Hi everyone, Mr. Chandrapala joining you today and I'm really looking forward to getting into this work we've got.

We're gonna be having a look at "Midsummer Night's Dream," and specifically, Puck's remorselessness.

Puck is the character that we know who is kind of viewed as being quite devious at times, quite mischievous, and then there are some who would even argue that he is purely evil.

We can maybe get into that argument a little bit today because of the way that he treats others and the way that he really takes glee and enjoyment out of the pain and out the confusion created by his own mistake and the chaos around it.

I'm really looking forward to getting into it.

Let's start.

So as ever, we have our outcome for today.

We are going to be explaining how Puck is presented as a remorseless character.

To do that, our key words are obviously the word remorseless, which just means to act without a regret or guilt.

We're gonna be thinking about the verb restore, which means to return something back to its original state.

We're going to be coming across the noun pageant, which is just a show, we're gonna think about how, arguably, Puck is presented as contemptuous, which is a fantastic adjective.

Remorseless and contemptuous are my two favourite adjectives from today's lesson.

Yes, I have two favourite adjectives from today's lesson.

Contemptuous just means to be insulting.

And finally, we have the word sport, which is used in a bit of a strange way by Puck.

We obviously think about sport, we think about games, or sports like football or cricket or rugby, hockey, but sport here is in the context of a "A Midsummer Night's Dream," just an enjoyable hobby.

So the sports that you play or that you may enjoy may be things that you are really competitive about and really care about, but in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," we're thinking more of it as a hobby, something we do for leisure, for fun.

So we're going to start off by looking at Puck's reaction to the disorder.

In Act 3, Scene 2, Oberon and Puck see Demetrius and Hermia.

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

"O, why you rebuke him that loves you so?" Why do you punish, why do 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 hast slain Lysander and in his sleep killed me too." So almost suicidal at the idea that actually Lysander has been killed by Demetrius.

Can't imagine living without him and therefore doesn't want to have to do it.

Oberon realises though that Puck is the one at fault for this because Puck has put the magical potion on the wrong man, the wrong Athenian, and immediately takes action to restore order.

He takes action, Oberon, to try and fix what has gone so badly wrong.

He orders Puck to find Helena, "swifter than the wind," and he puts the magical potion on Demetrius.

So he falls in love with Helena as he originally intended.

Oberon is clearly unhappy about the mistake Puck has made, and we see that even though he is vengeful of Tytania, he's really quite sympathetic and almost kind to the humans, the noble Athenians.

How do we think Puck feels about this mistake though? I want you to justify your response as you are thinking about this, thinking about what we know about Puck and his presentation over the course of the play.

Pause the video now and start jotting down some ideas or maybe talking to the person next to you and creating some ideas.

How do we think Puck feels about the mistake he has made? When you're ready, hit play.

Excellent work there everyone.

We can imagine that there's two ways that Puck could go with this.

He realises how serious the consequence of his work is, particularly because Oberon is angry with him and therefore we could see him as potentially feeling sorry for what he has done and regretting it, or, and this is maybe a little bit more believable, but bearing in mind that the name of the lesson, he actually doesn't feel anything about the mistake.

He will listen to Oberon, but really he, he's there to create chaos.

He doesn't really enjoy the humans, he's not particularly interested in the individual relationships.

We're gonna complete the diagram showing who loves who after Puck's mistake.

And we're just gonna check our understanding here.

So after the first round of the magical potion, who out of Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena love each other? If you've got a mini whiteboard, you may want to sketch this out there, or if you are just taking notes, you may want to do it on your piece of paper.

And when you are ready, hit play.

Very good there everyone.

So if we go through just another pen in hand, maybe a different colour so that you can go through and just add anything that you may have missed or correct anything that you got wrong.

So we know that Lysander loves Helena and Demetrius loves Hermia, and Hermia loves Lysander.

This is the complication because Demetrius, we knew from Athens, loved Hermia.

We knew that Hermia loved Lysander, and that's why they've gone to the forest.

But because of Puck's potion, Lysander now loves Helena and that is the complication because now Hermia is not loved by Lysander, and Hermia, who has given up so much to follow him into the forest is now left alone.

To make things worse, Helena loves Demetrius.

So at this point, no one loves the right person.

We're now gonna complete the diagram though to show who loves who after Oberon tries to restore order.

So this is after the second round of the magical potion.

Again, you may want to just, you may want to draw a second diagram, or if you feel like your diagram is neat enough, you may want to add it in a different colour.

Again, I'd suggest a second diagram.

Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, Helena, that little square of people just catching out who loves who.

Pause the video and start doing that.

When you're ready, hit play.

Well done there everyone.

Lots to keep sort of like mentally checking in on.

It's a really complicated text in terms of plot, let's just check through.

So Lysander loves Helena.

Demetrius loves Helena.

Hermia loves Lysander, Helena loves Demetrius.

So now things have gone even worse.

Lysander loves Helena, Helena's now loved by two people, and Demetrius, well that relationship is fate.

Demetrius and Helena is fine, but Hermia again is left in this position where she is truly alone.

No one seems to love her.

So we're just gonna practise our understanding of this.

I want you to read this extract from Act 3, Scene 2, lines 110-121.

I'm gonna read it with you now.

And after getting Helena as Oberon ordered, Puck explains how he feels.

So this is that part of the text.

"Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at your hand; And the youth, mistook by me, pleading for a lover's fee.

Shall we that fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortals be! Then will two at once woo one; That must needs be sport alone; And those things do best please me That befall preposterously." So think about that word preposterous, ridiculously.

How is Puck being presented here? I've read through the text with you, I want you to read it through again by yourself.

I'm not gonna give you too much more help here.

You can see that there are a couple of words that are clarified in brackets, and the bold words are obviously from our key words.

So you may want to go back to those to help you.

And then you'll going to answer questions 1, 2, 3, and 4 in full sentences.

You don't need to write the questions into your notes.

When you are ready, hit play.

Fantastic work there everyone.

Some really, really careful checking back, really good work on unpicking what each of the sort of key quotes from this speech mean.

Let's take some feedback.

So this is Aisha's explanation for her performance of Puck's speech in Act 3, Scene 2.

I think this should be performed in a way that shows Puck is really enjoying the disorder he has caused.

When he asks if he and Oberon should watch the fond pageant, I'd show that Puck is desperate to see what he considers a show.

I would actually really emphasise the word me in the line.

And these things do best please me That befall preposterously to remind the audience that there is a contrast between how Puck and Oberon are reacting, as well as that Puck was initially presented as a practical joke in Act 2.

Really nice work there from Aisha, really like the fact that she's picked out a couple of really short quotations and then she's picked out an individual word that she thinks she would really want to hit to make sure that she's developing her characterization for the performance of Puck.

I want you to practise saying the speech in a way that Aisha feels it should be performed.

After you've done that, using Aisha's answer as a model, I want you to explain how your choices differ from hers.

How is your presentation of Puck going to be quite different? What pieces of the text are you particularly going to focus on? Pause the video now, have a go at those two feedback tasks, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really good work there everyone.

I really liked the way that people were getting into their acting there, some incredible thespians amongst us, and I really liked the way that some of you were justifying your choices in terms of Aisha, sorry, in terms of your own delivery or thinking around how Puck would think about the speech.

Really impressive troop we've got here for actors and directors alike.

We're now gonna have a look at the presentation of Puck in Act 3, Scene 2.

So Puck brings Helena to Oberon.

Demetrius, who has had the magical potion applied to his eyes, falls in love with Helena.

This doesn't restore order.

In fact, now all four Athenians are unhappy.

Hermia feels Lysander and Helena have betrayed her, Lysander wishes Helena loved him and Hermia would leave him alone.

And Helena believes Lysander and Demetrius are pretending to be in love with her as some kind of joke.

And then on top of that, Demetrius still wishes Helena believed his love for her.

Obreron blames Puck for all of this disorder.

"This is thy negligence.

Still thou mistakest, or thou, or else committest thy knaveries," his trickeries, "or willfully," on purpose.

So Oberon is accusing Puck here of either consistently making mistakes or enjoying the tricks that he's playing on the Athenians and is doing it on purpose.

Puck, though, defends himself.

"Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.

Did not you tell me I should know the man By the Athenian garment to be had on? And so far blameless proves my enterprise That I have anointed an Athenian's eyes; And so far am I glad it so did sort As this their jangling I esteem a sport." Here, I'm just gonna ask you to pause again.

Now I want you to turn to your partner or jot down some ideas to discuss, how does Puck, or does Puck feel remorseful for what has happened? Notice the way that he says, "an Athenian," and do you think he should feel remorseful? I want you to justify your answer, even thinking about the way that Obreron reacts to all of that has gone on.

Pause the video now, start jotting some ideas down, having that conversation with your partner, and when you're ready, hit play.

Really interesting ideas there everyone.

I really like that some of you are really actually trying to evaluate Puck's work there, and the fact that he is actually, "so far am I glad it did so sought As this their jangling I esteem a sport." That idea that actually he's really enjoying it, he's not remorseful, and because he's enjoying it, it shows that actually he feels no regret because he understands it to almost be this kind of hobby of his.

Some of you saying that he should feel remorseful because he is the one who has made a mistake.

Others of you saying that actually he has nothing to gain from serving the Athenians, he serves Oberon, does he have to help the Athenians in their loving trusts? Interesting ideas from all of us.

We're just gonna have a quick check for understanding here.

Thinking back to what we have just read through.

Does Puck feel remorseful for his actions, selecting true or false in five, four, three, two and one, and correct everyone, it is false.

He does not feel remorseful.

He is remorseless, but can we justify this? Is it because Puck feels remorseful because, that he disobeyed Obreron's orders, but not about the disorder amongst the Athenian nobles? So is it the fact that he feels bad that he didn't get Obreron's orders right, but he doesn't really care about the disorder amongst the Athenians, or is it that Puck defends himself against Obreron's accusation in the first place because he made a genuine mistake and then clearly enjoys the consequences? Again, selecting our answer in five, four, three, two and one.

Well done everyone, we can see that it is b.

He is trying to defend himself.

He honestly claims that he has made a mistake, so he's not really remorseful, but then he's also very clear about the fact that I made a mistake and I'm enjoying the consequences of it overall.

So he's really challenging what we would expect of remorseful behaviour.

He is definitely being remorseless, yet he is still obeying Obreron.

He's still trying to obey Obreron, he has made a mistake.

It is that duplicity of he is careless and he enjoys his carelessness in this particular element.

So we're gonna have a go at practising our skills today and we're gonna have a look at what our friend Lucas has argued.

So Lucas argues that Shakespeare presents Puck as a remorseless character, even when faced with Obreron's overall's anger, he enjoys the disorder and shows a contemptuous attitude towards the Athenians.

To do this, I want you to justify this argument using the sentence starters below and the prompts.

So the sentence starters are, "More specifically," and, "Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Puck as," I need you to refer to Act 3, Scene 2, lines 110-121, and Act 3, Scene 2, lines 347-353 as part of your answer.

As well as doing that, as you were using those sentence starters, it'd be really helpful if, when talking about "More specifically," you refer to specific moments from each of Puck speeches in Act 3, Scene 2.

So embedding specific evidence, and then when we're going through the, "Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Puck as," you explain how we might react to Puck, referring to another moment in the play to justify your evaluation of his character, pause the video now.

Make sure to use the evidence from the text and make sure to explain your view and justify your evaluation, thinking about other moments from outside of Act 3, Scene 2, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some quality work there everyone, some really great quotes being dug out and people really getting into the nooks and crannies of Puck's character.

He's really quite a complicated one for us to be looking at, so I am really glad with the way that you are unpicking his work there.

Let's take some feedback now.

So we can see, still, Lucas' statement.

Shakespeare presents Puck as a remorseless character, even when faced with Obreron's anger, he enjoys the disorder and shows a contemptuous attitude towards the Athenians.

I want you to self-assess the strengths of your justifications using these questions.

For the, "More specifically," I want you to consider, have you selected two or more quotations from Puck's speech in Act 3, Scene 2, and explained how they express his remorse and contempt? Pause the video now and check back to see if you've got at least two quotes.

If you don't, you need to make sure that you add another one from Act 3, Scene 2 in another colour.

And even if you've got those two quotes or more, you need to make sure that you're explaining how they express remorse and contemp.

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

When you're ready, hit play.

Really good diligent feedback being done there.

For the second part of our self-assessment, I need you to consider, have you explained how we might react to Puck and why? So that's linked to that line, "Ultimately, Shakespeare presents Puck as." Pause the video again now, make sure that you are really clearly explaining how we might react to Puck and why we have that reaction.

And when you're ready, hit play.

Some lovely ideas, people really developing their ideas because of what they actually added as part of the initial feedback task and trying to reflect that in their work.

So pleased, great stuff today, everyone.

We've now reached the end of today's lesson, so we're gonna take our summary of Puck's remorselessness.

We've looked at how Obreron and Puck have totally different reactions to the disorder amongst the Athenian nobles, because whilst Oberon tries to restore order immediately, Puck enjoys the disorder and calls it a sport.

Oberon blames Puck for the chaos and Puck tries to defend himself and say that he made honest mistakes, but Puck is also quite honest about the fact that he really enjoys the fact that there is this chaos being created.

Arguably, Shakespeare presents Puck as a remorseless character who has contempt for the humans in the forest.

He doesn't have contempt for Obreron.

He listens to Obreron or tries to, but he doesn't really care for the humans and therefore doesn't feel bad about the mistakes and their consequences.

You've all done really good work today, grasping these really complex concepts on a really difficult character.

I've been so impressed with you all today and I'm really looking forward to working with you again very soon.

Bye for now, everyone.