Skip to content
Oak National Academy
Oak National Academy
Teachers
Pupils
New
New
Year 8

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: Puck - obedient servant or irreverent joker?

I can explore the way Puck treats the Rude Mechanicals in Act 3 of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and consider how this is different or similar to his words and actions in Act 2.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
New
New
Year 8

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’: Puck - obedient servant or irreverent joker?

I can explore the way Puck treats the Rude Mechanicals in Act 3 of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and consider how this is different or similar to his words and actions in Act 2.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
View new resources
arrow-right

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Arguably, Puck is first presented as an irreverent character.
  2. Shakespeare develops Puck’s character by contrasting his initial presentation to his interactions with Oberon.
  3. Puck’s language when he speaks to Oberon suggests he respects the hierarchy.
  4. Puck’s language when he first meets the Rude Mechanicals suggests he has contempt for them as low status characters.

Keywords

  • Irreverent - disrespectful

  • Contemptuous - insulting

  • Rude Mechanicals - the phrase Puck uses to describe the poor Athenian actors, referencing their day jobs as skilled manual labourers

  • Crude - humour that relies on rude words or ideas

  • Hierarchy - a system whereby people or things are ranked, with some being higher than others

Common misconception

Puck is a disrespectful character.

Puck's disrespect is targeted at particular characters. He is shown as respectful to Oberon, for example, and other high status characters.

LC2 is about performance. Consider the time, instructions and space you want to establish for the Practice Task to be successful. Planning each detail in advance will support it being a purposeful, manageable task.
Teacher tip

Equipment

You need access to a copy of William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. However, the relevant extracts for this lesson can also be found in the additional materials.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of peer pressure or bullying
  • Risk assessment required - physical activity

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Skip lesson video

Loading...

Starter quiz

Download starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', why does Puck transform Bottom's head into that of a donkey?
Oberon orders him to.
He wants to test the power of the magical potion.
Correct answer: He thinks it will be a funny practical joke.
He mistakes Bottom for Demetrius.
He wants Helena to fall in love with someone ridiculous.
Q2.
In Puck's first dialogue with a fairy in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', what different things does he tell her he has transformed into in the past in order to play practical jokes on people?
Correct answer: a chair
Correct answer: an apple
a donkey
Correct answer: a horse
Bottom
Q3.
In Act 2, Scene 1 of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Oberon orders Puck to put the magical potion on Demetrius. Puck replies to these orders with, "Fear not, my . Your servant shall do so."
Correct Answer: lord
Q4.
In Act 2, Scene 1 of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', a fairy accuses Puck of misleading "night wanderers and at their harm".
Correct Answer: laughing
Q5.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', there are high and low status and through them, Shakespeare explores ideas around , a system by which people or things are ranked.
Correct Answer: hierarchy
Q6.
The first audiences of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' were Elizabethan. Hierarchy was incredibly important to them. They believed in a hierarchical system called .
Correct Answer: The Great Chain of Being, Great Chain of Being, Chain of Being

Exit quiz

Download exit quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', how does Puck show that he is a respectful servant to Oberon?
He transform Bottom into a donkey for him.
Correct answer: He swiftly follows his orders.
Correct answer: Through his language.
He speaks to him like an equal.
He puts the magical potion on Titania for him.
Q2.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', how does Puck show his contempt for the poor Athenian actors?
Correct answer: He wants to disrupt their rehearsals.
He deliberately turns the wrong person into a donkey.
He speaks to them as equals.
He puts the magical potion on them all.
Correct answer: He insults their clothing and intelligence.
Q3.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', why might we think of Puck as irreverent?
He follows Oberon's orders.
Correct answer: He sometimes uses crude language.
He calls Oberon "lord".
Correct answer: He plays practical jokes on people.
Correct answer: He transforms Bottom's head into that of a donkey.
Q4.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Puck jokes that he transforms himself into a stool that "The wisest aunt" is sitting on, only to disappear so she falls on "her bum" What type of humour is this?
reverent
respectful
supernatural
Correct answer: crude
Correct answer: slapstick
Q5.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Puck calls the poor Athenian actors the .
Correct Answer: Rude Mechanicals
Q6.
In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', when Puck first sees the Rude Mechanicals, he asks, "What hempen have we swaggering here [...]?"
Correct Answer: homespuns, home spuns, home-spuns

Additional material

Download additional material
We're sorry, but preview is not currently available. Download to see additional material.