Good morning everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala here, and I'm really looking forward to be joining you for this lesson today on disorder in the forest.

So we're looking at A Midsummer Night's Dream, and one of the really important things for us to consider for an Elizabethan audience is this idea of disorder.

It was an incredibly hierarchical society, so it is a society which really prized the idea of there being a social status and an order in how things should work.

And the forest is often a place where actually in Shakespearean comedies, this order is challenged in a really interesting and entertaining way before we enter again the real world where the normality is restored.

I'm really looking forward to getting into this with you because this is one of my favourite things to explore in comedies.

Let's get into it.

So our lesson outcome for today is that we can explain how the disorder in the forest is presented.

As ever, we're gonna start with our keywords.

So one of the keywords for today is the noun disorder.

That just means confusion or chaos.

We're gonna be having a look at some of the key themes in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Just a reminder that themes are an important idea to a text that is explored through different characters and plot points.

I mentioned the word hierarchy several times or the word hierarchical.

The noun version of hierarchical is hierarchy, and a hierarchy is just a system whereby people or things are ranked with some being higher than others.

I'd really recommend if you didn't to add that either to your glossary, maybe at the back of your book, or maybe just get that down as one of the key words for today, just so you are really clear with that.

We're then gonna be talking about the Elizabethans, because obviously A Midsummer Night's Dream is an Elizabethan play.

The Elizabethans were any person alive when Elizabeth I was on the throne, so from from 1558 to 1603.

So the first audiences of a A Midsummer Night's Dream were Elizabethan.

Shakespeare is sometimes discussed as an Elizabethan playwright.

And then finally we have The Great Chain of Being, which is a really important concept for us to grasp because it's a term used by the Elizabethans, which referred to a system of ranking which they believed was created by God.

It links to this idea of hierarchy that actually there is someone at the top, so the monarch, and all the way down to the bottom, there is this chain of being, this rank order in society.

So we're looking at disorder in the forest today, and we're gonna start off by looking at how Oberon reacts to the consequences of the potion.

So we'll remember that Oberon wanted the magical potion for two reasons.

He wanted to make Titania love and languish, weakened, for something vile.

So that's in act two, scene two, lines 35 and 40.

And that's because Titania refuses to give him the boy that he so desperately wants.

The other reason why he wants the love potion is to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena, because he has overheard how cruel Demetrius has been to Helena, Helena who loves Demetrius so much, and Demetrius who refuses to return that love.

So my question to you is, and I just want you to pause the video now and maybe jot down some ideas or even discuss with your partner, is might Oberon react when he realises Titania is in love with Bottom? Remember, Bottom is a very lowly character in the play.

He is an actor that has come from the city to practise his play.

Puck has even gone to turning his head into that of an ass, so into that of a donkey's head, How do we think Oberon is going to react with this sort of moment? Pause the video now and start discussing or noting some ideas down and when you're ready, hit play.

I really like some of the adjectives some of you were picking up.

Some of you were saying the fact that actually he would maybe be quite shocked because of who Titania has chosen to fall for, who she has ended up falling for, she doesn't have a huge amount of choice.

And some of you even saying that he would be really amused by it, because it almost plays exactly into that idea that she falls for something vile.

Now I want you to pause again, and I want you to think about how I ob Oberon react when he realises Helena is still unhappy because Puck puts the wrong- Sorry, the post on the wrong person.

Pause the video now and, again, jot down any ideas, any predictions, any guesses on how Oberon will feel, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some fantastic ideas there from everyone.

I really like how people were saying that actually Oberon's gonna feel really incredibly frustrated and annoyed with Puck, after Puck has already sort of shown that he's not entirely trustworthy and can be a little bit careless at times.

Some I really great work there.

So first, Oberon hears about the consequences of using the magical potion on Titania.

Puck tells him, "My mistress with a monster is in love." That's in act three, scene two, line six, and then Puck reveals how he transformed Bottom, and how to Titania waked and straight away loved an ass, loved a man with the head of a donkey.

Oberon replies, "This falls out better than I could devise." So those of you who said that actually he's gonna be quite amused, you are right on the money there, he is really so pleased, so happy because things have gone even better for his plan than he initially thought.

Puck has exceeded, surpassed, gone beyond his expectations.

How do we think Oberon feels about what has happened to Titania there? We've just spoken about it, we've just seen some of the key quotes.

I want you to focus on that line, "This falls out better than I could devise." And I want you maybe to write that quote into your notes, and you may want to annotate, pick out some key words that you think are really interesting in that quote.

When you are ready, hit play.

Great work there, everyone.

I love the fact that so many of you are picking out that comparative better.

Yes, he's saying it falls up better than I could devise, better than I could plan.

It has gone beyond what I think could even have happened in the first place.

Then see how Oberon, well, Oberon then sees Demetrius and Hermia.

Demetrius is unhappy because he wants Hermia to love him back.

"O, why rebuke you him that loves you so." Oh, why would you tell off the person that loves you so much? Hermia is unhappy because she doesn't know where Lysander is and believes Demetrius may have killed him.

"If thou has slain Lysander in his sleep, kill me too." So we can clearly see that Hermia is really quite protective of Demetrius.

Obviously she is the one who has decided, "If my father won't let me marry Lysander, I have to leave and move into the forest.

I will follow Lysander there and we will be happier there." Demetrius follows after them, and there we can see that actually Hermia's strength of feeling is so strong there.

Really finding it difficult to understand how she can live without Lysander.

But where is Lysander and why did he leave Hermia? Pause the video now, see if you can work it out and see if you can remember from looking back in your notes, and when you're ready hit play.

Well done everyone, some really good checking back and knowledge being shown there.

Lysander falls in love with Helena, because obviously Puck puts the potion on the wrong person, puts the potion on Lysander rather than on Demetrius, which confuses everything.

Oberon then turns to Puck saying, "What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite and laid the love juice on some true love's sight.

About the wood go swifter than the wind, and Helena of Athens look thou find.

All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer with sighs of love." Now, whilst Puck goes to find Helena, Oberon anoints Demetrius's eyes with a potion so that he falls in love with Helena.

So how does Oberon react to Puck's mistake? Is he pleased with it? Is he appraising Puck here, or is he actually tallying Puck off? How is his reaction different to his reaction to Bottom and Titania? Again, you may want to just pause the video now, go back to the text, see if you can get any of those key ideas out from it, and maybe even find evidence to support your ideas.

Make sure to discuss with your partner, get down any key quotes and when you're ready, hit play.

Really good work there, everyone, loads of people saying that, that he's actually incredibly frustrated with Puck.

He tells him to go swifter than the wind to find Helena.

He asks him, "What has thou done?" We can imagine the frustration there, "What has thou done?" The anger in his voice, and then we see him immediately trying to correct it, so we can see that he's not enjoying this tomfoolery, he's not enjoying this mistake, he doesn't see the humour in it, he wants to get things fixed.

It's quite a different reaction to that between Titania and Bottom.

So true or false, just a quick check for understanding here.

Oberon tells Puck to find Helena swifter than the wind, so that he can correct the mistake that Puck has made.

True or false, selecting in three, and two, and one, and fantastic, well done to all of you who said it's true, but why is it true? Is it because the metaphor seems to convey that urgency Oberon feels the situation needs, or has it become.

The metaphor conveys how funny Oberon finds the disorder? Selecting again in, I'll give you a bit more time here just to think about it.

Is it about the metaphor showing urgency to fix the situation, or because the metaphor suggests disorder? Selecting in five, four, three, two, and one.

And well done everyone, everyone going for A there.

That idea of swifter than the wind shows that he wants Puck to move with a real urgency, real pace, and real quick speed to actually fix the situation that he has created.

So we're now gonna practise this.

I am going to ask you to complete the sentence stems below.

As you can see on the left-hand side we've got, Oberon on is happy with Puck in act three, scene two because.

Oberon is happy with Puck in act three, scene two but.

And Oberon is happy with Puck in act three, scene two so.

And then I need you to complete the sentence stems using the part on the right-hand side, so you get to consider his feelings for Titania at this point in the play for the first one, considering his feelings about the Athenian nobles and his unhappiness perhaps using a quotation for the second and that third, that's so the action he takes is what I need you to focus on.

To really do this well, I'm really gonna ask you all to make sure that you are referring to act three, scene two, specifically line 35 and lines 88 to 96.

So using those parts of the text that we've already started to go through to give you evidence to develop your ideas.

If you can even start getting into the evidence and what that shows, that will be fantastic.

I'm gonna ask you to pause the video now again though.

Pause the video and start working through this task.

When you're ready, hit play.

Excellent work there, everyone, people going back to the text, really trying to find the best part of the text to best quote to really support their ideas, and really starting to see actually how Oberon changes over the course of the scene in his relationship with Puck because of what he has seen.

Let's start going through.

So I'm gonna ask you to self-asses your sentences using the questions below to guide you.

So for the first one, one it says, "Oberon is happy with Puck in act three, scene two because.

." Have you managed to explain that Titania and Oberon are in conflict, using that word conflict, and actually Oberon has this desire for revenge? For the second one, are you, when discussing how Oberon is happy with Puck, but have you also explained that actually Oberon's kinder feelings towards the nobles perhaps.

Sorry, his kinder feelings towards the nobles changed the way that he reacts to the situation, in contrast to how he acts with the situation of Titania? Again, using quotations to support.

And then finally it says, "Oberon is happy with Puck in act three, scene two so.

." Have you explained that how Oberon begins to undo Puck's mistake, have you gone back to that line, "Swifter than the wind?" Pause the video now, make sure that you've got me answered all three of those questions as part of your work and when you're ready, hit play.

Some lovely work there everyone, people really carefully checking back, embedding those key words about conflict and revenge, and making sure that we're going back to that idea of actually how Oberon is starting to show that he has a different side to him.

Moving from that vengeful side to that much kinder side now when seeing the Athenians.

Well done.

So we're now gonna have a look at Titania and Bottom's relationship.

And this is really the point of the text where we begin to see that really disorder that, sorry, the real disorder of the forest come through.

So Andeep creates a table showing the differences between Titania and Bottom.

It's a really good idea, it helps them map out some of the character traits of each character.

So he notices that whilst Titania is a high-status supernatural monarch, Bottom is a low-status human labourer.

And whilst Titania is the subject of Oberon's revenge, really Bottom is the subject of Puck's practical joke.

Bottom hasn't done anything to deserve to be the sort of butt of Puck's practical joke.

But Puck has clearly wanted to do this because he of that sort of a devious element to him.

And then Titania belongs in the forest, while Bottom belongs in Athens, and as I mentioned earlier, is coming to the forest to really practise his play with his cast members.

Now Aisha asks, "Why did you create this table, Andeep?" And Andeep says, "Well, it's to help me understand the theme of disorder, and it helps me look at Elizabethan society in the next step." Shakespeare was and Elizabethan.

As such, he explored ideas in his plays that were important to him and to society.

One of the most important ideas to an Elizabethan society, was the idea of hierarchy.

They believed, the Elizabethans did, that everyone had their place in the hierarchy, and that place was given to them by God.

So remember, a hierarchy is almost social order, and the Elizabethans believed that everyone, every person was placed in a specific part of that social order.

This particular version of the hierarchy was therefore called The Great Chain of Being.

To question or disrupt.

So to challenge the hierarchy was therefore seen as a threat to society.

The theatre was one of the places we could explore disorder without directly challenging the hierarchy.

Because people understood that what was on stage wasn't real life.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, disorder is presented as a source of comedy, but significantly at the end of the play, all of the disorder is resolved.

So even though the Elizabethans were really challenged by disorder, they were allowed to experiment with it, particularly when looking at it in plays and specifically comedies.

Disorder is really important to comedy.

But usually as I mentioned right at the start, by the end of most comedies that disorder is resolved, things are put back to normal.

So the diagram below shows the hierarchy that was so important to Elizabethans.

This is a version of The Great Chain of Beings.

So we can see right at the top is God, where then followed by angels, monarchs, church, noble people, people, then animals.

Shakespeare explores disorder in The Great Chain of Being in a lot of his plays.

For example, outside of the comedies we've got Macbeth, a tragedy where a soldier kills the king.

The soldier is punished and order is restored at the end of the play.

So the main character, Macbeth, an ordinary soldier kills the king.

After initially being made a noble, he eventually kills the king.

He jumps The Great Chain of Being, challenges that idea, and eventually the whole play explores how actually because of that challenge he has to be punished and actually things are brought back to level.

So the original king isn't brought back, but the son of that king is brought back.

In Twelfth Night, a comedy, a servant thinks he's in with a chance of marrying his noble mistress.

This is a source of comedy for the other characters, and he does ridiculous things to try and make that happen.

But then at the end of the play, again, he's sort of levelled out.

He's made to remember, no, you have this very specific place in society, you don't get to go above that.

So just a quick check for understanding.

Titania's relationship with Bottom would be seen as an example of disorder.

Picking true or false in three, and two, and one, and well done, we can see that it is true, but can we justify it again? Is it because Titania is part of The Great Chain of Being unlike Bottom? So their relationship will be seen as an example of the comedy of the play.

Or is it because Titania is a monarch and bottom a low-status labourer? According to the hierarchy of the play, they shouldn't be in a relationship.

So is it because, as suggested in option A, that Titania is in The Great Chain of Being and Bottom doesn't exist within it? Or is it because actually that they're both in it, they're just at very different points, and therefore that's why they shouldn't be in a relationship and why disorder is created? Pause the video now and think about it, try and work it out.

Maybe talk to the person next to you, and when you're ready, hit play.

Well done, everyone, you are absolutely correct.

It is option B, Titania is a monarch, Bottom is a low-status labourer.

So they're at very different points in the hierarchy, and actually they shouldn't be in a relationship because they're not on that level playing field at that point.

So we're just gonna practise putting all of this together.

I want you to read act three, scene one, lines 106 to 169, so about 63 lines there.

And I want you to see how in this extract, Bottom is transformed.

His friends run away from him, Titania wakes up and immediately falls in love with him, and how to Titania orders fairies to look after Bottom.

I then want you to complete the table creating bullet-pointed answers.

The big question that I'm asking you to answer is, how does Shakespeare emphasise the disorder in the fairy kingdom? So I just need bullet points focusing on how Titania and her fairies speak about Bottom, and how bottom is treated therefore by Titania and her fairies? How do we see disorder being created? Really specific evidence needs to be picked out.

It'd be really great if you can start getting into the dramatic methods of the play.

And when you are ready hit play and we'll take some feedback.

Great ideas there, everyone, really careful checking through.

Love the way that people were annotating the text that they're going through, really good learning behaviour.

And some of the bullet points that you've got there are so developed talking about methods, and giving key pieces of evidence starting to make inferences, excellent work.

Here's a section of Andeep's table.

So Andeep was looking at how does Shakespeare emphasise the disorder in the fairy kingdom? And noted, well, Titania is enthralled to thy shape, even though Bottom has the head of a donkey.

Thy shape draws attention to the fact that loving someone with the head of a donkey is funny and unsuitable for a monarch.

I really like Andeep's answer, because he's picked out a quote, and then really clearly focused on a really particular part of it, "Thy shape." He's then made an inference from it.

So he's got a short quotation, and then he's made an exploration of that quotation.

I want you to self-assess your own table, and I want you to make sure that you've got a short quotation for each of your ideas, and you've explored that quote.

Pause the video now and make sure that you've done that.

Maybe changing in a different colour if you are adding anything or editing your work.

Really great work there, everyone, people being really diligent and careful about their feedback tasks there, which is really going to help them in the future.

And it really shows that you are really paying attention.

So impressed.

We've reached the end of the lesson now, so we will have our summary for disorder in the forest.

Over the course of this lesson, we've seen how Oberon is pleased that Titania has fallen in love with Bottom, because he's trying to take revenge on her.

However, Oberon is angry that Puck put the magical potion on the wrong Athenian man, so he put it on Lysander rather than Demetrius.

The relationship between Titania and Bottom is an example of disorder, and the Elizabethans would've found this especially funny, because Titania and Bottom's relationship between a high-status monarch and a low-status man would have been viewed as a disruption of the hierarchy, a challenge to the social order.

And this would've been found so funny, because Elizabethans believed that everyone had their place in hierarchical system called The Great Chain of Being.

And actually that juxtaposition, that sort of flip of the social order was considered really, really humorous.

You've all been fantastic today, and have really enjoyed working with you.

I'm so looking forward to our next lesson together.

Stay safe and I really look forward to working with you soon.

Bye for now, everyone.