|
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed. Characters * Theseus—Duke of Athens * Hippolyta—Queen of the Amazons * Egeus—father of Hermia * Hermia—daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander * Lysander—in love with Hermia * Demetrius—suitor to Hermia * Helena—in love with Demetrius * Philostrate— Master of the Revels * Peter Quince—a carpenter * Nick Bottom—a weaver * Francis Flute—a bellows-mender * Tom Snout—a tink ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Romanticism, Romantic Age. What he called his "William Blake's prophetic books, prophetic works" were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones (journalist), Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, he produced a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself". Although Blake was c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carpenter
Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old-fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally 4 years—a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sprite (folklore)
A sprite is a supernatural entity in European mythology. They are often depicted as fairy-like creatures or as an ethereal entity. The word ''sprite'' is derived from the Latin ''spiritus'' ("spirit"), via the French '' esprit''. Variations on the term include ''spright'' and the Celtic ''spriggan''. The term is chiefly used with regard to elves and fairies in European folklore, and in modern English is rarely used in reference to spirits. Belief in sprites The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves, fairies, etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as " neo-druidism" and Ásatrú. In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air (see also sylph). Water sprite A water sprite (also called a water fairy or water faery) is a general term for an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. Wat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a character in William Shakespeare's play, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. Based on the Puck (mythology), Puck of English mythology and the púca of Celtic mythology, Puck is a mischievous fairy, Sprite (folklore), sprite, or jester. He is the first of the main fairy characters to appear, and he significantly influences events in the play. He delights in pranks such as replacing Bottom's head with that of an Asinus, ass. Appearances in the play The audience is introduced to Puck in 2.1: FAIRY: Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are you not he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the wikt:quern#Noun, quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no wikt:barm#Noun 2, barm; Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, You do t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Titania () is a character in William Shakespeare's 1595–1596 play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. In the play, she is the Queen of the fairies and wife of the Fairy King, Oberon. Due to Shakespeare's influence, later fiction has often used the name "Titania" for fairy queen characters. Origins In traditional folklore, the fairy queen has no name. As such, Shakespeare took the name "Titania" from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', where it is an appellation given to the daughters of Titans. Role in the play Shakespeare's Titania has a major role to play in one of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream's'' subplots. Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband, Oberon. She and Oberon are engaged in a marital quarrel over which of them should have the keeping of an Indian changeling boy. It is this quarrel which drives the plot, creating the mix-ups and confusion of the other characters in the play. Due to an enchantment cast by Oberon's servant Puc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oberon
Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Etymology Oberon is derived from Alberich (from Old High German ''alb-'' "elf" and ''-rîh-'', "ruler", "king"), the name of a dwarf from Germanic mythology. In the ''Nibelungenlied'', a Burgundian poem written around the turn of the 13th century, Alberich guards the treasure of the Nibelungen, but is overcome by Siegfried. In Old French, the name Alberich evolved into ''Alberon'' and then ''Auberon'' and ultimately into ''Aubrey''. French heroic song The name Oberon (as Auberon) is first attested to in the early 13th century entitled , wherein it refers to an elven man of the forest encountered by the eponymous hero. Huon, son of Seguin count of Bordeaux, passed through the forest inhabited by Oberon. He was warned by a hermit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Starveling
Robin Starveling is a character in William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1596), one of the Rude Mechanicals of Athens who plays the part of Moonshine in their performance of ''Pyramus and Thisbe''. His part is often considered one of the more humorous in the play, as he uses a lantern in a failed attempt to portray Moonshine and is wittily derided by his audience. Role in the play In ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is preparing to marry Hippolyta. Peter Quince decides to entertain her and hires a group of actors nicknamed the Rude Mechanicals to perform ''Pyramus and Thisbe'', a love story. Robin is one of the Rude Mechanicals, the tailor, who gathers with his colleagues to prepare their production. Robin at first is told to play the part of Thisbe's mother, but Peter Quince points out that a love story needs moonlight shining on the lovers to have any real effect on the audience. After Nick Bottom suggests looking in the almanac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joiner
A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in a workshop, because the formation of various joints is made easier by the use of non-portable, powered machinery, or on job site. A joiner usually produces items such as interior and exterior doors, windows, stairs, tables, bookshelves, cabinets, furniture, etc. In shipbuilding a ''marine joiner'' may work with materials other than wood such as linoleum, fibreglass, hardware, and gaskets. The terms ''joinery'' and ''joiner'' are in common use in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. The term is not in common use in North America, although the main trade union for American carpenters is called the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. In the UK, an apprentice of wood occupations could choose to study ''bench joinery'' or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snug (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Snug is a minor character from William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is a joiner who comes from Athens who is hired by Peter Quince to play the part of the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe. When he is first assigned the part, he is afraid it may take him a while to finally remember his lines (even though the lion's role was nothing but roaring originally). Bottom offers to play the part of the lion (as he offers to play all other parts), but he is rejected by Quince, who worries (as do the other characters) that his loud and ferocious roar in the play will frighten the ladies of power in the audience and get Quince and all his actors hanged. In the end, the lion's part is revised to explain that he is in fact not a lion and means the audience no harm. Snug is often played as a stupid man, a manner describing almost all of the Mechanicals. Snug is the only Mechanical to whom the playwright did not assign a first name. In Jean-Louis and Jules Supervielle's F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tinker
Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils. Description ''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani people specialised in the trade, and the name was particularly associated with indigenous Irish Travellers and Scottish Highland Travellers – the name of whose language '' Beurla Reagaird'' means "speech of the metalworkers".Kirk, J. & Ó Baoill, D. ''Travellers and their Language'' (2002) Queen's University Belfast However, this use is considered offensive. The term "tinker", in British English, may refer to a mischievous child. Some modern-day nomads with an English, an Irish or a Scottish influence call themselves "techno-tinkers" or "technogypsies" in a revival of sorts of the romantic view of the tinker's lifestyle. "Tinker's dam" or "damn" and "tinker's curse" Both phrases tinker's damn and tinker's curse can be applied to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Snout
Tom Snout is a character in William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is a tinker, and one of the " mechanicals" of Athens, amateur players in ''Pyramus and Thisbe'', a play within the play. In the play-within-a-play, Tom Snout plays the wall which separates Pyramus' and Thisbe's gardens. In ''Pyramus and Thisbe'', the two lovers whisper to each other through Snout's fingers (representing a gap in the wall). Snout has eight lines under the name of Tom Snout, and two lines as ''The Wall''. He is the Wall for Act V-Scene 1. Tom Snout was originally set to play Pyramus's father, but the need for a wall was greater, so he discharged ''The Wall''. Snout is often portrayed as a reluctant actor and very frightened, but the other mechanicals (except Nick Bottom and Peter Quince) are usually much more frightened than Tom Snout). Snout's name, like that of the other mechanicals, is a metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtight cavity which can be expanded and contracted by operating the handles, and fitted with a valve allowing air to fill the cavity when expanded, and with a tube through which the air is forced out in a stream when the cavity is compressed. xford English Dictionary, 2nd ed: bellows/ref> It has many applications, in particular blowing on a fire to supply it with air. The term "bellows" is used by extension for a flexible bag whose volume can be changed by compression or expansion, but not used to deliver air. For example, the light-tight (but not airtight) bag allowing the distance between the lens and film of a folding photographic camera to be varied is called a bellows. Etymology "Bellows" is only used in plural. The Old English na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Snug (A Midsummer Night's Dream)")
.svg "Click for more on -> Bellows")