MM Nov 8

•	The Athenian lovers in Dream vs. Miranda-Ferdinand in The Tempest o	Thesis- Although both the Athenian lovers in Dream and Miranda and Ferdinand in The Tempest were influenced by a third party, the motivation and outcome from setting up these relationships are quite different. Points of Interest 	Helena and Lysander in Dream had the “fake” love (the spell) 	Spell or no spell 	Free choice vs. set up romance 	Miranda and Ferdinand were set up but not under a spell 	In both stories there was always some third party factor that had an influence over the relationship 	More political motive (Prospero looked toward political advancement) in The Tempest whereas in Dream it seemed to be more for fun. Evidence •	Act I Scene II lines 555-574 •	The interaction between Prospero and Ferdinand when confronted with politics and the politics from the past that influenced Prospero’s life. •	Later on when M and F are exchanging their vows between just the two of them (Act III Scene I)

Notes From Monday November 8 Group 2 Overview- Megan Gallagher

For Monday’s class, we broke into groups to discuss and develop ideas on topics pertaining to William Shakespeare’s A Mid Summer Night’s Dream and The Tempest.

For Group 2, we were to discuss the role of Bottom and his companions in A Mid Summer Night’s Dream. Our group first listed traits that best described Bottom such as, assertive, rude, arrogant, passionate, and present characteristics of a Victorian man in some manner.

Group 2 then came up with several theses (plural for thesis) along the lines of: “Bottom’s character shows both Victorian man attributes along with arrogant characteristics which adds comic relief to the storyline of A Mid Summer Night’s Dream.” After discussing several options for a thesis, our group began to go into detail to list why Bottom’s can be viewed as a positive or negative attribute to the plot.

In Bottom’s transformation from man to a “head of an ass”, Bottom is completely unaware of the situation he is in and takes for granted his predicament. Having Titania be infatuated with him due to magic, Bottom adapts to Titania’s lifestyle rather quickly. Bottom steps into his Victorian man role, controlling the fairies and while taking everything for granted.

Later in the story, audiences are able to see that Bottom is very passionate in his pursuit of trying to obtain the greater good of the play that he and his companions are to perform. However his unique efforts are very self-centered and have the potential to be very destructive to the play’s outcome. Bottom’s ideas such as having a person play the “wall” rather than use it as a prop are signs that he lacks common sense. His passion tends to go overboard, and Bottom tries to take control of Quincy’s job. Bottom becomes even more self-centered by wanting to play multiple roles in ‘The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe.’

Unlike the other characters in A Mid Summer Night’s Dream, Bottom can be viewed as a “mock-arosicrate” due to his persuit to try to be apart of that lifestyle. Although the character fails in Shakespeare’s play, Bottom adds a great amount of comic relief to the plot, and creates a very unique, distinguishable character from the others in A Mid Summer Night’s Dream.