Hello, there.

Welcome to our lesson today, all about "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare.

My name is Mr. Barnsley.

Great to see you today.

Today, we are thinking about how we can introduce context when talking about the play.

Okay, I think it's time to get started.

Let's go.

Okay, so let's have a little bit of a look at our outcome then, shall we? You are gonna be aiming to by the end of the lesson, including relevant contextual ideas in your writing when you are exploring "A Midsummer Night's Dream." So we will look at that keyword, contextual, that's gonna be really, really important to make sure that we understand what it is that we need to be adding to our writing.

So there are five keywords of today's lesson.

They are patriarchal, hierarchy, Elizabethan, folklore, and Shakespearean comedy.

Let's have a look at what each of them mean in a little bit more detail.

Now, patriarchal is a society in which men hold the power, the laws and the structure of that society prevent women from having power or holding much power.

This can link to our second keyword hierarchy, a system whereby people or things are ranked, with some being at the top, and others being lower down.

So a patriarchal, hierarchy might place men at the top and women lower down.

Elizabethan, you might have recognised this.

This is a person who was alive when Elizabeth I was on the throne from the years 1558-1603.

Now, we know that the first audiences of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" were Elizabethans.

They were alive during the reign of Elizabeth I.

A folklore.

Now a folklore is a story or a tradition that passed down from generation to generation.

They're not written down, they were often told verbally.

And finally, a Shakespearean comedy.

It's a play that's been designed to make you laugh, often involving misunderstandings and disorder, but usually ending in marriage.

Right, let's have a look at the outline of today's lesson.

So two learning cycles, today.

We are gonna be thinking about Elizabethan attitudes and values.

That's really gonna help us understand the context of where of what was happening and what views were when "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was written.

And then we're gonna be thinking about how Shakespeare presents Puck.

But we're gonna be using what we learned in the first learning cycle to develop our understanding.

So let's dive in straight away then, shall we? With Elizabethan attitudes and values.

So the first audiences of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," we know were Elizabethan.

Shakespeare himself was an Elizabethan, and he wanted his plays to be engaging to his audiences.

As such, many of his ideas, or his characters, or his themes are specifically designed to appeal to Elizabethan audiences.

Just like when people make films or write books today, they're really aiming for the people that are gonna write, read them or watch those films when they come out, okay? And that's exactly the same as what Shakespeare was doing when he created his plays during the Elizabethan era.

So when writing about "A Midsummer Night's Dream," it's really important that you include ideas about how an Elizabethan audience might have reacted to the play.

And to do that, you need to understand, or you need to use what you know about their society.

And the attitudes that I might have had to inform your ideas.

Doing this is called including context.

So let's have a think then.

Let's check, make sure we understand what we've discussed so far.

Why might you include contextual ideas when writing about "A Midsummer Night's Dream?" Is it because a, we are Elizabethans, and need to understand how we react to the play, just like the first audiences, b, Shakespeare was an Elizabethan playwright and was exploring ideas that were relevant to his society, is it c to consider how Shakespeare's first audience might have engaged with ideas and characters in the play, or is it d, because "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a comedy, full of confusion and context? Pause the video.

Have a think.

There may be more than one right answer.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, good stuff if you picked b and c, it's really important that we think about context because we know that Shakespeare himself was Elizabethan, so he's always gonna be exploring ideas that were really relevant to his society.

But it's also useful for us to think about how those original audiences would've reacted to his plays.

And sometimes, we might even consider how an audience and Elizabethan audience, an original audience, a contemporary audience, might respond differently to an audience today, as values and ideas in society change.

Well done if you've got b and c.

Okay, our first task, on the screen, you can see quite a bit of context behind "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I want you to answer each question, so you can create a mind map of your own contextual ideas.

So question one, Elizabeth in society was a patriarchal society, one designed to give men power.

Can you think of any events or characters in the play, which explored the idea of the patriarchy? Second question, Elizabethans used the word "puck" to describe a fairy, often connecting them to the devil.

How do you think Shakespeare engages with this definition? Next, Elizabethan society was very ordered and hierarchical.

How does this comedy explore disrupting the hierarchy? And finally, Elizabethan folklore included a character called Robin Goodfellow.

How did Shakespeare include this character in his play? All right, four questions for you to think about.

If you put all of your ideas down, you are gonna have a wonderful mind map of really interesting, important context that will help us understand the play further.

So pause the video, give this a go and press play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, I could see some fantastic work going on there.

Loads of you writing in lots and lots of detail.

That's great to see.

Really, really well done.

Now, I want to shine a spotlight on some of the fantastic things you might have said.

So let's start with this first question, shall we? "Elizabethan society was patriarchal.

What events or characters in the play explore the idea of patriarchy?" So we could say, "Shakespeare explores patriarchy through characters like Egeus, Theseus, Oberon." Powerful men who we see have a lot of authority in the play.

What's really interesting and perhaps quite revolutionary about Shakespeare's play is that we actually see some of the women disobeying the patriarchs going against their word and thus, they're challenging this hierarchy, this structure of power that they have been told that they should just accept.

That's actually quite interesting and revolutionary because arguably not many people would've challenged hierarchy in the way that Shakespeare does here.

Second question, "Elizabethans use the word 'puck' to describe a fairy, often connecting them to the devil.

How does Shakespeare engage with this definition?" Well, most obviously, he calls one of his prominent characters Puck.

And I think it's really interesting for us to think about, even though, we know this is a comedy, it's supposed to make us laugh, Elizabethans would've been very aware that there's this darker, more sinister, scary underlying idea linked to the idea of Puck as well.

So yes, Puck is a character that brings some comedy to the play, but I think it's totally understandable for us to think that some Elizabethans might have felt uncomfortable with his presence.

Third question, "Elizabethans society was very ordered and hierarchical.

How does this comedy explore disruption to the hierarchy?" Well, you might have said something along the lines of actually there's loads of disruption to the hierarchy.

For example, we have disobedient women refusing to follow the orders of the patriarchs.

We have a Queen falling in love with a poor Athenian.

So the kind of the class hierarchy being disrupted there.

And actually what's really interesting is these ideas are really safe to explore on stage.

Yes, Shakespeare is a revolutionary, but he's, you know, he's poking fun in some way at these hierarchies that exist in society, whilst also often in Shakespeare's plays.

We return to the status quo at the end.

Now, the final question, "Elizabethan folklore include the character Robin Goodfellow.

How did Shakespeare include this character in his play?" Well, well done.

To those of you who acknowledge that Puck actually has two names and one of them is Robin Goodfellow, who is known for mischief, whereas Puck is known for malevolence, probably more kind of scary and potentially disturbing actions.

In this way, Shakespeare has deliberately kept it very vague, leaving it for the Elizabethans to wonder just how funny or cruel, Puck actually is.

Some fantastic ideas that you've got on your mind map there.

If there's anything that you didn't have written down, now's the time to pause your video and give yourself a few moments to add those to your mind map.

Okay, it's now time for us to use all the information we've gathered in that first learning cycle or that context and our understanding of Elizabethan attitudes and values and apply them to our own analytical writing.

And we're gonna think about how Shakespeare presents Puck.

So Lucas is gonna be asking this question, answering this question even.

"How does Shakespeare present the character of Puck?" Now, whenever we're tackling a question, he's gonna annotate it.

So Lucas underlines the word how, he does this because it reminds him that he needs to explore Shakespeare's dramatic methods like stage directions, the division of lines, who says what and how much does everyone say.

And specifically, language choices like metaphors, similes, or even specific word choices.

He also underlines the word Puck.

This is his reminder that we're really focusing on the character of Puck here and thinking about how he has been presented.

So Lucas develops his annotations further by giving himself some questions that he's gonna try and answer.

So he thinks, "Which references, whether it's quotations or ideas, plot points from the play, does he think are best for helping him explore the character of Puck?" He also thinks about, "What context might be help him understand how Shakespeare presents him? What is it about Elizabethans values or attitudes that might form or their reactions to him?" So thinking about those extra questions that Lucas has set himself, how might you answer these questions? Pause the video, have a think.

If you've got a partner you may wish to discuss with them, but otherwise, you might want to think through this by yourself.

Press play when you're ready to continue.

Great discussions there and some really good thinking.

I love those of you who are talking about some of those early scenes Act 2, particularly Act 3, where Puck transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey.

And lots of you were talking about folklore being a really important contextual knowledge here and Elizabethans attitude to folklore that they, you felt that was really interesting context that will help us develop our understanding of Puck.

So Lucas has used his annotations and he's drafted his first paragraph.

Should we read through it together? "Shakespeare presents Puck as a powerful character who can transform himself into anything he wishes.

When he meets the poor Athenian actors in Act 3, he changes shape to scare them, listing his transformation, 'A hound, a hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire, and neigh, and a bark, and a grunt, and a roar, and a burn.

' The list creates pace, showing the speed of his powers and his desire to terrify the humans." Now Sam has given Lucas some feedback.

Two, what went wells WWWs and one even better if an EBI, this is what they were.

What went well? Well, Sam really liked Lucas's clear topic sentence.

They also really liked how they've explored Shakespeare's methods, not only identified that he used the list, but explained what the effect of it was.

However, Sam gave Lucas the following EBI.

Your analysis should include context, it will help you develop your ideas further.

So Lucas's used Sam's feedback and here's his redraft.

Shall we read through it together? "Shakespeare presents Puck as a powerful character who can transform himself into anything he wishes.

The fairy introduced him in Act 2 as both Robin Goodfellow and puck.

In Elizabethan folklore, the character of Robin Goodfellow was connected to practical jokes, whereas a puck meant a more malicious theory.

This means the idea that we can't really know or trust this character is presented as soon as we meet him.

When Puck meets the poor Athenian actors in Act 3, he changes shape to scare them, listing his transformation, 'A hound, a hog, a headless bear, sometimes a fire, and neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn.

' The list creates pace, showing the speed of his powers and his desire to terrify humans.

Here he seems more like a puck that Elizabethans would have connected with the supernatural and the devil, rather than the mischievous Robin Goodfellow." Right, over to you.

Pause the video and have a think.

How has Lucas responded to Sam's feedback? Press play when you're ready to continue.

Well done if you identified these sections of Lucas's response here you can see how Lucas has used context, the his understanding of Elizabethan folklore and the differences between Pucks and Robin Goodfellow to really extend his answer and give much more detail.

Great work, Lucas.

So let's do a check then.

Which pupil has best included context? Is it Lucas who says, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character that can obey orders when he needs to.

For example, during his first dialogue with Oberon, Oberon speaks for 27 lines, and Puck for just three.

These three lines see him obey his master, rather than cause any confusion and chaos like he does with the others.

This is part of the comedy for Elizabethans." Or is it Sam who says, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character that finds disrupting people's lives very fun.

For example, Puck turns Bottom's head into that of a donkey.

This practical joke, and the fact that a high status Queen falls in love with a low status man with a donkey's head would be seen as disrupting Elizabethan ideas about hierarchy in many ways.

Shakespeare uses the comedy genre to enjoy and explore this chaos without any real life consequences." Pause the video then.

Who has included context in their response? Press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Well done if you said Sam.

Sam used this, their understanding of Elizabethan ideas about hierarchy and linked that to how the disruption of this actually creates a really comedic play.

Well done if you selected Sam there.

Okay, it is over to you now.

You are gonna be thinking about this question.

How does Shakespeare present Puck? I want you to re-write and improve the paragraph below, using Sam's feedback.

Then I want you to write your own paragraph in answer to the question, using ideas from your mind map.

So let's have a look at the paragraph you're improving.

"Shakespeare presents Puck as a character with a clear reputation for mischief and practical jokes.

When the fairy introduced him in Act 2, she says that he frights the maidens of the villag'ry and can mislead night wanderers and laughing at their harm." I want you to think about how we can bring in some context to develop our ideas further.

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

Good luck.

Okay, welcome back.

Fantastic job there.

It was really great look, seeing you look at your mind maps to help you find context that might help develop your answers further.

Great work.

Now, as you can see, we've got Lucas's response from earlier in the lesson on the screen, I've highlighted where he has used context well.

What I want you to do is identify where you have highlighted, where you have included context in your response.

And if you want, you might want to highlight it like we have in Lucas's response here.

Okay, pause the video, give this a go.

Reflect on your own work and press play when you're ready to continue with the lesson.

Really great work today.

It's been a pleasure spending today's lesson really looking at how we can use context to enhance our own work.

On the screen, you can see a summary of the learning, we've studied today.

So we've learned that Shakespeare was writing for Elizabethan audiences.

We know that the ideas, characters and plot points in the play are designed to engage with Elizabethan society, their attitudes and values.

We learned some information about Elizabethan society, attitudes and values, and that's called context.

And when we're writing about the play, we should always try to include context to develop our ideas.

If there's anything that you've struggled with in today's lesson, please do take the time to re-watch that section of the video, so you feel really confident before you move on to our next lesson.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I hope you have a great day with the rest of your day, whatever you have planned, and I hope to see you in one of our lessons soon.

Thank you very much.

Goodbye!.