What we did in class - Remarks on Act II, Scene 1

Act II, Scene 1

Characters: Robin Goodfellow (Puck) and the Fairy, Oberon (king of the fairies) and Titania (queen of the fairies) + their train = attendants + the Indian boy = the changeling, Puck and Oberon, Demetrius and Helena, Oberon and Puck

1. What is the function of the fairy and Puck’s first lines?

à to present/introduce: Oberon and Titania, Puck, the context= setting of the scene (forest, at night in the moonlight)

à Introduce: the quarrel = brawl between T and O

à an exposition scene

à Allows to introduce a new register (Baroque, fantastical…)

à … new type of characters

à … new atmosphere = mood

Puck is a trickster: he plays pranks, jokes, tricks on people and has fun doing it.

Introduction to what the fairies are capable of.
 

2. What accusations do Oberon and Titania word against each other?

à She accuses him of having been unfaithful and spending time with Phillida / of cheating on her.

à He blames her for cheating on him with Theseus.

3. What type of consequences does Oberon and Titania’s quarrel have on mortals?

à (see below)

4. Describe what Oberon decides to do to Titania.

à He decides to take his revenge. He wants her to fall in love with the first creature she sees when she wakes up from her sleep. He asks Puck to fetch a magical flower (“love-in-idleness”=pansy), that grew where Cupid once dropped one of his arrows. The love juice extracted from this flower will be anointed on Titania’s eyelids to play the trick.

5. How do you think the audience reacts to Titania’s character and how she is treated by Oberon?

à compassion = sympathy for / because she seems to be a victim of Oberon’s (she has good reasons  for holding on to the boy). It is unfair. The audience will feel the injustice.

6. Describe what Oberon asks Puck to do to Demetrius.

à He overhears Demetrius and Helena’s conversation (D and H, whose feelings aren’t reciprocal) / Decides to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena using the same love juice he’ll use on Titania.  (anoint the eyelids of the man he refers to as “a disdainful youth”, whom Puck will recognise “by the Athenian garments he hath on.”)