KS3 · English

Themes in a Shakespeare comedy

A fairy queen falls head over heels for a man with a donkey's head. Funny, yes, but it's also doing a job. Which ideas is it exploring?

English · Themes in Shakespeare

Which theme is each moment exploring?

A theme is a big idea the play keeps coming back to. A Midsummer Night's Dream has three key ones: love, power, and order and disorder. For each moment, tick every theme it explores. Some moments belong in more than one circle.

A Love
B Power
C Order and disorder

The four Athenian nobles fall in and out of love with each other
Hermia's father threatens her, and Theseus backs him up
Puck is a loyal, obedient servant to Oberon
Oberon tricks Titania with the potion to get the little boy
The potion makes Lysander love Helena instead of Hermia
Titania falls in love with Bottom, who has a donkey's head
Puck enjoys the nobles' unhappiness in Act 3, Scene 2
Puck can transform into many different creatures and concepts

English · Themes

A theme, a character or a plot point?

Careful: characters and events can explore a theme without being one. Sort each one.

Still to sort

Theme (0)

An important idea, explored in a number of different ways

Where the line is: A theme is an idea. It is not a person and it is not an event.

Character (0)

A person in the play

Where the line is: A character can be used to explore a theme, but is not the theme.

Plot point (0)

Something that happens

Where the line is: An event can explore a theme, but is not the theme.

7 of 7 still to sort.

English · Refining a theme

From a big theme to a closer focus

'Love' is a start, not an analysis. Pick a big theme, then a closer focus, and see where each one leads.

Big theme → Closer focus

3 × 2 = 6 closer focuses, and the tree ends 6 times.

On A theme in the play. 3 branches to choose from.

English · What is Shakespeare saying?

How would you word it?

You've picked a theme and pinpointed a moment. One last step: say what Shakespeare might be trying to say about the theme.

Which one is closest to the sentence you'd write?

Shakespeare is definitely saying that romantic love is painful and confusing.I think the play is brilliant and I really like Puck.Perhaps Shakespeare is exploring the idea that romantic love can be painful and confusing.

How sure are you?

I'm sureI think soI'm guessing

Shakespeare is definitely saying that romantic love is painful and confusing.

This is a common misconception

It sounds confident, which is why it's tempting. But there are other interpretations as well, so a reading isn't presented as the one right answer. Offer it tentatively, with a word such as 'perhaps'.

I think the play is brilliant and I really like Puck.

This is a common misconception

That's your reaction, and a reaction to a character isn't a thematic analysis. The big idea is what you're after. Link what you say to a theme and to the play, then say what Shakespeare might be saying about it.

Perhaps Shakespeare is exploring the idea that romantic love can be painful and confusing.

This matches the evidence

Yes. 'Perhaps' shows you know other readings exist, and it stays tied to a theme in the play. Other examples of this kind of reading: hierarchy is important even in a place like the magical forest, or Shakespeare might be exploring the cruelty of patriarchal power. They are only some of many.

Say what Shakespeare might be saying, and flag it with 'perhaps', because there are other interpretations as well.

English · Your turn

Write a thematic paragraph

Choose ONE closer focus from the tree (for example mismatched relationships or patriarchal power). Write 2 or 3 sentences: name it, pinpoint a moment in the play where it is explored, and say tentatively what Shakespeare might be saying. [4 marks]

Your answer

0 words · your answer stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.

The mark scheme

Names a closer focus of a theme, such as romantic love, mismatched relationships, the importance of hierarchy, the comedy of disorder, patriarchal power or the power of the supernatural. (1 mark)
Pinpoints a moment in the play where that focus is explored. (1 mark)
Says what Shakespeare might be trying to say about the theme, tentatively, with a word such as 'perhaps' or 'might'. (1 mark)
Keeps the focus on the theme (the big idea) rather than only describing a character. (1 mark)

Model answer

One closer focus of love in A Midsummer Night's Dream is mismatched relationships. This is explored when Titania, a supernatural queen, falls in love with Bottom, a low-status Athenian man whose head has been turned into a donkey's. Perhaps Shakespeare is exploring the idea that romantic love can be painful and confusing.

Name it, pinpoint it, say it tentatively. Then check you stayed on the idea, not just the character.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

Characters, plot and language explore it, and one moment can explore more than one.

What you need to know

A theme is an important idea in a text that is explored in a number of different ways.
The most important themes are the ones a text returns to over and over again.
A Midsummer Night's Dream has three key themes: love, power, and order and disorder.
Puck and the Athenian nobles are characters, not themes, and a plot point isn't a theme either.
Have a goYour mate announces: 'The theme of the whole play is Oberon's magic potion.' Fair enough?
Not quite. The potion is something in the plot, and a plot point isn't a theme.
A theme is an important idea explored in different ways; plot, characters and language are how a play explores it, not the theme itself.
Writers use plot, characters and language choices to explore a theme, so describing a character alone is not a thematic analysis.
To explore a theme, find the key themes, work out when they are explored, then ask what the writer might be saying.
A theme can be refined into a more specific focus, such as love becoming mismatched relationships.
Have a goA classmate says 'love' is all you need to say about the theme. What could they do to sharpen it?
Refine it to a more specific focus, such as mismatched relationships.
'Love' is only a starting point; a refined focus says more precisely which side of the big idea is being explored.
Pinpointing when a theme is explored takes a detailed understanding of the plot and the characters.
Have a goYour friend has only read a one-line summary of the play. Can they pinpoint where its themes are explored? Why or why not?
Not reliably. Pinpointing needs a detailed understanding of the plot and the characters.
A one-line summary names the big events but not the detail of what happens, when, and to whom.
One moment can explore more than one theme at once.
What Shakespeare might be saying is offered tentatively, with a word such as 'perhaps', because other interpretations exist.

The big picture

A theme is a big idea a play keeps coming back to. In A Midsummer Night's Dream the key themes are love, power, and order and disorder. Characters, plot and language explore them, and one moment can explore more than one theme at once.

Key points

1A theme is an important idea explored in a number of different ways, and the most important themes are returned to over and over.

2Love, power, and order and disorder are three key themes of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck and the Athenian nobles are characters, not themes.

3Refine a theme into a closer focus: romantic love or mismatched relationships; the importance of hierarchy; the comedy of disorder; patriarchal power or the power of the supernatural.

4Find the key themes, pinpoint when they are explored, then say tentatively what Shakespeare might be saying.

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Worked example

Problem

Use the three steps to write about the importance of hierarchy in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

⚠ Watch out

Calling a character or an event the theme (for example 'the theme is Puck'), or writing what Shakespeare 'definitely' means, as if there is only one right reading.

🧠

Memory hook

Find it, pin it, say it with a 'perhaps'. Find the theme, pin down the moment, then say what Shakespeare might be saying.

✓

Check yourself

Think of a moment from the play that explores two themes at once. Which two, and what is it about the moment that lets it do both?

Flashcards

(11)

What is a theme?

An important idea in a text that is explored in a number of different ways.

Which themes count as the MOST important in a text?

The ones that are returned to over and over again and explored in a number of different ways.

Three key themes of A Midsummer Night's Dream

Love, power, and order and disorder.

What can a writer use to explore a theme?

The plot, the characters and language choices. None of these is itself the theme.

Romantic love (in the play)

A closer focus on love, explored through the four Athenian nobles who fall in and out of love with each other.

Mismatched relationships (in the play)

A closer focus on love. Examples: Titania and Bottom, and Demetrius and Lysander both loving Helena and becoming rivals.

Hierarchy

A system whereby people or things are ranked, with some at the top and others lower down. It matters to the play and to its first Elizabethan audiences.

The comedy of disorder

A closer focus on disorder: the chaos in Acts 2, 3 and 4, where the nobles love the wrong person and Titania loves Bottom, provides a lot of the play's comedy.

Patriarchy

A society in which men hold the power, and its laws and structure prevent women from having power. Athens is set up as one.

The supernatural

Things that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. The magical potion is an example, and the play also has supernatural characters.

Why do we write 'perhaps' when saying what Shakespeare might be saying?

An interpretation is offered tentatively because there are other interpretations as well. It is not presented as the one right answer.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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Which theme is each moment exploring?

A theme, a character or a plot point?

From a big theme to a closer focus

How would you word it?

Write a thematic paragraph

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