Hello there and welcome to this lesson in the unit all about "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare.

My name is Mr. Barnsley, so glad to see you today.

We are gonna be focusing in today's lesson on an audience response to Puck.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how the character of Puck is presented and how audiences might respond to him.

So we've got five key words today.

They are folklore, Elizabethan, Robin Goodfellow, a puck, and transform.

These are really important in today's lessons.

So let's have a look at exactly what they mean.

So folklore are stories or traditions that are passed down from generations to generation.

They're not written down, but they're told verbally.

Now, an Elizabethan is a person alive when Elizabeth I was on the throne.

The first audiences of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were Elizabethan.

Now, Robin Goodfellow is a name from Elizabethan folklore.

So we're putting those two words together.

So stories and traditions that were shared or passed down during the Elizabethan era.

Now, Robin Goodfellow was a character connected with practical jokes and helpfulness.

And now a puck was also a creature from Elizabethan folklore.

This was a general term for a fairy.

However, pucks were also associated with the Devil and evil deeds.

Our final word is a verb, to transform, and it means to change.

Okay, in our lesson today, we have two learning cycles.

So whilst we're thinking about the audience responses to Puck, we're gonna think about how far should we trust the character of Puck and what those different responses audiences may have.

So let's start by asking ourself this question.

How far should we trust Puck? Well, we know Puck's first dialogue in the play is with a fairy in act two, scene one.

The fairy calls Puck both Robin Goodfellow and sweet puck.

In Elizabethan folklore, these two names had very clear associations.

Thinking about keywords, we know that Robin Goodfellow is a mischievous figure, but also known to be helpful, particularly with housework.

Whereas a sweet puck might be a malevolent fairy associated with the Devil.

So Puck or Robin Goodfellow's first dialogue sees him tell the fairy about a practical joke he's played on people.

The practical jokes all have one thing in common, Puck transforming himself into something else.

So he transforms himself into a horse, into an apple and into a stool.

Alex says, "Should I trust the character of Puck?" I want you to let me know what you think.

How would you answer Alex? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you are ready to continue.

Some very interesting discussions there.

I could hear some of you saying, "Look, he's only a little bit mischievous.

He's only having a bit of fun." Others are saying, "Absolutely not.

I wouldn't trust Puck at all." Very interesting.

Well done to those of you who are starting to use ideas from the text to support your opinions.

So I think I agree with most of you who said, "No, I'm not gonna trust Puck." But we do know that the character of Oberon does.

One way that Shakespeare makes it clear that Puck is a faithful servant to Oberon is through Puck's dialogue.

So here you can see two examples.

You can see Puck's conversation with the fairy about his practical jokes, and on the right-hand side, you can see Puck responding to Oberon's orders.

What I want you to think about is what are the differences between how Puck speaks to each of those characters and what might that suggest about his relationship with Oberon? Pause the video, have a think, have a discuss.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them, but don't worry if you're working by yourself, you might just want to think through your ideas independently and press play when you're ready to continue.

Great discussions there.

It is really interesting to see how obedient Puck is when speaking to Oberon.

Oberon gives an imperative, asks him to do something, and Puck says, "Yes, I'll do it straight away." Whereas when he's talking to the fairy, there's almost this disrespectful language when he's talking about how he tricked this old wise aunt.

Okay, let's have a check then.

What might surprise us about Puck's dialogue with Oberon? Is it A, that he's much ruder than his dialogue with the fairy? Is it B, that he's being very obedient here, not being mischievous? Is it C that he can't transform himself like he does with the fairy or is it D that he speaks as Robin Goodfellow rather than Puck? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, well done if you said B.

His obedient behaviour is actually quite surprising here.

He's not being the mischievous Puck that we have already met.

So Alex and Aisha have been discussing the character of Puck in act two, scene one.

Now, Aisha thinks, well, Shakespeare creates a mischievous character, but he seems to be completely in control of who he is.

So she understands why Oberon trusts him.

Alex says, "No, no, no.

Shakespeare makes it clear we should not trust the character of Puck at all from his name and what it means to his dialogue, he is not a reliable character." What you're gonna do for your first practise task is you're gonna decide which of the Oak pupils you agree with most.

Is it Aisha or is it Alex? And then I want you to bullet point your reasons why.

I want you to make sure you use at least one of those keywords: folklore, Elizabethan, Robin Goodfellow, a puck or transform.

You may also wish to refer to the text.

In there, you're gonna look at act two, scene one and the line numbers are on the screen now.

They're gonna help you inform your response.

Okay, pause the video then and it's over to you.

Who do you agree with, Aisha or Alex? Let me know.

Pause the video, give this a go and press play when you're ready to continue.

Really well done.

It was great to see you thinking about which of the Oak pupils you agreed with most.

What we're gonna do now is we're gonna do a moment of reflection and we're gonna do that by sharing an example of the Oak pupils' work.

So Andeep, who was doing this task, he agreed with Aisha, Aisha's argument that Shakespeare created a mischievous character, but one who was completely in control of who he was.

So he understood.

Andeep understands why Oberon overall trusts him.

And Andeep wrote, "Puck says that he transforms himself into different things to make Oberon smile.

So even though he tricks other people, he's clearly being loyal to Oberon.

I liked Andeep's response because he used well-selected evidence and he managed to use the keywords.

What I want you to do is self-assess your bullet points using the checklist to guide you.

So can you identify whether you have or have not used well-selected evidence? And can you show me where you've used keywords? Pause the video, read back through your work and see how you've done.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Some fantastic reflection there.

It's now time for us to think about different responses an audience might have to Puck.

So in act two, Puck tells the fairy about times he's transformed himself into a horse, into an apple, and of course, into that stool to trick the wise old aunt.

However, in act three, we get to see that Puck's ability to transform himself and he can transform others and we see this happen on stage.

So he sees some poor Athenian actors and they're practising their next play in the magical forest.

He's seeing a chance for fun.

He targets a man called Bottom and he transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey.

Here is the moment that Puck transforms Bottom.

So let's read it.

Stage direction.

Enter Puck leading Bottom with the ass-head.

Quince, one of the actors.

"O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted.

Pray, masters; fly, masters.

Help! Puck.

I'll follow you.

I'll lead you about a round through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier, which is a thorny plant.

Sometimes a horse I'll be, sometimes a hound, a hog, a headless bear, sometimes a fire and neigh and bark and grunt and roar and burn like horse hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.

Okay, we know that Puck transforms Bottom, but he also transforms himself.

What different things does he say he can become? Pause the video.

Have a think, have a discuss if you've got a partner, and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Well done if you identified those creatures, horse, hound, hog or bear, but also a fire.

I don't know about you, but that left me feeling a little bit uneasy.

Some of those transformations feel quite dangerous to me and it suggests this underlying concern I have about the character of Puck.

Maybe you agree or maybe you think he's just being playful.

What I want you to do is have a go at doing a bit of drama here by saying this dialogue aloud.

The first time, I want you to do it in a really lighthearted way as if Puck is only joking.

So do it for really comic effect.

The second time, I want you to try and create a more unsettling, scary tone, almost as if Puck is being a little bit more sinister.

Read through it twice and then I want you to think which felt more appropriate and why? Pause the video.

Let's do some drama and then press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

I hope that that would've felt really different for you and I'm not sure which one you'll have said felt best.

Sometimes I can see this, I read this and I think, yeah, this feels really lighthearted and other times, there's a real sinister tone.

I wonder what you thought.

Let's do a check then.

I want you to match the sentence stems to their endings.

So on the left-hand side, you've got the start of a sentence.

On the right-hand side, you've got the end of the sentence.

I think you should really look at those conjunctions, because, but and so, to really help you think about what should go next.

All right, pause the video, give this a go and press play when you're ready to continue.

Great work on this check for understanding.

Let's see what the correct answers were, shall we? So Puck transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey because he enjoys playing practical jokes.

Puck transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey, but he also transforms himself to scare the other Athenians.

Puck transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey so the Athenian actors run away, leaving Bottom in the forest alone.

Right, I want us to think about some real key moments for the character of Puck.

They are in act two, scene one when the fairy calls him both Robin Goodfellow and Puck.

In the same scene, we know that Puck details his practical jokes, particularly that one where he transforms himself into a stool, quickly changing so the old lady, the wise aunt, tries to sit but then falls on her bottom.

But we do also see Puck in this scene following Oberon's orders.

Finally, in act three, we know that Puck transforms Bottom, turning his head into a donkey's head.

I want you to explain how you think audiences might react to Puck in each moment.

You may even have multiple ideas for each, acknowledging that some members of the audience might feel differently at different times.

I've given you some prompts to help you.

These are some questions that might guide your thinking somewhat.

So firstly, I want you to think about what ideas might an Elizabethan audience have had about this character.

Think about what you know about folklore.

Consider the language that Puck uses when he's talking about changing himself into a stool.

How do you think we're meant to react? I want you to consider the contrast to Puck's earlier characterization.

When we see him being so obedient with Oberon, does that change how we view him? And finally, do you think this moment is meant to be pure comedy or do you think there's something a little bit more sinister, a little bit more cruel about this scene? Pause the video and I would like you now to map out on this timeline how audiences might respond differently at different times to the character of Puck.

Over to you.

Press play when you are ready to continue.

Really great work on the activity.

It was really lovely to see you thinking and being quite evaluative and thinking actually an audience or different members of an audience might respond differently at the same point.

So some people might think of Puck as being actually a real comedic character.

Others might find him a lot more sinister.

I want to have a look at one of Alex's ideas, particularly when he was talking about Puck being a very obedient servant to Oberon.

Alex said, "Audiences might be surprised at his obedience here given that we've seen his earlier mischief.

But he's getting a magical potion to help his master trick to Titania so we still know he's focused on creating chaos and potentially humiliating others." Let's have a look why we liked Alex's response.

Well, he had a range of ideas.

Okay, so he was saying yes, they might be surprised, but also they might be thinking this is still the chaotic Puck that we already know.

But he has used specific evidence.

So he's talked about the earlier mischief, which supports why we might be surprised.

But he also used this very specific moment that we know that happens in the play about him creating this potion or getting this potion so Oberon can trick Titania.

This is a really nice response from Alex.

What I would like you to do now is self-assess your own response against this checklist.

Have you been using a range of ideas and have you been using really well-selected evidence to support those ideas? Okay, time to pause the video now and reflect on the work that you've done in today's lesson.

All right, fantastic job there, everybody.

It's been so great for you to join me today.

I've really enjoyed looking at the character of Puck in more detail.

I'm still undecided whether I think he's just a really comedic character who's there for some lighthearted entertainment or whether I find him a little bit more sinister and unsettling.

I hope you have come to your own conclusions, but it's really fantastic if you've been able to acknowledge that people might interpret Puck and respond to Puck in different ways.

Let's have a look through our summary that you can see on the screen now to check that we've really understood everything that we've covered in today's lesson.

So in Elizabethan folklore, the word puck meant a fairy and that's often one who was associated with malicious behaviour and had associations with the Devil.

Also in Elizabethan folklore, Robin Goodfellow was associated with a mischievous fairy, but also who helped with housework.

Shakespeare really emphasises Puck's ability to transform himself physically, but he also emphasises Puck's ability to transform his attitude and dialogue depending on who he's talking to.

And the key thing to take away is that audiences may have different reactions to the character of Puck at different points in the play.

And it's really good if we can find evidence to support our views on that and how audiences may respond differently.

Really, really well done for today's lesson.

It was great to see you getting involved, particularly with the drama as we acted out that scene with Puck when he transformed Bottom into a donkey's head.

So thank you for joining me.

If there's anything you've struggled with today, please go back and watch those sections of the video again so you feel really confident before you move on to our next lesson.

I hope to see you in one of our lessons in future soon.

Have a great day wherever you're doing for the rest of your day.

See you all soon.

Goodbye.