Solutions Third Edition
2 Literature Worksheet
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare
1 BEFORE YOU READ   Answer the questions.
1 Read about William Shakespeare. How did he change the
English language?
2 Read the cultural context. What was different about
theatres in Shakespeare’s time?
3 Read the background to the story on page 2. What
problems do Hermia and Helena have?
William Shakespeare 1564–1616
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Important works:  Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Macbeth
Shakespeare was born into a large family in Stratford-
upon-Avon, England. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582,
and later moved to London. Shakespeare wrote plays
and sonnets (poems), and in 1594 he helped to start a
successful company of London actors. His work was
performed at the royal court and he became a rich man.
Amazingly, Shakespeare’s work introduced about two
thousand new words and expressions into English.
Shakespeare lived during the English Renaissance − a
CULTURAL CONTEXT
period of scientific discovery and exploration, and a
golden age of drama and poetry. At the time, actors
performed in inns (pubs) and private homes; then, the
first permanent theatre opened in 1576. Shakespeare’s
company built the Globe Theatre on the River Thames
in 1599. In Shakespeare’s time, theatres had no scenery,
but the actors wore wonderful costumes. There were no
women actors so boys played female roles.
2 Read the extract on page 2. What does Oberon do with the
purple flower? What will the flower juice do?
3 Read the extract again and complete the gaps with
sentences A–G.
A And here’s the sweet lady who he’s so cruel to.
B She lay down on her side, made herself comfortable and
closed her eyes.
C Puck turned and hurried quickly away through the trees.
D We can’t sleep next to each other.
E Titania, the Fairy Queen, is resting here.
F He had gone all through the forest looking for a man in
Athenian clothes, but found nobody.
G When the music ended, they went away, and he came
closer.
4 Read about Setting. Then look at the extract again and
answer questions 1−2.
1 Find examples for how the setting looks, feels, smells and
sounds in the extract.
2 Choose a new setting for the extract. Where and when
would you set it? Why?
Solutions Third Edition Level 3 Literature Worksheet 2
SETTING
The setting is the location and time that the story takes
place in. This can be a real time and place or an imaginary
one, like Hobbiton in The Hobbit. Shakespeare uses a
forest at night as a setting here because audiences in his
day thought a forest was a magical place. The senses are
important when setting a scene, and Shakespeare uses
them in this extract.
5 SPEAKING   In pairs, look at the reading extract again and
answer the questions.
1 How does the setting affect the mood in this scene?
2 How does Shakespeare use magic in this scene, and how
do we know that the magic is working?
3 Why does Puck mistake Lysander and Hermia’s identity?
4 Why are the rhyming verses important in this scene?
5 What do you think will happen to Helena and Lysander next?
6 Read what happens next below. What has Puck done?
Six actors are practising a play in the forest, and Puck
READ ON
puts a spell on one of them, Nick Bottom, giving him the
head of an ass. When Titania wakes and sees Bottom,
she falls in love with him because of the magic juice in
her eyes. Later, Titania is with Nick Bottom in her palace
in the trees.
7   02   Listen to the next part of the story. How does
Titania feel when she wakes up from her spell?
8   02   Listen again. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 Titania and Bottom are happy to be together. 
2 Bottom realises that he has the head of an ass. 
3 Bottom has begun to behave like an ass too. 
4 Oberon watches Bottom and Titania together. 
5 Oberon doesn’t want to end Titania’s spell. 
6 Titania is angry when she wakes up. 
9 SPEAKING   In pairs, ask and answer the questions.
1 One theme in the play is how our ideas about people can
change. How does this appear in the extract?
2 Which characters believe something untrue? Why?
3 How would you describe Puck’s character?
4 Do Titania and Bottom deserve the tricks that Oberon and
Puck play on them? Why? / Why not?
5 Have you ever played a trick on someone? What?
10 WRITING   When Bottom wakes up, he believes that he
had a strange dream. Describe Bottom’s dream in your
own words.
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 Solutions Third Edition

2 Literature Worksheet

BACKGROUND TO THE STORY

The Fairy King Oberon and Fairy Queen Titania have come to the forest near Athens. They are
arguing, so Oberon decides to put a spell on Titania. He wants to put the juice of a magic flower in
Titania’s eyes when she’s asleep. When she wakes, she will fall in love with the first living thing that
she sees.
Meanwhile, an Athenian lord is angry that his daughter Hermia will not marry Demetrius, the
husband he has chosen for her, because she is in love with Lysander. Hermia’s friend Helena loves
Demetrius, and she knows that Hermia and Lysander plan to run away to the forest. So Helena tells
Demetrius, thinking he might now love her instead of Hermia. Oberon watches Helena chasing
Demetrius and he feels sorry for her. So he tells Puck, his servant, to put some magic juice in ‘an
Athenian man’s eyes’, meaning Demetrius. Then Demetrius will love Helena.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In a grassy clearing in another part of the forest, white
lights dance in the trees, and music plays. Wild flowers
wave gently in the soft wind, and the air is sweet. 1[ ]
Her fairy servants watch over her, and sing their queen
5 to sleep …
Moon above us, shine so bright,
Let us sing a sweet goodnight.
Oberon, on the edge of the clearing, watched as the
fairies sang Titania to sleep. 2[ ] One fairy servant had
10 stayed to watch over the Queen, but when she looked
up, he blew in her eyes and at once she fell asleep.
Oberon went silently up to Titania and touched her
face. Then he pressed the purple flower in his hand, so
that drops of juice fell onto her eyes. Small silver lights
15 danced across the Fairy Queen’s head, and Oberon
‘Hermia, you’re tired, and I’m not sure where we
are any more. Let’s lie down for a bit and wait for
morning.’
25 ‘I’ll sleep here,’ said Hermia. ‘There’s some nice soft
grass, just here.’ 3[ ]
Lysander lay down next to her. ‘We can both sleep
here,’ he said, but she pushed him away.
‘No, Lysander. Go and lie over there, not near me.’
30 ‘Oh, sweetest,’ he said, putting his hand on her arm. ‘I
only want to sleep here beside you, I promise.’
Hermia laughed, moving his hand away.
‘Lysander, we’re not married. 4[ ]’
He smiled and sighed. Then he moved away from
35 Hermia and lay down.

sang softly:
When you wake, your eyes will change.
You’ll fall in love with something strange.
Oberon was gone as quickly as he had come, and a
20 moment later Lysander and Hermia walked into the
‘I’ll sleep over here then. Good night, Hermia.’
‘Sleep well,’ said Hermia, her eyes already closing.
The lovers slept, and a little while later Puck arrived
in the clearing. 5[ ] Now, stepping quietly across the
40 grassy clearing, he saw two people sleeping on the

clearing. Lysander looked around, worried. ground.

‘This must be the man from Athens that Oberon was
talking about,’ Puck said. ‘6[ ] Poor thing, lying on the
dirty ground afraid to go near him!’
45 Puck took out the purple flower, and held it over
Lysander, letting its juice fall into his eyes. As silver
lights moved across Lysander’s face, Puck whispered:
You will wake with love that’s deep,
Love that keeps you from your sleep.
7[ ] But only a moment later, there were voices in that
50
part of the forest once more, and Demetrius arrived in
the clearing, followed by Helena.

From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oxford Bookworms.

Text adaptation: R.J. Corrall

Solutions Third Edition Level 3 Literature Worksheet 2 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press­  2