How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare (5 page)

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
.

And ere
[before]
I take this charm from off her sight

(As I can take it with another herb)
,

I’ll make her render up her page
[the Indian boy] to me.

Thus, there is no doubt whatsoever what Oberon is thinking. This is typical of Shakespeare. When you read him carefully, he is always as clear as a bell.

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night
,

Sometime of the night
means “sometimes during the night” or “for some part of the night.” So the sentence in a more modern rendering would be, “Sometimes at night Titania sleeps there.”

Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight
.

We are now told that Titania is
lulled in these flowers with dances and delight
. What does that mean? What an odd thing to say. My own guess is that it’s meant to suggest that Titania, while she’s asleep, is dreaming about delightful things like dancing. After all, the play is called
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
, and the theme of dreaming recurs throughout the play. Oberon is probably thinking that his revenge will be all the sweeter if Titania is dreaming about something happy—and what a clue this gives us to Oberon’s character: He’s not nice in any conventional sense. He may be romantic, clever, attractive, cunning, temperamental, and mystical—but he’s not nice.

And there the snake throws her enameled skin
,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in
.

Here Oberon is telling us something new about Titania and the rest of the fairies. Use this as a game with your children. Ask them “What do you think Oberon is telling us about the fairies in those two lines?”

And there the snake throws her enameled skin
,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in
.

The answer: He’s telling us that, physically, the fairies are
tiny
.

We know how big a normal snake is: anywhere from, say, six inches to three feet long. And we know that snakes shed their skin every so often. We should also note that the word
weeds
in Shakespeare’s time meant garments in addition to unwanted plants.

So: Oberon is saying that there, on the bank, snakes throw off their skins every now and then, and the skin of a snake is just the right size to wrap a fairy in. Therefore Titania (and the rest of the fairies, including Oberon) are smaller than snakes. And in another part of the play we’re told that fairies can hide in acorn cups. So while fairies vary in size in Shakespeare’s fairy world, they’re all very small. Titania may be a queen, but she’s probably about the size of your son’s finger.

And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes

And make her full of hateful fantasies
.

This part of the speech reminds us that we’re in the middle of an exciting story. Oberon says that he is going to streak Titania’s eyes with magic fairy juice so that she has hateful dreams.

And with the juice of
this
I’ll streak her eyes

And make her full of what?
Hateful fantasies!
He wants revenge. And what is it that she’ll wake up and see? We don’t know yet. We’re on tenterhooks, which is exactly what Shakespeare intends. He is toying with us so that we can’t wait to see the next scene.

Have your children say the passage aloud one more time for good measure. Then, after a few days’ rest, we’ll move on.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows
,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
,

Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine
,

With sweet muskroses, and with eglantine
.

My play
Shakespeare in Hollywood
at Arena Stage, with Emily Donahoe as Puck and Casey Biggs as Oberon.
(photo credit 5.3)

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night
,

Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight
.

And there the snake throws her enameled skin
,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in
.

And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes

And make her full of hateful fantasies
.

Ten lines. Seventy-five words. Verse. Meter. Imagery. Fairyland. Three famous characters. Quality time. Self-confidence. Time well spent.

Passage 2
Puck’s Announcement and the Story of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Captain of our fairy band
,

Helena is here at hand
,

And the youth, mistook by me
,

Pleading for a lover’s fee
.

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

(
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
,
Act III, Scene 2, lines 112–17)

T
he second passage that we’ll learn together is short, but it tells us a great deal about
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
and a great deal about Shakespeare. It is easier to learn than the first passage, and it should take you and your children about fifteen minutes. It is a particularly good passage for younger children because the speaker is Puck, everyone’s favorite mischief maker, and it ends with one of the great one-liners of all time:

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

As before, you should start by sitting next to your child and looking at the Quotation Page together. Note: The word
fee
in this passage means “reward.” And a
fond pageant
is a “foolish spectacle.”

Captain of our fairy band
,

Helena is here at hand
,

And the youth, mistook by me
,

Pleading for a lover’s fee
.

Shall we their fond pageant see?

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Begin by tackling the first two lines, using, as always, the techniques we discussed above: Use the Quotation Page, say the lines aloud, and repeat them.

Captain of our fairy band
,

Captain of our fairy band
,

Helena is here at hand
,

(
Helena
is pronounced “HEL-eh-na.”)

Helena is here at hand
,

Captain of our fairy band
,

Helena is here at hand
,

Unlike the first passage, which had five beats per line,

∧ ∧ ∧ ∧ ∧

I
know a
BANK
where the
WILD THYME BLOWS
.

the lines of this passage have four beats each, and the rhythm is the same from line to line.

∧ (∧) ∧ ∧

CAP
tain
OF
our
FAIR
y
BAND
,

∧ (∧) ∧ ∧

HEL
en
A
is
HERE
at
HAND
,

Four beats per line is a simpler tempo. It resembles a nursery rhyme, and it is easier to memorize. Shakespeare uses this meter only occasionally in his plays, for the lyrics of most of his songs and, more rarely, when he wants to say something in a ritualistic manner. For example, he uses this meter at the end of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
, when Oberon and Robin say goodnight to the audience.

If
we
sha
dows
have
of
fen
ded
,

Think
but
this
and
all
is
mend
ed:

That you have but slumbered here

While these visions did appear.…

Give me your hands
[clap for us],
if we be friends
,

And Robin shall restore amends
.

Use the fact that there are only four beats in each line to make the passage into a game for your children, the way you would a nursery rhyme.

∧ (∧) ∧ ∧

CAP
tain
OF
our
FAIR
y
BAND
,

∧ (∧) ∧ ∧

HEL
en
A
is
HERE
at
HAND
,

You should point out to your children that all three couplets are rhymed, which makes them easy to memorize.

Captain of our fairy
BAND
,

Helena is here at
HAND
,

And the youth, mistook by
ME
,