Task #2: Illusion Versus Reality
Things are not always as they seem, and this is especially true in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In fact, the forest seems to be a place where nothing is as it seems!
In this task, you will think about the idea of illusion and the idea of reality.
Before continuing on, you should make sure that you have either a word-processor (like Microsoft Word) open or you have a piece of loose leaf and a pen. You'll want to put your name and period number on the top of your paper or document.
In this part of the WebQuest, you will complete the "objectives" below. Make sure you use complete sentences when you are prompted to record your answers to the questions posed to you.
A play inside a play inside a play inside a play!?
(Picture taken from http://www.robertsamels.com/images/rustics.jpg)
In Act III, Scene I, Nick Bottom notes that if Pyramus kills himself on stage, then all of the women in the audience would be terrified. He, being the valiant man that he is, doesn't want to do that. Because of this, he decides to write a prologue that they will read at the beginning of their play. The prologue will tell the audience members that they are using a fake sword.
Nick Bottom is awfully concerned about how the audience is going to take his craftsmen's play of fictional characters (he would think it's his!). This may be Shakespeare's way to laugh at his readers, considered we are so concerned about the fake characters of this play also! Whew! Nothing is what it seems around here!
Let's start this part of the WebQuest by looking at the two pictures that follow and responding to questions:
(this picture was taken from http://tinyurl.com/5e86jt)
First off, is this a man or a woman!? How about the picture below?
Yikes! Is that a rabbit? Is it a duck?
How can we believe our own eyes?
ACTIVITY 1: Have you ever witnessed something that just seems totally unreal? Has there ever been a time in which you couldn't believe your own eyes. In one short paragraph,
Puckish Pranks
Because of some of Puck's shenanigans, nothing is indeed what it seems....
(One of Jim from the Office's Pranks!)
ACTIVITY 2: On your sheet of paper, make a list of the pranks and mix-ups that Puck has made in the play so far, and, for at least one of the pranks, draw a small picture of Puck and the prank!
MMMKAY! Moving On!
When you have completed the activities above, you may move on to Task 2 (Continued). 