Answer Key

Act III i
1. Bottom is afraid that the ladies will be scared when they see Pyramus kill
himself. He suggests that Quince write a prologue that explains that the
suicide is not real and that he is not really Pyramus but Bottom.
2. Snout is afraid that the lion will scare the ladies. Bottom suggests that Snug
—the lion—reassure the audience that he is not really a lion and that Snug
should wear a half mask so that half his face is revealed.
3. Bottom suggests looking in an almanac to see whther the moon will provide
enough moonshine the night they perform the play.
4. Quince decides to have Starveling carry a thornbush to indicate that
Starveling is Moonshine: the man in the moon who supposedly carried a
thornbush.
5. Puck plays tricks on the actors by putting a donkey’s head on Bottom and
when the actors run off, Puck chases them, using different voices to scare
them.
Act III ii
1. Puck tells Oberon that Titania has fallen in love with Bottom. Oberon is
happy about this.
2. Oberon realizes that Puck has made a mistake and put the juice of the
flower on the wrong person when he sees Demetrius declare his love for
Hermia (not Helena).
3. Hermia is afraid that Demetrius has killed Lysander because she can’t think
of another reason why Lysander would have left her sleeping.
4. Oberon puts the juice of the flower on Demetrius so that he will lover
Helena.
5. When Demetrius declares his love for Helena she thinks that he is mocking
her as well because he had been telling her just a short while before that he
hated her. Why would he suddenly change?
6. Helena and Hermia argue because Helena thinks that Hermia is mocking
her too and Hermia thinks that Helena has stolen Lysander’s love and that
she is making fun of her because she is short.
 7. Oberon tells Puck to lead Lysander and Demetrius around the woods then
press an antidote on Lysander’s eyes that will remove the spell so that he
will return to normal and love Hermia again.
Act IV i
1. Oberon gets the boy by tricking Titania into thinking he is angry and then
to appease him she gives him the boy when he asks for him.
2. Oberon returns Titania to normal because he feels sorry for her now
because she is making a fool of herself and because he now has the boy.
3. Egeus wants Theseus to punish Lysander for trying to run away with Hermia
and he wants Theseus to force Hermia into marrying Demetrius. Theseus
decides to have the 2 couples marry at the same time as he and Hippolyta
marry.
4. Bottom and the lovers remember the events of the previous night almost
as though it had all been a dream.
Act IV ii
1. The tradesman are upset because without Bottom they will not be able to
perform their play. They don’t have anyone else play the part of Pyramus
because Bottom is the best actor they know.
2. Flute says that Bottom “hath …lost six-pence a day during his life” because
he believes that Theseus would have been so impressed with Bottom’s
performance that he would have given him a pension for life.
3. The tradesmen find out that their play has been put on the “preferred list”
when Bottom shows up and tells them.
Act V
1. In Act V the three couples are married—Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius
and Helena, Lysander and Hermia.
2. Quince manages to make the Prologue funny by stopping in the middle of
the sentences and continuing where he should stop according to the
punctuation. This completely changes the meaning of what he is trying to
say.
3. Hippolyta at first feels sorry for the actors because they are so bad but after
she too makes fun of them.
4. Pyramus (Bottom) curses the wall because he cannot see Thisbe though it.
5. The audience reacts by laughing and making negative comments at the
deaths of Pyramus and Thisbe.
6. As the newly-married couples go off to bed Puck enters and then Oberon
and Titania and the other fairies. Oberon gives fairy magic dew to bless the
marriages of the three human couples.
7. Oberon tells the fairies to fly through the house dancing and singing this
song.