Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's learning on restoring order.

So for today, you will need your pen and your paper.

Make sure you've got those two things for me, please.

Ensure that you've cleared away any distractions that you might have, closed down any windows, any notifications, anything that might distract from that perfect learning environment.

So when you've got your lovely, quiet space and you're ready, let's begin.

So we know that the love potion has caused chaos, confusion, and conflict as a result of Puck's mistake.

At the back of it, though, Oberon was always trying to help.

So it has caused chaos, confusion, and conflict, those three terms that we keep coming back to, and the reason why it's caused these three things, the consequences, the lovers are all suffering from unrequited love.

So not just Helena and Demetrius, where Helena loved Demetrius.

He didn't love her back.

Demetrius loves Hermia.

She didn't love him back.

Now they are all suffering from unrequited love.

Lysander loves Helena, Hermia loves Lysander, Demetrius loves Helena, and Lysander loves Helena.

It's all getting very, very confusing.

So the lovers are all in conflict.

They're all in arguments with each other.

Hermia blames Helena for what's happened.

Helena thinks that she's the victim of mockery.

Demetrius and Lysander are competing against each other for Helena's affections.

There are verbal and physical fights.

We've got Hermia threatening to gouge out Helena's eyeballs.

Even though she's short, she can reach her eyeballs and scratch them with her nails.

We've got the fact that Hermia is quite fierce.

We've got the insults, such as cankerblossom, juggler, puppet.

All these things as a result of the love potion, the thing that has the ability to fix and heal.

And Puck is blamed.

We know that Puck had a role within this chaos, confusion, and conflict, and Oberon does blame Puck quite explicitly, but Puck does defend himself.

Let's have a look.

"This is thy negligence; still thou mistak'st or else commit'st thy knaveries willfully." "Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.

Did not you tell me I should know the man by the Athenian garmets he had on? And so far blameless proves my enterprise that I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes: and so far am I glad it did so sort, as this their jangling I esteem a sport." So Oberon does blame Puck.

He says that, "This is thy negligence.

This is the fact that you haven't paid attention properly.

This is the fact that you haven't done your job properly, your duty properly, and still thou mistak'st." There's the sense that Puck is unreliable.

Puck does seem to be making a lot of mistakes within the play.

We see the things that he's done, the trickery that he's done, not always something that causes harm.

It's things that are playful, that are comical.

The idea of pretending to be a stool, pretending to be a crab apple, but we've witnessed an example of Puck making a mistake, and what Oberon implies here is it's not the first mistake the Puck has ever made.

He gets things wrong.

So there's the sense that Puck is unreliable, but still, Oberon gave him such a huge responsibility, this hugely powerful love potion that Puck, mischievous Puck, had the ability to put upon somebody's eyelids.

And there's also the fact that Puck is a trickster.

We know this.

As I've just mentioned, the idea of the stool, the crab apple, when he pretended to be the stool and the woman fell down.

The idea of pretending to be a crab apple and bobbing around in someone's drink so they dribble their drink everywhere.

So Oberon says, you know, "This is your negligence.

This is, you've done this, and one of your many mistakes or the fact that you've done this willfully, that you've deliberately done this.

And Puck does defend himself.

And remember, we can also side with Puck a little bit here because we know and understand that Oberon's instructions technically were clear enough, but it was the fact that there were four Athenian lovers in the magical fairy forest, and not the two only the Oberon saw, Helena and Demetrius.

He didn't know that Hermia and Lysander were also there as well.

So Puck really does defend himself here.

"Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook." It was a genuine mistake.

He believes that it was a genuine mistake.

And he did do what he was asked to do.

He put the love potion on a man with Athenian garments on.

So you can't argue with that.

He did actually do what he was asked.

So he says he's blameless.

It wasn't his fault.

He did put it on an Athenian's eyes, someone who was wearing Athenian clothes.

The only catch is, however, at the bottom of what Puck says.

"And so far am I glad I did it so sort.

So actually kind of glad I did it, because all this arguing, this messing around, this chaos, I esteem a sport." He actually admits as a part of him that's entertained by it.

So yes, it was a genuine mistake, but he's also kind of glad he made it, because he's getting entertained by it.

He's enjoying what he's watching unfolding.

So yes, Puck did make a mistake, but Puck doesn't feel like it was entirely the wrong thing to do, because it's actually quite funny.

He admits it's funny, and as an audience, we can't much argue with that, because we've laughed at the insults.

We thought it was quite funny.

So there is the element of what's happened is a bit of a sport as well.

So how does Puck feel about his mistake? Let's ask ourselves that question.

Genuine mistake but entertaining, genuine mistake but feels guilty, deliberate error and funny, deliberate error but entertaining.

Have a think.

How does Puck feel about his mistake? Excellent work, if you said option number one.

It was a genuine mistake.

He didn't mean to do it.

However, he found it entertaining at the same time.

So number two, again, genuine mistake but guilty.

He doesn't feel guilty about what he's done at all.

It wasn't three and four, because it wasn't a deliberate error.

He didn't do it deliberately.

He's just kind of pleased with the outcome.

He's pleased with the entertainment and the sport that he's got from it.

So let's look at a new term, then, the idea of remorse.

So remorse, a feeling of being sorry for doing something in the past, which was bad or wrong.

So we can think about how this word might apply to Puck as a character, our mischievous Puck.

Puck is remorseless with his mistake, because he thinks that the chaos, confusion, and conflict he has caused is entertaining.

He calls it a sport.

So he is remorseless.

He doesn't have any remorse, which means therefore that he doesn't feel sorry for something that he's done in the past, which was bad or wrong.

He doesn't feel sorry for that.

He was entertained by it.

It was comical to him.

He enjoyed watching what he had done.

Let's look at Oberon's monologue.

So Oberon says, "Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight.

Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; the starry welkin cover thou anon with drooping fog, as black as Acheron, and lead these testy rivals so astray as one not come within another's way." So Oberon's monologue here is explaining how he's going to restore order, how he's going to fix the problem.

So these lovers, he's referring to Demetrius and Lysander, and Demetrius and Lysander are trying to find a place to fight.

They're going to fight over Helena.

So there's going to be a physical fight for the affection of Helena.

So he tells Robin, another name for Puck, Robin Goodfellow, "overcast the night." He wants him to create fog, really, really dark fog, so you can't see what's going on.

And then he wants Puck to, "lead these testy rivals so astray" lead them astray so they don't come in each other's way.

So he wants him to trick them.

He wants them to trick them so that they stay apart from each other.

So let's pause, then, just to ensure we understand the first part of Oberon's monologue.

So number one, who wants to have a fight? Two, what does Oberon want Puck to do to make it hard to see? And number three, how does Oberon then want Puck to prevent the fight? So when you're ready, pause your video and answer those three questions in full sentences, please.

Off you go.

Excellent work.

Let's have a look, then.

So number one, Demetrius and Lysander want to fight.

You remember they're fighting for the affection of Helena.

Number two, Oberon wants Puck to create a dark fog to make it hard to see.

And number three, Oberon wants Pucks to lead them in different directions to prevent the fight.

So he wants to lead them apart from each other, because if they see each other, they're going to fight.

So he wants him to lead them away from each other, to prevent that fight.

Oberon doesn't want a fight to break out.

He wants to restore order.

He wants to put order right.

He doesn't want to make the situation any worse than it already is.

Let's look at the next part, then, of Oberon's monologue.

"Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong; and sometime rail thou like Demetrius, and from each other look thou lead them thus, till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep with leaden legs and batty wings doth creep." So he wants Puck to mimic Lysander and Demetrius's voice.

"Frame thy tongue." So take on their voice.

And he wants Puck to pretend to be Lysander to stir Demetrius up, to wind him up, to say things that will get a reaction out of Demetrius.

And you might think, well, that seems back to front because Oberon doesn't want a fight.

Actually, he wants Puck to do it, because then they will keep chasing after each other.

If Puck keeps calling them in different directions, they will keep chasing after each other, and then there'll be so tired.

the idea is that then they will fall asleep.

So if he leads them away from each other, and then they'll get so tired, it'll tyre them out.

So they're constantly be chasing after each other in long distance, different directions, and then they'll get so tired that they will sleep.

If they sleep, then there's the opportunity to use the love potion on their sleeping eyelids.

So he needs to tyre them out.

The way to tie them out is to mimic their voices.

So Lysander, things that will wind Demetrius up, so Puck puts on Lysander's voice.

Puck then pretends to be Demetrius to wind up Lysander.

So they will constantly chase each other, but he'll lead them in opposite directions, all done to prevent a fight.

So let's look, then, and check our understanding.

So question four, what does Oberon one Puck to mimic? Number five, when does he want Puck to stop this trickery? So when you're ready, pause your video and answer those questions for me, please.

Well done.

Let's have a look, then.

Oberon wants Puck to mimic their voices, to ensure they deliberately aggravate each other.

So aggravate, a better way of saying wind each other up, that they aggravate each other.

And number five, Oberon wants Puck to continue the trickery, so to continue doing it, to carry on doing it until they get too tired trying to find each other and need to sleep, because that's then the opportunity for that love potion to be placed on their sleeping eyelids.

Oberon then gives Puck his clear instructions of what he needs to do, and Oberon can be explicit now.

He uses Lysander, not Athenian man this time.

So Oberon's next part of his monologue, next part of his instructions.

"Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye, whose liquor hath this virtuous property, to take from thence all error with his might and make his eyeball roll with wonted sight.

When they next wake, all this derision shall seem a dream and fruitless vision; and back to Athens shall the lovers wend, with league whose date till death shall never end." So he wants Puck to put a particular herb into Lysander's eye, which will remove the love potion.

So he wants to remove the love potion from Lysander, and he wants him to see normally again.

He wants him to see normally, and we've got our first quotation in our turquoise.

"Eyeballs roll with wonted sight." He will see normally, his eyes will see normally again.

"And take from thence all error." So all the error will be taken away, so he will see normally.

"All this derision shall seem a dream and fruitless vision." So he won't see this dreamlike state anymore.

So he won't see this dreamlike state anymore.

So let's pause again.

So number six, what does Oberon want Puck to do with the herb? Number seven, what does the herb have the power to do? And number eight, how will the events appear to the lovers? When you're ready, pause your video and answer those three questions in full sentences.

Off you go, please.

Excellent work.

Let's have a look, then.

So Oberon wants Puck to put the herb on Lysander's eye, so specifically Lysander.

He wants to remove the love potion from Lysander.

Number seven, the herb has the power to remove the error of the love potion and allow Lysander to realise his true love, Hermia, again.

So it would make him see normally again.

And number eight, to the lovers, the events will seem like a dream, a dream, and that's quite key.

So on whose eyes just Oberon want Puck to put the herb? Demetrius', Lysander's, Hermia's, or Helena's? Quick think.

Exactly, Lysander's.

He wants to reverse the love potion, to take the love potion off Lysander.

How will the events seem to the four lovers? A terrible nightmare, a meaningless dream, a sweet and happy dream, a frighteningly real experience? Have a think.

Well done, if you put option number two, a meaningless dream.

"A fruitless vision" was the quotation from the text.

Won't be a sweet and happy dream, because they will remember what has happened, what they felt before.

So it won't necessarily be sweet and happy memories, but it won't be something that seems important to them, and it won't be seen like nightmare.

Won't be a horrible, terrible experience for them.

It will be meaningless, something that just seems like a distant memory, that it never happened.

So restoring order.

The four lovers.

So we've got two narratives running within this idea of restoring order.

So far, we've looked at the four lovers, and Lysander has the love potion removed, and they will therefore see what has happened as a meaningless dream, and that's Puck's responsibility.

So Puck has been given the responsibility, once again, mischievous Puck has been given the responsibility of restoring order for the four lovers.

However, within restoring order, there are two mini narratives running and we're still got Titania and Bottom.

And Titania's has been humiliated with an ass, Bottom, who has been given an ass's head, and this is over the boy, and the fact that Oberon wants the boy back, and that's Oberon's responsibility to fix that.

So Puck is fixing and restoring order with the four lovers, and Oberon is restoring order with his queen and Bottom.

So that's Oberon's responsibility.

That's the one that's going to be happening next.

But let's pause.

So after Puck uses the herb on Lysander, so we're looking at Puck's responsibility, after Puck uses the herb on Lysander, Hermia loves, Lysander loves, Demetrius loves, and Helena loves.

Pause your video, please, and complete those sentences.

Off you go.

Excellent work, then.

Excellent work.

So before we go through the answers, next question I just want to pose to you is who is suffering from unrequited love now? Have a think.

Keep that question in the back of your mind for now.

So after Puck uses the herb on Lysander, we should be left with Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Helena, Helena loves Demetrius.

So who is suffering from unrequited love now? The answer is nobody.

So Oberon's monologue.

So we now know that the lovers are not suffering from unrequited love, and once the herb is put on Lysander's eyes, that will then restore order for Hermia and Lysander.

But we also need to remember, there is another part of Oberon's monologue where he needs to fix the situation with Titania and Bottom.

So, "Whiles I in this affair do thee employ," so while I give you the responsibility of the lovers, "I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy; and then I will her charmed eye release from monster's view, and all things shall be peace." So he is going to restore order.

But in this monologue, in this instruction, there is one thing Oberon will not change.

So he says, "All things shall be peace," but there's one thing he will not change, and we have to think why he won't change that.

Why won't he change this last thing? And the last thing that he won't change is he will not take the love potion off of Demetrius, and his original plan was to help Helena, and he still stands by that.

So Oberon's plan for the four lovers, and Oberon explains the plan to Puck.

He tells him exactly what's going to happen and how he's going to restore order.

He does that to inform Puck, but it's also done to remind the audience of how things are going to work and how things are going to unfold, because we are watching a Shakespearian comedy.

There is confusion over who is who, so Shakespeare wants to make it clear for the audience.

So this monologue is really useful to ensure that we are tracking the play carefully, and we know who is who.

So after Puck uses the herb on Lysander, Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Demitrius loves Helena, and Helena loves Demetrius.

Let's think with our arrows.

So Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves her back.

That's back to normal, as it was before.

Helena loves Demetrius, which she's always done, but now Demetrius loves Helena, and that makes a big difference, because now we have two couples with no unrequited love, and that's the question that we can now be really clear.

Who is suffering from unrequited love now? Because Oberon has restored order, he's gone beyond restoring order.

He hasn't restored it to how it was before.

He's actually made the situation technically better, because no one is suffering from unrequited love anymore.

So after Puck uses the herb on Lysander, just to clarify, Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Helena, Helena loves Demetrius, and no one is suffering from unrequited love.

So we've looked at the resolution of order, the resolving of order in Act 3.

We now need to look upon Act 4.

We're going to touch into Act 4 by looking at Oberon's remorse, and Oberon and Titania.

So as a part of restoring order, "Her dotage now I do begin to pity.

For, meeting her of late behind the wood, seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool, I did upbraid her and fall out with her." So he says he starts to pity her slightly, because this hateful fool, Bottom's so ridiculous and such an idiot, that so foolish, that he's actually pitting Titania for being with him.

"I then did ask of her her changeling child; which straight she gave me, and her fairy sent to bear him to my bower in fairyland.

And now I have the boy, I will undo this hateful imperfection of her eyes." So he is willing to take the potion off Titania because she has given him the boy.

So Titania awakens.

Oberon then says, "Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen." "My Oberon, what visions what I seen! Methought I was enamour'd of an ass." "There lies your love." So notice how over on is talking about Titania, my Titania, my sweet queen.

My Oberon, as Titania says to him.

There's that sense of love between them.

They might have this argumentative relationship, but there is a sense of love between them.

He calls him my sweet queen.

He's got what he wanted.

Does that necessarily mean it's right, but he's got what he's wanted, and got we wanted and there's no argument now.

And there's that comedy value, isn't there? There's that comedy value that, "I was enamoured of an ass, that I was completely in love with an ass." And she thinks it's a vision that she's seen, and the dramatic irony of that is what she's saying is actually completely true, and we've watched her say how beautiful he is, how wise he is, how lovely his singing is.

We've watched her stroke is ears, to look and to give.

She's given him compliments.

She's told him that he's wonderful.

She's been completely in love with an ass.

And Oberon even says, "There he is.

There lies your love.

There lies the person that you love or loved." And Titania then says, "How came these things to pass? O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!" So how much I hate looking at him now.

Oberon then says, "Silence awhile, Robin, take off this head.

Titania, music call; and strike more dead than common sleep, all of these five the sense." "Music, ho, music, such as charmeth sleep." So if we pause just there for a moment, Titania is really quite confused.

She's woken up, and how on earth did this all happen? And Oberon says, "Well, we'll pause that thought.

Robin, take off the head.

Put Bottom back to normal." And then he wants the music to ensure that these lovers sleep and rest, and Puck then says at the end, "Now when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes peep." So he's saying, "Now when you wake, you'll have your own foolish eyes back, and that's how you'll look.

You'll no longer be an ass, but you will still act like one, because you're still a fool." So Bottom is still a fool and Puck uses that, doesn't he? He says, "Own fool's eyes." Bottom is not going to suddenly wake up and be intelligent and someone completely different.

So that brings us to the end of today's learning on restoring order.

Don't forget to take your quiz and aim for that 100%.

Check those answers really carefully and showcase your learning.

So, well done on your amazing learning today.

Really impressive.

Thank you very much.

Take care, and enjoy the rest of your learning.