Introduction
The action opens in Athens, where (supposedly) there was a law saying that a father whose daughter had refused the husband he had chosen for her could be put to death.
WHEN Hermia’s father declared her life forfeit unless she married Demetrius, she fled Athens with her lover Lysander. But her friend Helena betrayed them, hoping in the frantic pursuit through the woods beyond the city to win Demetrius’s trust, and eventually his love.
She could not know, however, that those same woods were the scene of a family quarrel.
Titania, Queen of the Fairies, had refused to let a favourite page boy enter the service of her husband, King Oberon.
Oberon responded, childishly, by ordering the sprite Puck to dab the sap of the flower ‘Love-in-idleness’ on Titania’s eyes as she slept, for herb-lore promised that she would fall hopelessly in love with the first live creature she saw.*
Puck, meanwhile, took time out to indulge in a little practical joke. Rehearsing in the woods that night was a troupe of very indifferent actors, including Nick Bottom, and seized by a fit of word-play, Puck gave him the head of an ass.
‘Love-in-idleness’ is one of the common names for the Viola tricolor, otherwise known as heartsease or wild pansy; it is the precursor of today’s cultivated pansy. See Wikipedia.
Précis
Hermia elopes with Lysander to escape marriage to Demetrius, but her friend Helena betrays them in the hope of getting Demetrius for herself. All four find themselves in the woods, where Oberon, king of the Fairies, is playing a trick on his queen Titania, mixing a magic potion so she will fall in love with first person she sees. (59 / 60 words)
Hermia elopes with Lysander to escape marriage to Demetrius, but her friend Helena betrays them in the hope of getting Demetrius for herself. All four find themselves in the woods, where Oberon, king of the Fairies, is playing a trick on his queen Titania, mixing a magic potion so she will fall in love with first person she sees.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, despite, may, not, or, ought, unless.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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