Act 4, Scene 1

Act 4, Scene 1

Titania, in love, doesn't notice that Bottom is beginning to behave more like a donkey, and neither does Bottom..

Once Oberon has reasserted his authority over Titania, true to his word, he lifts the spell. Once humbled, Titania ceases to fight against her husband. Instead, she seems to accept his dominance as rightful. As for Oberon, he looks forward to the end of this comedy he's "written:" the lovers' marriage.

Oberon is the lord of nighttime, the lord of dreams. When dawn comes, Theseus, the upholder of law and reason, is lord. And in the light of day, the lover's passions of the previous night are only vaguely remembered. Yet somehow their irrational dreamlike experiences have exerted an unknown power over them that has solved happily what reason and law could only have solved unhappily.

Bottom, too, thinks his experience was a dream. And just as he saw the incompatibility of love and reason, he now recognizes that to look too deeply into a dream is foolishness. In a dream, as in love, there is nothing to understand.

Multiple Choice

Who is the Duke of Athens

• Lysander

• Hippolyta

• Oberon

• Theseus

Multiple Choice

Why has Oberon played a magical trick on Titania?

• to win her love

• to win the changeling boy

• to win control of her fairies

• to help Bottom

Multiple Select

Which of the following are apart of the "Athenian Lovers" group of characters?

• Flute

• Helena

• Oberon

• Lysander

• Snug

Fill in the Blanks

Multiple Choice

Who are these guys?

• Oberon's guards

• The Ragtag Ruffians

• The Athenian Court

• The Rude Mechanicals