8th Grade Shakespeare Project 2015
Midsummers Night Dream
Instructions: 1. As a group read over the 5 topic choices. Choose your
favorite and second favorite. There are 12 groups in the class, therefore,
each section will be assigned at least twice. 2. When your group knows
your main topic 1-5, each person in your group chooses the first, second
or third topic within the main topic. 3. Go to the class website. In 8th
Grade Reading, there are several sites to look for information. The 7th
Grade Reading site has excellent links if you have everyday life, the
collage, or the game.
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1. Choose One Topic
1. Elizabethan drama was primarily verbal, not visual.
People said they went to hear Shakespeare’s plays, not to see them.
What does this mean? Describe in detail giving examples from
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
2. Real life vs. Stage Life--the characters in Shakespeare’s
plays are understood to be characters that represent real people--not
real people. Modern dramas suggest that everything is real. How do
Elizabethan drama characters differ from modern drama? In
Shakespeare’s plays a character represented real people and in modern
drama a character looks real. Choose two characters from Midsummer
Night’s Dream and explain how they represent real people. Take the
same two characters and explain how they look real in today’s drama.
3. Symbolic Art--Medieval art was deeply symbolic.
How did
Medieval art and Renaissance art differ? How was Shakespeare
influenced by Medieval Art? Make a PowerPoint presentation explaining
the similarities and differences. Show actual examples that relate to
Midsummer Night’s Dream. Captions and explanations are very
important.
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2. Choose One Topic
1. How did Shakespeare view human nature? Was he
pessimistic, optimistic, or something else entirely? Use the characters
and plot from King Lear to show your evidence. If he were living today,
what medium would Shakespeare use--television, film, stage? Would he
be on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter? Describe in a detailed
PowerPoint presentation what his Internet site would look like. Create a
Shakespeare Instagram, Facebook or Twitter page.
2. Shakespeare used iambic pentameter and prose.
Was this like everyday Elizabethan speech? Explain how Shakespeare
used iambic pentameter. What are the attributes of family members?
How do these attributes fit into the characters in Midsummer Night’s
Dream? Write a Shakespearean sonnet about family relationships. A
sonnet has 14 lines with 10 syllables in each line. It follows a rhyme
scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. This pattern means that the like letters in
each stanza rhyme.
3. Research
the world of Renaissance England and the
people.
What would the lives of everyday English have been like?
What was everyday life for nobility like those in play have been like?
Make an iMovie trailer to grab the attention of the audience. In other
words, market Midsummer Night’s Dream and make people want to
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attend the production.
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8th Grade Shakespeare Project 2015
3
Midsummers Night Dream
Choose One Topic
1. Draw and label the Globe Theater. Go to the class
website. Go to eighth grade click on Globe Theater. Examine the picture
of the theater. Draw your interpretation of the theater. Label the parts of
the theater, showing how the people viewed the plays. Draw people at
different levels, demonstrate what they are doing. Check out the
program SketchUp to draw. Save constantly.
2. Make a PowerPoint collage of the Renaissance.
Include at least 10 aspects of Renaissance life. Using pictures and
captions show why and how the plot of Midsummer Night’s Dream was
plausible during the time. The artistic collage should be your detailed
portrayal of the Renaissance in pictures and words.
3. Make a trivia game--Design and type 20 game cards about the
following topics. Actually make a box and game parts.
Shakespeare’s life, Elizabethan audiences, Shakespeare’s use of words,
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher Aristotle’s description of a tragedy,
Symbolism, Real life vs. Stage life, The Globe Theater, Iambic
pentameter, Prose, The plague, Elizabethan dress, Exploration during
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Art during the Elizabethan era, Music
during the Elizabethan era, Literature during the Elizabethan era,
Groundlings, Elizabethan actors, Queen Elizabeth, King James,
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Midsummer Night’s Dream
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Choose One Topic
Elizabethan life describe and give detailed
accounts.
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1. WEDDING PLANNER: Plan the wedding for the three couples. In the
play, Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius and Helena, and Lysander and
Hermia get married. For this project you will assume the role of a wedding
planner as you help one of the couples plan their wedding. Your project
should include all of the following elements:
• Chose an appropriate wedding song that will be played once they are
married.
• Include the song lyrics and a one-paragraph explanation for why you
chose this song and why it is appropriate.
• Create wedding vows for both characters to say during the ceremony.
• Chose an appropriate place and theme for the wedding.
• Include an image of the location and the decorations for the wedding.
• Include a one-paragraph justification for your chosen location and
decorations.
• Select a wedding gift for ALL three couples and include an image/
drawing and written justification for each of the wedding gifts.
Be detailed use a PowerPoint or an iMovie .
2. Food
a. How many meals do people generally eat each day?
b. How might meals differ from commoners to royalty of the time?
c. Plan two small dinner menus one for commoners and one for royalty
using only food available in Europe during this time. Choose two
vegetables, two meats, and two fruits or nuts. Decorate each menu with
an appropriate design for each class.
8th Grade Shakespeare Project 2015
5
Midsummers Night Dream
Choose One Topic
Symbolism--How universals are depicted through
the particular.
1. What does the forest symbolize in Midsummer
Night’s Dream? In other words, is it meant to represent, in
some way, what is happening to the mismatched lovers? What is the
role of magic/fairies in Midsummer Night’s Dream? Does magic or
some other mystical elements play a key role in other Shakespeare
plays? What does the “puck” Robin Goodfellow symbolize? In other
words, is he meant to represent something more than just a fairy/
helper? Do mischievous characters play a key role in other
Shakespeare plays?
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2. There are four plot levels in A Midsummer Night's
Dream: the royal wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta; the story of the
Athenian lovers, Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena; the
conflict between the fairies, Titania and Oberon (seconded by Puck);
and the efforts of the "Rude Mechanicals," Bottom, Quince and
company, to put on a play worthy of a royal wedding. Know characters
(by name!) in each plot level, and be aware of the ways in which they
(the characters and the plot levels) interact. How are they parallel or
contrasted? What do the different plot levels have in common? (e.g. a
movement from conflict to harmony; the theme of love triumphing
over great odds). How does Shakespeare use these parallel plots (and
characters) to unify the play as a whole? Create a power point or
iMovie detailing the main ideas and characters of the four plots.
Describe the theme of each plot and describe in detail how they come
together to create one play.
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3. Transformations
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is taken from Ovid's
Metamorphoses, stories about magical transformations. What are
some of the transformations in the play? Consider both literal
transformations ("Bless thee, Bottom! thou art translated!" [III.i.
119-120]) and figurative ones (between day and night, discord and
harmony, reality and dream, unhappiness and bliss).
• Research Ovid’s Metamorphoses and describe its main ideas and
themes. (You do not have to read the book, just a synopsis).
• Describe each transformation in the play in detail, some are literal
and some figurative.
• Create an iMovie or Power Point explaining the transformations.
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Each person in a group chooses one topic from each section.