This document defines key dramatic terms like monologue, soliloquy, aside, and foil. It also outlines characteristics of Shakespeare's writing like iambic pentameter and blank verse. Elements of Shakespearean comedy are provided such as young lovers struggling against elders, mistaken identity, and supernatural elements. Finally, it summarizes the plot structure and key aspects of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

1. Elements of Drama - terms
• Monologue – a speech given by one character
to another character or by a character to the
audience.
• Soliloquy – when a character voices his/her
thoughts out loud when he/she are alone or
when he/she thinks he/she is alone. This helps
the audience to know what is going on in the
character’s mind.

2. Elements of Drama - terms
• Aside – words spoken by a character directly
to the audience, usually to help give the
audience further information.
• Dramatic irony – a situation in the story in
which the audience knows something that the
characters don’t know.
• Foil – a character who is almost exactly the
opposite of another character, used to make a
comparison

3. Elements of Drama - terms
• Double entendre – a word or phrase with
more than one meaning; for example: the title
of the short story “The Most Dangerous
Game,” the word game may refer to prey and
hunting.
• Pun – a play on words, especially words that
sound alike, but have different meanings.

4. Shakespeare’s Form of Writing
• Shakespeare’s form was poetry, not prose.
• Iamb – a unit of poetry consisting of an
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
• Iambic pentameter – a form a poetry that has
lines with five iambs or two syllables each
• Characters who are not noblemen or women do
not speak using iambic pentameter; they speak in
blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)
• Characters speak in iambic pentameter because
Shakespeare wants to stress the importance of
something in what they are saying.

5. Elements of
Shakespearean Comedy
• Young lovers struggle to overcome difficulties
presented by elders
• Separation by characters and then they are
reunited
• Mistaken identity
• A clever servant
• Heightened tension between family members
• Multiple, intertwining plots
• Frequent use of puns/play on language
• Supernatural elements

6. Characteristics of Acts I & II
• Act I – exposition; conflict is introduced
• Act II – rising action; characters leave the
tensions of the city for the natural world;
mistaken identity; magic; free expression

7. Characteristics of Acts III, IV, V
• Act III –more mistaken identity; more magic
climax/turning point; characters who are
supposed to be together end up together
• Act IV – falling action – loose ends are tied up;
real identities are revealed
• Act V – resolution; ends happily in marriage –
harmony in the universe

8. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Themes – Difficulties of love; magic; dreams
• Motifs – contrast; love out of balance
• Symbols – love potion; play-within-a-play;
Theseus and Hippolyta (they represent
stability)

9. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Contains many allusions (literary references to
well-known persons, places, other
literature, events.
• Allusions to mythology and ancient folklore