to stubborn harshness. My gracious duke, if she will not obey me and consent to marry with Demetrius, I ask that she be put to death, according to the ancient law of Athens.” Duke Theseus told Hermia that she had only three options: she could marry Demetrius, she could become a nun for the rest of her life, or she could face death for disobeying the law. Theseus added that his own wedding day was fast approaching: “The next new moon is the sealing day betwixt my love and me. Upon that day I shall ask your answer.” Hermia was bitterly disappointed by the duke’s ruling, but her lover, Lysander, came up with a plan. He told Hermia he had an aunt who lived outside of the city, in a place where the duke’s ruling and the laws of Athens would have no force: “There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee, and to that place the sharp Athenian law cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then, steal forth thy father’s house tomorrow night, and in the woods outside the town, I will wait for thee.” That night Hermia spoke with her best friend, Helena. Now Helena was also in love, but her case was a hard one. She loved Demetrius, but Demetrius only had eyes for Hermia. “O Hermia,” Helena sobbed, “whatever shall I do? The more I love Demetrius, the more he hateth me! And the more you frown on him, the more he smiles on you!” Hermia pulled her friend close to her and let her in on the secret: “Take comfort, Helena, Demetrius no more shall see my face—Lysander and myself will fly this place, and in the woods the two of us shall meet, and thence from Athens turn away our eyes.”

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 2 11/30/16 9:29 AM Helena was so in love with Demetrius that she ran to him and told him all about Lysander and Hermia’s plan. She knew that Demetrius would follow Hermia into the woods, but she hoped that by sharing this secret she could make Demetrius like her more, or at least dislike her a little less. And so, the next night, the four young Athenians ran off into the woods: Hermia and Lysander went for love of each other, Demetrius followed for love of Hermia, and Helena for love of Demetrius. Now it so happened that the young lovers were not the only people in the woods on this particular night. In another part of the forest, some Athenian tradesmen were preparing a play for the duke’s wedding night. It was a tragedy about doomed lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe. The director of the play was passing out parts. He chose the weaver Nick Bottom to play the male lead, Pyramus. Bottom was a perfect choice: he was a loudmouth who loved to get up on stage and wave his hands around and make long, melodramatic speeches. Next, the director appointed a young man, Francis Flute, to play Pyramus’s lady love, Thisbe. “Nay,” Flute called out in a squeaky voice, “let me not play a woman.” And, rubbing some peach fuzz on his chin, he added: “I have a beard coming!” But it was no use. All the actors were men, and someone had to play the lady. Then the director appointed Snug the joiner, a carpenter, to play the lion. Snug asked nervously, “Have you the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be written, give it me, for I am slow of study.” “You may do it ex tempore,” replied the director, “for it is nothing but roaring.” Finally, the director assigned a man named Snout to play the wall through which the lovers would whisper during the play. The actors agreed to meet and rehearse in the woods outside the city. The forest was also home to a group of supernatural creatures called fairies. On this particular night it happened that the king and queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania, were fighting, as married couples sometimes do. Oberon had decided to play a practical joke on Titania. He told a mischievous fairy named Puck to go and find a special flower, the juice of which would make people (and fairies) fall madly in love with the first living creature they saw, whether human or animal. Oberon explained his plot to Puck: “Having once this juice, I’ll watch Titania when she is asleep, and drop the liquor of it in her eyes. The next thing then she waking looks upon, be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull—on meddling monkey, or on busy ape—she shall pursue it with the soul of love!”

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 3 11/30/16 9:29 AM Puck went off to find the magical flower. While he was gone, Oberon saw two Athenians running through the woods. In front was Demetrius, and behind him was Helena. Demetrius called back to Helena: “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not!” But Helena kept up the chase. Demetrius called out, “I am sick when I do look on thee!” But Helena struggled after him, calling out, “Oh, I am sick when I look not on you!” Seeing this, Oberon felt sorry for Helena, and suddenly an idea came to him: what if he used the magic love potion not only to play a joke on Titania but also to make Demetrius love Helena? When Puck returned, he and Oberon agreed on a two- part plan: Oberon would drop the potion in Titania’s eye while she was sleeping, and Puck would give the same potion to Demetrius. There was only one problem with this plan: Puck had never actually seen Demetrius. Puck went into the woods and found an Athenian man asleep on the ground. Thinking this must be Demetrius, Puck dropped the potion into the corner of the man’s eye and slipped away. In fact, the man Puck had found was Lysander. When Lysander woke up, it so happened that Helena had just run by, so the first person Lysander saw was not his beloved Hermia, but Helena. Because of the potion, Lysander immediately lost all interest in Hermia and began to pursue Helena. He called out to her, “Oh, I do repent the tedious minutes I with Hermia have spent. Not Hermia but Helena I love: who will not change a raven for a dove?” Helena was astonished by Lysander’s behavior and tried to run away from him. But Lysander chased after her, leaving poor Hermia asleep in the woods. Meanwhile the tradesmen were rehearsing their play about Pyramus and Thisbe. The mischievous Puck watched them and decided to play a practical joke on the loudmouthed Bottom. He used magic to change Bottom’s head into a donkey’s head. When the other tradesmen caught sight of Bottom transformed, with a donkey’s head on his shoulders, they were scared half to death and ran away, calling out, “Oh, Bottom, thou art translated!” Bottom was left alone in the forest, but not for long. He began to sing, and his song awakened the fairy queen, Titania. Titania was under the influence of the love potion Oberon had given her. When she woke up, she took one look at Bottom and, despite his ridiculous donkey’s head, fell madly in love with him. She called out, I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour’d of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape!

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 4 11/30/16 9:30 AM Titania took Bottom back to her woodland lair, where she snuggled with him, praised him for his good looks, and fed him apricots, grapes and other delicacies. When Oberon saw that Titania had fallen in love with a foolish man with a donkey’s head, he was pleased that his practical joke had turned out so well. But he also saw that Puck had given the love potion to the wrong Athenian. He told Puck to try again. This time Puck found Demetrius and gave him the love potion. When Demetrius woke up, he spotted Helena, and fell instantly in love with her. “O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!” he called out. Now poor Helena hardly knew what to think. A few hours earlier neither Lysander nor Demetrius had shown any interest in her. Now both men were chasing her around and professing their undying love. She decided that the two men must be playing a cruel joke on her and making fun of her. She called out angrily, Can you not hate me, as I know you do, But you must join in souls to mock me too? If you were men, as men you are in show, You would not use a gentle lady so; To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts, When I am sure you hate me with your hearts! Just then Hermia appeared. She had woken up alone in the woods and gone looking for her lover, Lysander. When she discovered Lysander with her old friend Helena, she was first confused, then furious. She accused Helena of stealing her man: O me! You juggler! You canker-blossom! You thief of love! What, have you come by night And stolen my love’s heart from him? Hermia threatened to beat Helena up, but Helena ran away. Puck and Oberon watched the whole affair and found it highly entertaining. Puck shook his head and remarked, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” Eventually, however, the fairies decided to undo the magic that had caused so much confusion. For starters, Oberon undid the magic used on Titania and made peace with her. Meanwhile, Puck gave Bottom back his normal head. Finally, Puck put the four young Athenians to sleep and gave Lysander an antidote for the love potion so that he would go back to loving Hermia, as he had for many months before. The next morning Duke Theseus, Hermia’s father, and some other Athenians rode out into the woods to hunt. Before they had ridden far, they came across Helena,

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 5 11/30/16 9:30 AM Hermia, Demetrius, and Lysander, all asleep on the ground. Duke Theseus gave orders that the young people be wakened. Then he asked for an explanation. Lysander spoke first. He confessed that he and Hermia had tried to run away. On hearing this, Hermia’s father grew very angry and began to insist that Lysander be executed for trying to steal Hermia away from Demetrius. But Demetrius spoke up, saying that he no longer wished to marry Hermia. Instead, he declared his love for Helena: My love to Hermia, Melted as the snow, seems to me now As the remembrance of an idle gaud Which in my childhood I did dote upon; And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, The object and the pleasure of mine eye, Is only Helena. Duke Theseus saw that the situation had changed. Now Demetrius loved Helena, and Lysander loved Hermia. Because both couples seemed happy, the duke decided to brush aside the complaints of Hermia’s father and announced that the four young Athenians would share his own wedding day. They would all get married together! And that is exactly what happened. During the wedding ceremony the three couples were joined in marriage. Then the newlyweds sat down to watch “the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe.” The play was bad, but it was so bad that it was funny. In the beginning, Snout, the actor who was assigned to play the Wall, came out with little bits of plaster, rocks, and stones stuck to his shirt and introduced himself to the audience: In this same interlude it doth befall That I, one Snout by name, present a wall; And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a crannied hole or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, Did whisper often very secretly. This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show That I am that same wall; the truth is so.

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 6 11/30/16 9:30 AM Then Snout made a triangle by putting his thumbs and pointing fingers together, and explained: And this the cranny is, right and sinister, Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper. Pyramus and Thisbe began to whisper lovingly to each other through the cranny. The two lovers cursed the wall that keep them apart and agreed to meet later at “Ninny’s Tomb.” Thisbe arrived at the tomb first, but she was not alone. The Lion was also there! He stepped forward and seemed about to roar a mighty roar when he stopped and, turning to the audience, explained that they should not be frightened because he wasn’t really a lion, only an actor playing a lion. Then, turning back to Thisbe, he gave a mighty roar. Poor Thisbe was so frightened by the lion’s roar that she ran away, dropping her jacket as she fled. The lion picked up the jacket and chewed on it for a few seconds. Then he let it fall and stalked off stage. Moments later, Pyramus arrived. Catching sight of Thisbe’s jacket lying on the ground, stained with blood and Lion spittle, he cried out in agony: But stay, O spite! But mark, poor knight, What dreadful dole is here! Eyes, do you see? How can it be? O dainty duck! O dear! Thy mantle good, What, stain’d with blood? Pyramus knew what had happened at once—his beloved Thisbe had been eaten by a lion—and he also knew that there was only one thing for a lover to do in such a situation: he must kill himself for love—but not before waving his hands around and making another long, melodramatic speech in honor of his “dainty duck.” Pyramus drew his dagger, stabbed himself, and called out: Thus die I, thus, thus, thus. Now am I dead, Now am I fled; My soul is in the sky . . . Now die, die, die, die, die!

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 7 11/30/16 9:30 AM Pyramus was just barely dead when Thisbe returned. Finding her lover dead, Thisbe decided that she, too, had to commit suicide, though not before making a speech almost as long and silly as Pyramus’s. Finally, she stabbed herself—and that was the end of the play. Theseus and the other newlyweds laughed and joked about the play. One of them said, “This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard!” But they all agreed that the play was funny in spite of its silliness—or rather it was funny because it was so silly.

G5T-04_TheRenaissance_FOR_PDF_4.indd 8 11/30/16 9:30 AM