Critical Readings

The panel discusses the concluding act and scene of the play, with special attention to the linguistic wordplay and the Shakespearean critique of players, audiences, and critics alike in the both the play-within-a-play device and in Puck's epilogue.
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The panel discusses the resolution of the love quadrangle, as Puck puts right the enchantments in order to bring Oberon's original plan to fruition, before turning to consider Titania's relationship to her husband in the wake of her own enchantment.
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The panel discusses the deployment of additional fairy magic, with the transformation of Bottom and the confounding of Helena, and the confusion that results when both Bottom and Helena misbelieve that they are subject of their friends' pranks.
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The panel discusses the second act and the moment in the play when the plans of the characters begin to go astray due to mischance, with special attention to the tension between Titania and Oberon, and the expanding geographical knowledge of the time.
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The panel discusses the setting and form of the play, before discussing the first act and its complicated love quadrangle, with attention given to love and the threat of violence, and the characters' creation of overlapping plans that threaten to collide.
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