A Midsummer Night's Dream
William Shakespeare
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
The course of true love
Is 'the course of true love never did run smooth' the play's real subject?
Keep the conversation going
- How does Egeus's demand set things in motion?
- What does the law of Athens say about women's choices?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
Is 'the course of true love never did run smooth' the play's real subject?
Keep the conversation going
- How does Egeus's demand set things in motion?
- What does the law of Athens say about women's choices?
Are Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia and Helena really different from one another?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of Helena's devotion to Demetrius?
- Is Demetrius's love at the end real, given it comes from the flower?
What is the quarrel between Oberon and Titania about, and who is in the right?
Keep the conversation going
- How does their quarrel affect the human world?
- What did you make of Oberon's trick on Titania?
Is Puck mischievous, careless, or both?
Keep the conversation going
- Which of his mistakes caused the most trouble?
- What does his final speech ask of the audience?
Why is Bottom so funny, and so oddly dignified?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of his time with Titania?
- What does he remember of his 'dream'?
What does the mechanicals' play, Pyramus and Thisbe, say about theatre itself?
Keep the conversation going
- Why do the nobles mock it?
- Is it a parody of the lovers' own story?
What happens in the forest that couldn't happen in Athens?
Keep the conversation going
- What does night allow?
- How do the lovers feel when they wake?
Is the play telling us love is a kind of madness, or a kind of magic?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of Theseus's speech about lovers, madmen and poets?
- Which characters are changed by the night, and which aren't?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.