Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Mr. Chandrapala, and I'm really looking forward to be working with you today.

We're gonna be having a look at Titania's conflict with Oberon today, and one of the most exciting things about this is the fact that we are looking at "Midsummer Night's Dream," which is a play.

My favourite thing about looking at plays is the fact that we actually get to talk about specific dramatic choices.

And one of the things that we're gonna really be looking at today is something that you don't get to see in novels or in poems, and that is stage directions, where an author or a playwright, really, has given a specific thing, a specific action, that they want to be included because they think it elevates the text.

It's one of the best things that we can actually refer to when we are analysing a scene, so I'm really looking forward to discussing that in this lesson today.

Let's get into it.

So we're gonna be looking to explore that presentation of Titania and Oberon in Act 2, Scene 1.

So our keywords for today, as I said, are stage directions, which is a text in a play script which gives us information about how a scene should be staged or how an actor should say a particular line.

There's also the keyword train, which, in the context of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," that means followers, entourage, or servants.

We're gonna be considering dramatic methods within the text, which are the tools a playwright uses to create their work.

For example, that can include characterization, setting, language choices, and stage directions.

We're going to be annotating our work today, which means that we are going to be adding short notes to a piece of text with our own ideas and comments.

This is a really important skill in English, and it's really important that we master it now because it helps us later down the line.

And we're also gonna be considering the keyword of equality, which means the state of being the same status as someone else with the same rights.

So we're gonna start off today by having a look at Shakespeare's dramatic methods.

Jacob compares the conflict that begins in Act 1 with the conflict that begins in Act 2.

So the conflict in Act 1 is between the father and daughter, whilst the conflict in Act 2 is between the king and the queen.

The stage directions state that Egeus brings Hermia before the Duke Theseus, whilst the stage directions in Act 2 state Titania and Oberon each have trains with them.

So there's quite a difference there, maybe in the power dynamic, that we're already beginning to see between Egeus and Hermia compared to Titania and Oberon.

Titania and Oberon almost meeting, both with a group following them, whilst Egeus almost seems to drag Hermia in, suggesting that he has control of her.

Egeus speaks 30 lines during the entirety of that conflict in Act 1, and Hermia speaks only 13, again suggesting maybe that power imbalance.

Whilst Titania speaks 72 lines during the conflict and Oberon speaks 15.

So suddenly, that patriarchal power dynamic seems to almost be reversed.

To avoid punishment, Hermia runs away from Athens.

Titania, though, refuses to give up the boy, who is the centre of the conflict between her and Oberon, and leaves Oberon in the forest.

So here we have, you know, both Hermia and Titania choose to leave, but actually, and, you know, they both want to get their way, but Hermia's doing that because she is, you know, trying to avoid something negative happening to her, whilst Titania feels almost like she's won the fight, she's got her way, and she's just chosen, "You know what? I no longer need to deal with you, Oberon.

I'm off." So we start to see here that this understanding of what we consider to be a patriarchal world in Athens with Egeus and Hermia and Theseus maybe is flipped a little bit when we have a look at Titania and Oberon in the forest.

Jacob reflects, "Shakespeare presents Titania as more powerful than Hermia." What could have led him to this argument? Just looking at the way that the conflict in Act 2 is set up compared to the conflict in Act 1, what maybe suggests that actually, Titania is more powerful than Hermia? Pause the video now and see if you can brainstorm any ideas with the person next to you, or maybe just jot down some keynotes in your work.

When you're ready, hit play.

Some fantastic ideas there, everyone.

Love the fact that people are talking about the fact that Titania comes with her train, so it shows that she has her own entourage, whilst Hermia is being dragged in by her father.

The sort of imbalance in how each of them are speaking.

Titania speaking 72 lines, Hermia only speaking 13.

And the fact that, you know, Titania is a queen whilst Hermia is a daughter.

To come to this argument, Jacob has considered a range of dramatic methods that Shakespeare uses.

So, for example, by looking at the fact that both Titania and Hermia are women or female characters, that's not gonna be maybe the major difference between them.

But considering Hermia is a daughter and Titania is a queen, he's actually considered the key status of each of those characters, which has helped inform his argument.

He's then considered the stage directions between the two, the fact that Titania arrives with a train whilst Hermia arrives dragged in by Egeus.

The fact that actually the number of lines each character says and what that could suggest about their power is quite different.

Hermia only speaking 13, Titania speaking 72.

And the fact that the conflict ends in different ways, so the actual plot is a little bit different for each character.

Hermia runs away from Athens, Titania chooses to leave Oberon because she believes she's won the fight and refuses to give up the boy.

So when we're exploring a play, we should refer to a range of dramatic methods, just like Jacob has, to help inform our ideas.

We can't just solely rely on the dialogue.

And that, as I said in my intro, is because plays have so much that we can talk about here and we don't need to limit ourselves to only thinking about dialogue.

We can talk about the entire construction of the thing because actually, that is part of what the playwright was thinking about.

Those are their sort of writings, their choices which are being explicitly communicated to actors and directors.

So we're just gonna check our understanding here.

A pupil said, "It's pointless counting the number of lines a character says in the scene.

Focus on what they say instead." How do you respond to that student? Is it A, counting the number of lines is a dramatic method used by Shakespeare, B, counting the number of lines can help us understand what a character is saying, C, counting the number of lines can help us understand the balance of power between characters, or D, focus on counting the number of lines of stage directions to understand the characters more deeply? I would like you to select all the options that you think are relevant to sort of responding to this student who says that actually counting the number of lines is pointless.

I'm gonna ask you to select your answers and then hit play.

Great work there, everyone.

Some really clear understanding.

People are checking back their notes, but people have also remembered and they've selected a few options here.

But crucially, we're looking here at C, counting the number of lines can help us understand the power balance between characters.

Remember, as I was saying with Hermia and Egeus, Egeus saying 30 lines, Hermia saying 13.

There's that real power imbalance.

Titania, Oberon, that 72 versus 15.

Titania is racking up those numbers whilst Oberon almost seems quite marginalised, unable to get a word in edgeways.

So we're just gonna practise our application here, and we're gonna read through this section of Act 2, Scene 1.

Here we meet Oberon and Titania for the first time.

So we can see the text, and I'm just gonna read it out to you.

So it starts with a stage direction, "Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his train, and Titania the Queen at another, with her train." Oberon, "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania." Titania, "What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence.

I have forsworn, refused, his bed and company." Oberon, "Tarry, rash woman.

Am I not thy lord?" Titania, "Then I must be thy lady." So this is from Act 2, Scene 1, and it's the first time we see the two of them on stage together.

Using the prompts on the side, I want you to annotate this section of the text.

So you can see that I'm asking, how does Shakespeare suggest the power and equality, so the equal rank of these two characters? I want you to compare this to the conflict in Act 1 between Egeus and Hermia, which is played out in front of Theseus, to support your annotations.

Pause the video now and start annotating.

My strong suggestion when I annotate is that you underline key quotes, maybe box off your key parts of stage directions, and then small margins in the notes.

They don't necessarily need to be full sentences, but we do need to see you linking to particular maybe methods and then the ideas that are communicated.

Pause the video now and have a go at doing that.

Great work there, everyone.

Some really careful and detailed annotation.

There's a real skill in writing something that is short and sweet so that you understand it, but something that also is developed enough that means that it doesn't become useless as soon as you stop looking at it.

Well done.

Let's see if we can take some feedback and improve it even further.

So here's one of Jacob's annotations, and he was looking at the stage direction which starts, "Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his train, and Titania the Queen at another, with hers." And he said, "Well, this is powerful because they have trains following them, so servants or followers, but also equal because they have trains and are of equal status, monarchs." Notice there how Jacob is not necessarily using full sentences.

He's using conjunctions at the moment to expand ideas, but actually, he's still writing quite a bit which is quite shorthand.

So he has also focused on ideas of power and equality, and he's explored dramatic method, which is exactly what we were looking for, right? He's focused on the dramatic method of the trains, of that stage direction.

I want you to self-assess your own annotations, and I want you to make sure that you focus on the presentation of power and equality, and I want you to make sure that you've explored a dramatic method.

So for example, that may be the stage directions or the sharing of lines within the text.

Once you've done that and added anything that you need in a different colour, hit play.

You know, it's something that I always work on with my students in class.

I always try to make sure that we have this opportunity while we're building on annotations.

And I may slip that under the visualizer.

I may do it up on the board with students.

I may get someone to model that learning for us at the board.

But Jacob's work here is really good because he has managed to include all of those things, and I'm really pleased that you've all let it influence you in how you've taken feedback here.

Well done.

Let's keep moving.

So we're now going to move on to exploring Act 2, Scene 1, in a bit more detail.

So after the initial dialogue between Oberon and Titania, Shakespeare develops their conflict.

Titania lists all the terrible things that have happened in the natural world because she and Oberon are fighting, and this includes bad weather and the rotten crops in the field.

Oberon replies, "Do you amend it, then? It lies in you.

Why should Titania cross her Oberon? I do but beg a little changeling boy to be my henchman." Oberon is saying that Titania has the power to end the conflict here.

He begs for the boy.

How do you think Oberon should say these lines? I've delivered them in a very particular way, but I want you to practise saying them now.

How do you think he's gonna say those lines in green? Maybe try in a couple different ways.

If you're doing this in a group of three, or even in pairs, one of you should say the lines, and then the others should act as director, maybe offering a different suggestion or maybe a keyword that you want your partner to hit.

If you're doing this independently, maybe initially have a look at what you think is the key line that you want to hit, maybe focusing even on that question, and then practise saying it.

Pause the video now and practise those lines.

Remember, we do this because it's a play, it's meant to be performed, not just read, and we need to be able to see that because it helps us communicate the emotions in the scene better.

Pause the video now, have a go, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some excellent work there, everyone, and I was so pleased to see how deep your performances went.

Some of you really going hard on that idea of "I do but beg a little changeling boy." Really fantastic work.

Interesting to see where each of you were going with it.

Well done.

The conflict eventually ends between Titania and Oberon with these lines.

Oberon says, "Give me that boy and I will go with thee." Titania, "Not for thy fairy kingdom.

Fairies, away.

We shall chide, fight, downright if I longer stay." Her train and her then leave.

That's the stage direction.

Oberon then replies, "Well, go thy way.

Thou shalt not from this grove, forest, till I torment thee for this injury." Couple of questions here.

We just need to clarify our understanding of the scene.

How does Shakespeare emphasise Titania's power? I want you to focus on dramatic methods.

I have just picked one out there for you when I was reading through the scene.

And then how is Oberon going to torment Titania? Think about what happens later in the play and what he's going to try and sort of make happen and what he instructs Puck to do.

Pause the video now, discuss with your partner, maybe go back to your notes, maybe jot down some ideas, and when you're ready, hit play.

Well done, everyone.

So yeah, absolutely, we've got that moment where we've got that stage direction, "Exit Titania and her train," and the fact that she's even commanding her fairies to leave.

But then we know that Oberon is going to torment her later through that use of the love potion, which means that she will be maybe a little bit feel humiliated because she falls in love briefly with Bottom, one of the poor Athenians who is an actor whose head has been transformed into that of an ass.

So, we can definitely see how this is happening.

But how would we perform these final lines of dialogue, and why? Again, you've heard me read through this.

I want you to now practise this performance.

If you're doing this in pairs, one of you be Oberon, one of you be Titania.

If you're doing this in threes, what you may want to do is actually have one of you be Oberon, one of you be Titania, and then another one of you be a director and then sort of direct Oberon and Titania.

What lines do you want them to hit particularly hard? What emotions are they meant to be feeling? Give them some active feedback.

Cycle through it so everyone gets a go.

But have a go at doing that now.

Pause the video.

I wanna see some great acting now.

You know there's no point in me going to the theatre when I have the opportunity to sit here and watch all of you perform, day in, day out.

That was an absolutely fantastic range of performances.

I really love the sort of indignation that some of you performed Titania with, "Not for thy fairy kingdom.

Fairies, away." Just moving away from that sort of, like, mocking nature of Titania towards Oberon to then being this imperious, commanding presence with her fairies.

Absolutely fantastic.

So we're just gonna check our understanding here.

Titania nearly gives into Oberon's demand for the boy but manages to resist.

Do we think that's true? Do we think that's false? Have a look at what we've already read through the text, pause the video, and then select your option.

When you're ready, hit play.

And we can see that that is false.

But why? Let's just justify.

Is it because unlike Hermia, who is presented as powerless against her father and Theseus, Titania never seems in doubt that she will keep the boy, or is it because like Hermia, who runs away from Athens, Titania runs away from Oberon to avoid his making her do what he wants? Which option do you think is a better justification of how Titania does not give in to Oberon's demand and had no intentions of ever giving in? Choose A or B, and then hit play.

Well done, everyone.

Yes, it is A.

Unlike Hermia, who cannot fight, really, against Egeus, Titania was never going to give up on the boy.

Always wanted to make sure that she got her way and is unwilling to negotiate with Oberon.

So Jacob is considering Act 2, Scene 1, and says: I think this scene is all about power.

More specifically, Shakespeare presents Titania as having more power than Oberon.

Oberon has to beg Titania for the boy he wants, and he tries different ways to get him, none of which work.

Shakespeare also gives most of the lines to Titania so she dominates the scene.

I think Shakespeare wants us to compare this conflict between Hermia and Egeus and see how here it is the woman who is more in control.

It's a really interesting idea from Jacob, and I definitely think that that's one way of reading the text.

Aisha, though, disagrees and argues: I think this scene is all about desire.

More specifically, Shakespeare presents Oberon as desperate for the boy, and he is willing to sacrifice his relationship with Titania and the harmony of the natural world to get the boy.

Shakespeare gives Oberon fewer lines, but when Titania leaves, he says that he will torment her for this injury, showing how he now desires to hurt Titania.

I think Shakespeare wants us to think about the power of desire.

The desire for the boy makes Oberon hurt Titania, and Hermia's desire to marry Lysander early in the play makes her run away from home.

Both of these are such interesting ideas, and I think that actually both of them have real strengths to them.

They're both rooted in the text, and they're just two very different interpretations.

What I really like about actually Aisha's idea and actually how I'd maybe extend it is the fact that, you know, Oberon is so hurt, he feels this injury, that actually he feels the need for revenge and he feels that he needs to be able to torment, to be able to wound Titania in some way to be able to get this.

Because he cannot have his desire, she must be humiliated in some way.

It's a really interesting way of reading the text.

Sam, though, disagrees with both of them.

Whilst Jacob says, "I think this scene is all about power" and Aisha says, "This scene is all about desire," Sam says, "I think this scene is all about being a bad monarch." But what do you think Act 2, Scene 1, is all about? You can agree with any of the three pupils, or you can come up with your own idea.

I think Sam's idea is a really interesting one because surely Titania and Oberon's fighting, which has led to the destruction of the natural world, shows that they're, you know, they're not very good leaders, they're failing in their responsibilities.

But which one do you think is strongest? If you want to, you can go for Jacob, Aisha, or Sam, or if you want, you can come up with your own idea.

But what do you think the scene is about? Pause the video now, have that discussion with your partner, maybe jot down some ideas, and when you're ready, hit play.

Not only are you incredible thespians, you are able to think so carefully about the text.

I heard loads of you backing in Sam's idea and really trying to find evidence for it, which I was so pleased about, but then so many of you coming up with your own ideas.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how you develop on them.

Let's keep moving.

So I want us to practise using each of these ideas.

And you may have gone (inhales through teeth).

The reason why I wanted that discussion is because you may have gone for your own idea, but if you did go for Jacob, Sam, or Aisha's work looking at power, desire, or monarchy, that's absolutely fine.

I want you to use the three sentence starters below to answer the question, what is Act 2, Scene 1, all about? What is the main thing it's really all about? So you can use any of those ideas, but I then want you to use the sentence starters.

I think Act 2, Scene 1 is all about.

And then you can choose either power, desire, or monarchy, or your own particular thing.

I then want you to select a piece of evidence from Act 2, Scene 1, using the sentence starter more specifically.

And then I want you to consider how he presents the idea in the scene and earlier in the play by using the sentence starter, I think Shakespeare wants us to think about.

You may want to extend that a little bit further using our previous knowledge from today's lesson and consider the methods, the dramatic methods, being used which allow this to happen.

So you may want to talk about the number of lines that a character has, the language they're using in the dialogue, the stage directions, the status of the character, any of those things.

But now I'm gonna stop talking.

Passing the baton over to you, my esteemed colleagues.

Pause the video now, have a go, and when you're ready, hit play.

Fantastic work there, everyone.

Some really careful checking back, and I love the way that all of you were using those sentence starters.

Some of you went for your own ideas, which is absolutely fine.

I'm so pleased, but what I was really happy with was that you all thought of just focusing on one key thing 'cause it's difficult to have a multiple, or a focus on a multiple range of things here, when actually, that can get quite confusing.

Let's take some feedback now.

So Aisha's response is here: I think the scene is all about desire.

More specifically, Shakespeare presents Oberon as desperate for the boy, and he is willing to sacrifice his relationship with Titania and the harmony of the natural world to get him.

Shakespeare gives Oberon fewer lines, but when Titania leaves, he says that he will torment her for this injury, showing he now desires to hurt Titania.

I think Shakespeare wants us to think about the power of desire.

The desire for the boy makes Oberon hurt Titania, and Hermia's desire to marry Lysander earlier in the play makes her run away from home.

Here, we can see that Aisha has a clear idea.

She's focused on one thing, "I think the scene is all about desire." She's got a really clear reference to the text, so we can see how she's referred to a particular moment of the plot, Oberon being desperate for the boy, and Titania refusing, and the danger to the natural world.

But then she's even linked to the fact that actually, Oberon says that he wants to torment Titania for this injury.

So she's used specific quotations.

And then she's actually explored the idea across the play.

She's had a look at the fact that the desire for the boy makes Oberon hurt Titania, that desire for revenge, and Hermia's desire to marry Lysander early in the play makes her run away from home.

So actually, what Shakespeare.

She's linking this to earlier in the text to make us understand that actually, the power of desire makes us either act out or makes us sort of protect ourselves in a way.

I want you to self-assess your own response, and I want you to make sure that you've got that clear idea, so a really clear topic sentence focusing on one particular thing.

Reference to the text, whether that's in terms of plot detail or specific quotes.

They may be single-word quotes, or they may be slightly longer, they may be stage directions.

Ideally, let's still try and keep it around five or six words at most.

And then we're exploring the idea across the play.

So we may be linking back to earlier in the play, the presentation of Hermia, Egeus, and Theseus, or even if you remember later on in the play and what happens in terms of the love triangle or the love square that occurs and sort of the play's resolution.

Pause the video now, check your work, make sure that you add anything you have missed in a different colour pen, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really careful self-assessment there, everyone, and I'm really pleased to see that you're all being so reflective and taking such pride in your work.

It really makes me happy to see all of you care so deeply about your work.

Well done.

It's really putting you in a good position.

So, we're coming towards the end of today's lesson.

And as ever, we will end with our summary of Act 2, Scene 1, which looks at Titania and Oberon's conflict.

So Act 2 of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" begins like Act 1, with a conflict between a man and a woman and looks at the sort of patriarchal power structures of, in Act 1, Athens, and in Act 2, the forest world.

Shakespeare uses dramatic methods to draw attention to the differences between these two conflicts.

So whilst Hermia is quite powerless, Titania is able to hold her own against Oberon.

Dramatic methods are a tool the playwright uses to create their work.

For example, that can be the characterization.

So Titania being a queen, Hermia being a daughter.

The setting.

Remember what I've said before, the forest is almost this magical place where normal power structures don't necessarily work.

And stage directions, which are specifically used by the actor and the director to help us understand how a particular character may be feeling at a particular moment or what's meant to be going on in a particular scene.

And then making sure that we, as readers and critics, are exploring these dramatic methods when annotating.

And we need to be also discussing, sorry, including them when we discuss or write about a text.

We don't just rely on dialogue.

You have all done so incredibly well for linking all of these really complex ideas, and I'm really impressed by how much you're grasping and enjoying this unit.

Thank you so much for all of your hard effort today.

I've been really enjoying this series of lessons with you, and I'm really looking forward to working with you again.

Bye for now.