Hello there.

Welcome to today's lesson.

It's so great to see you.

My name is Mr. Barnsley and today's lesson is called "Puck's Mistake." I cannot wait to continue exploring the Shakespearean Comedy: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with you all today.

Right, I think it's time for us to get started.

Let's jump straight in.

Okay, should we have a look at today's outcome then? By the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to explain how Puck is presented in Act 2, Scene 2 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

There are five key words in today's lesson.

They are Athenian, monologue, fulfil, analysis, and Shakespearean comedy.

Let's check's we know what each of these words mean so that when we come across 'em in today's lesson, we're not gonna come unstuck by them and even better, we might be able to use them in our own work.

So Athenian just means someone who is from Athens, Athens being in Greece.

A monologue in a play is a speech by one character expressing their thoughts, often it's directed to the audience.

To fulfil means to carry out or to complete.

Analysis in English, this means looking at text really closely considering what it might mean and why it was written in that way.

And finally, a Shakespearean comedy is a play designed to make you laugh often involving misunderstandings and ending in marriage.

Okay, if you need to pause the video and write down the definitions of any of these words, now's the time to do so.

Otherwise, let's dive straight into the lesson.

So today's lesson Puck's mistake is gonna be broken down into two learning cycles.

Firstly, we're gonna take a closer look at Puck's monologue because that is gonna help us answer the question that we'll be looking at in the second learning cycle, how does Shakespeare present Puck in Act 2, Scene 2? And it'll be in this the second part of the lesson where we'll be writing our own analysis.

All right, let's get started by looking at Puck's monologue, shall we? So we know that Puck is introduced in Act 2, Scene 1.

And first when we hear about him, we hear about all the practical jokes that he likes to play on people.

And these practical jokes don't always seem that nice.

They all involve some kind of mild physical harm or even some kind of humiliation.

Then we see his interactions with Oberon and at this point we see Puck being almost entirely silent.

He agrees to swiftly carry out Oberon's two orders, which are to get the magical potion.

And he says the quote which shows this is, Puck says, "I'll put a girdle around the earth in 40 minutes." That's from Acts 2, Scene 1.

And we also see the second order is to put the magical potion on an Athenian man.

And Puck says, "Fear not to my Lord.

Your servant shall do so." I want you to think then, what different sides of Puck do we see in Act 2, Scene 1? Now you may wish to pause the video and discuss with a partner if you have one, but don't worry if you don't, you can just pause the video and think through this question independently.

Right, over to you, pause the video and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

Really great to hear you discussing two very different sides to Puck.

We see the very mischievous side, the one that we feel like we really can't trust, but we also see this side that's really obedient and he really wants to do the best for his master.

So two very different sides to this intriguing character.

Now in Act 2, Scene 2, we know that Puck finds Lysander and Hermia asleep.

Puck thinks that Lysander is Demetrius and he thinks that Hermia is Helena.

He makes a few big mistakes in this scene.

So for this reason, Puck puts the magical potion on Lysander thinking he's Demetrius because he is trying to fulfil Oberon's orders.

Whilst doing this, we hear Puck say some quite rude things about Lysander.

Really, he's telling him off for not being a loving and caring person.

So let's take a pause for a moment and discuss.

Do you think we see a different side to Puck in Act 2, Scene 2, or does this develop things we already know about him? What do you think? Pause the video and if you've got a partner you can discuss with them.

Otherwise, just think through that question independently.

All right, over to you, pause the video and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

I heard some really interesting discussions there.

Some of you were arguing, well, yeah, this just continues to show that obedience side of him because he's fulfilling Oberon's orders.

I really like those of you however, who were saying no, this shows is a slightly different side to Puck.

We see this kind of almost caring side to him.

He's angry at Lysander, who he thinks is Demetrius because he hasn't been a caring and loving person.

And so this shows that no matter how mischievous Puck is, he really does care about love or worries about when there is an absence of love.

So this might show a slightly different side to Puck that we haven't seen before.

Right, I want to check our understanding and we're gonna do this by putting these five statements in order.

We're gonna start with the first thing that we learn about Puck and then we're gonna put 'em in order all the way down to the last.

Let's read through them together, shall we? So starting with A, Oberon describes the magical potion he wants and Puck agrees to get it.

B, a fairy recognises Puck and lists some of the jokes he's famous for.

C, Puck confirms he's a sweet Puck and tells of other practical jokes he likes to play.

These all involve transformation and trickery.

D, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius and puts the magical potion on him by accident.

And E, Puck gives the magical potion to Oberon and is given other orders to put it on the Athenian man who is in the forest.

So let's put these in order from the first thing we learned about Puck to the last.

Pause the video, reorder these and press play when you're ready to find out the right answer.

So let's have a look at what order we should have put these in.

Well we should have started with B, the fairy recognising Puck and listing some of the jokes he's famous for.

We then should have gone with C, 'cause Puck confirms, yes, I am that sweet Puck and he tells of other stories and often these tricks and jokes he likes to play involved transformation and trickery.

Then we know that Oberon describes the magical potion he wants and Puck agrees to go and get it.

Once he's got it, Oberon gives Puck another order and that's to put the potion on the eyes of an Athenian man who was in the forest and then that leads to Puck mistaking Lysander for Demetrius and putting the magical potion on the wrong person.

Well done if you got those in that order.

Okay, first task now.

You are gonna read Puck's monologue from Act 2, Scene 2 and that's line 72 to 89.

As you read this, I want you to discuss these five questions.

How does Shakespeare make it clear that Puck has spent a long time trying to fulfil Oberon's orders? In what two ways does Puck try to verify that he's found the correct person? How does Puck's view of Lysander and sympathy for Hermia, deepen our understanding of the character of Puck? How does the end of the monologue reinforce the idea that Puck is an obedient servant? And finally, a little bit of drama for you.

How would you perform this monologue and why? And I want you to practise saying it in a range of different ways to help you inform your answer.

So you are gonna need a copy of Puck's monologue.

Obviously, if you have a copy of the text, you know which scene and lines to look for, but we will put a copy in the additional materials so you can just see the monologue, you can find it there, make sure you have a copy in front of you.

So as you are reading, you can either think through these questions independently or you can read with a partner and discuss questions 1 to 4.

And then when it comes to number five, we're gonna do a little bit of drama.

Okay, pause the video, over to you, let's do some reading, check we understand and let's do some drama.

All right, press play when you're ready to continue.

Great work everyone.

It was really good to see you reading and particularly using questions 1, 2, 3 and 4 to double check your understanding.

What I want to focus on though is question five because I love bringing a bit of drama to English.

That's why we study plays, after all, plays were meant to be performed, not just read.

So I want us to think about Jacob's response to question five, which you can see on the screen.

He's explained how he would've performed the monologue and why.

So he said, "I would say this monologue really emphasising Puck's loyalty to Oberon.

For example, I would sound stressed when I was saying 'Through the forest, have I gone, but Athenian found I none' because I want to show how worried Puck is feeling about not fulfilling Oberon's orders.

I would also show that I was trying to be really careful when verifying that I was putting the magical potion on the right person, almost as if I was ticking off a list of evidence.

This would show that Puck was trying to be a good person, not trying to create confusion and chaos like he usually does.

I want it to be clear he is trying to do this properly because Oberon has asked him to." Now I really liked Jacob's response to this question because it makes really specific references to the monologue using quotations or kind of summarising things that he knows Puck talks about in the monologue.

I also like how he justifies his interpretation of how he would perform it.

He gives really clear reasons to the decisions he would make.

So I want you to return to your discussion about how you'd perform this and make sure you've met the success criteria that Jacob meets here.

Okay, revisit that conversation and press play when you are ready to continue with the lesson.

All right, welcome back.

Some really great discussions there about how you would perform Puck's monologue.

Now we're gonna use what we've learned about Puck's monologue to answer this question about how Shakespeare presents Puck in Act 2, Scene 2.

So the pupils have been reflecting on this question and they've all come slightly different answers.

So Jacob wants to really focus on Puck being a really obedient servant to Oberon.

Whereas, Izzy says she wants to focus on Puck being really important to the idea of chaos and disorder.

Two main themes of the play 'cause ultimately it's the chaos and disorder which create the aspects of comedy.

Make this a farcical and funny play.

Sam however, wants to focus on Shakespeare developing Puck as someone who really cares about love and worries about an absence of love.

These are all three very different ways Puck is presented, but all differently, really interesting things we could focus on.

What would you like to focus on? Is there any, do you agree with one of the Oat characters and what's use one of their ideas or do you have a different idea? And what moments from Puck's monologue will you use to support your idea? Why don't you pause and if you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise just think through this independently if you're working by yourself.

All right, pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Some lovely ideas.

It was great to see people taking different interpretations of Puck there.

Right, so Sam has really been thinking about developing her ideas into a paragraph.

Let's have a look at her first draught.

She says, Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who wants to help, rather than hurt, the Athenians he finds in the forest.

Puck starts the monologue telling the audience "Through the forest, I have gone, but Athenian found I have none." Then he says, "Who is here?" Which means he can now help the Athenians.

He does this and returns to Oberon thinking he's done a good job.

Now Jacob has given Sam a two pieces of feedback.

He said, what went well? Well, I really liked your clear topic sentence.

I can tell you're about to write a paragraph about Puck who is a character who wants to help, rather than hurt.

And that's not always the character.

We've always thought about Puck, he can sometimes feel quite mischievous, but at this point we seem him as someone who wants to help.

And that's really clear in Sam's topic sentence.

However, the EBI, the even better if, well, unfortunately Sam goes on to really, just summarise the monologue.

They don't analyse and start to dig deeper into like how Puck has been presented as this character who wants to help.

So that second part of Sam's answer really isn't as strong as the topic sentence is.

So Sam redrafts her paragraph.

Let's have a look at what she writes.

She says, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who wants to help, rather than hurt, the Athenians he finds in the forest.

Puck starts the monologue telling the audience 'Through the forest, I have gone, but Athenian found I have none.

' We know of Puck's speed and ability to find things as he found the magical potion for Oberon after putting a girdle around the earth in 40 minutes.

So his frustration seems to come through in these first two lines.

Interestingly, Puck is presented as being angry with Lysander, who he thinks is Demetrius for being a lack-love and a kill-courtesy.

These words combine in a positive idea, love and courtesy with negative ideas of absence of love and pain.

Despite Puck's clear enjoyment of practical jokes, here, he cares about unhappiness and he tries to do something about it.

Pause for a minute then.

How has Sam responded to Jacob's feedback? Why is this second draught so much better than the first? Pause and either discuss with a partner or think through to yourself and press play when you're ready to continue.

Some really nice discussions there and well done if you said Sam built on that really good topic sentence.

Firstly, by deepening analysis, by connecting two moments in the play.

So linking the opening to the monologue to that quote from Act 2, Scene 1, where we see Puck being really obedient towards Oberon.

There's also some deeper analysis by exploring quotations.

Really zooming on in on those phrases, lack-love and kill-courtesy and thinking about what they suggest about Puck.

And it's really nice that Sam chooses to end the paragraph with this by linking it back to a topic sentence, which is all about ultimately caring and wanting to be helpful, rather than being the mischievous Puck who enjoys practical jokes we might have seen earlier in the play.

Right, let's check then, which pupil has best explored an aspect of the monologue? Let's read through these together.

So Sam says Puck's monologue ends with, "For I must now to Oberon." The word now shows how immediately he must go and the word must reinforces this.

Oberon shows how focus he is on his master.

Earlier in the monologue, Shakespeare has Puck focus on rude things about Lysander, who he thinks is Demetrius saying things like "Churl." Let's look at Jacob's response.

Jacob says, Puck's monologue ends with, "For I must now to Oberon." This last word is significant because even when Puck is not with Oberon, he feels his presence.

And it's a reminder that Puck, as well as a practical joker is an obedient servant.

Interestingly, when Puck is telling the fairy that he's indeed sweet Puck in Act 2, Scene 1, his third line is, "I jest to Oberon and make him smile," showing that even his practical jokes are for his master.

Who do you think did a better job there? Pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to reveal the response.

Well done if you said Jacob.

Jacob was definitely stronger there 'cause he's starting to delve into some analysis.

Sam is very much just listing certain things that that Puck's monologue includes.

All right, over to you now for the final task of today's lesson.

I want you to write your own paragraph answering the question, how does Shakespeare present Puck in Act 2, Scene 2? You can use the pupil's ideas below if you wish, but you must make sure you are referring to the monologue in your paragraph.

Remember, we want lots of detail in there and if you can link to more than one idea, that would be fantastic too.

All right, time to pause the video, give this a go.

Give yourself plenty of time to do the writing and press play when you're ready to continue Some really fantastic work there.

It was great to you all writing so many things down, you could tell you really have understood Puck and the many different ways he can be presented.

A really well done to everyone who was checking their spelling, punctuation, and grammar as well before they put the pen down.

That was fantastic to see.

All right, let's remind ourselves of Sam's earlier example and we checked it 'cause we use this checklist to see how what a good job she'd done.

So there was a use of a clear topic sentence.

There was an analysis of the monologue, but it was also connecting two moments of the play together.

They also link back to the topic sentence at the end of the paragraph.

What I would like you to do is identify in your response where you have done each of these four things.

So pause the video, give yourself a moment of reflection and identify where you've done each of these four moments of our success criteria.

Okay, over to you to get some reflection and press play when you're ready to continue.

Really, well done in today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure looking at Puck in Act 2, Scene 2 with you.

On the screen, you can see a summary of all the learning.

Let's quickly go through that and make sure you're feeling really confident about everything we have learned.

So we learned in Act 2, Scene 2, Puck tries to fulfil Oberon's orders, but he makes a mistake.

We know that Puck's mistake creates much confusion and chaos, a key aspect of Shakespearean comedy.

We know that, however, Shakespeare makes it clear that Puck's mistake is genuine despite his reputation as a practical joker.

And finally, when writing about Midsummer Night's Dream, it's really important that we try and link different moments to play together that will really help deepen our analysis.

I've been really, really impressed with the work that you have done today and particularly, that final paragraph you have written.

Fantastic job everybody.

I hope to see you in one of our future lessons and I hope you're feeling really confident about everything you've learned today.

Enjoy the rest of your day and I hope to see you all soon.

Thank you very much, goodbye.