A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) practice questions and exam guide

When Bottom reappears with his new head, the other mechanicals:

1. Applaud his costume
2. Adjust his lines
3. Flee in terror, believing him bewitched
4. Argue with him about pay

Answer: C — Flee in terror, believing him bewitched

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — they scatter, leaving Bottom alone and bewildered.

Throughout the performance the court audience:

1. Sits silently
2. Walks out
3. Heckles the actors with witty commentary
4. Cries

Answer: C — Heckles the actors with witty commentary

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — Theseus, Hippolyta, Demetrius, and Lysander supply running mockery and praise.

The four young Athenian lovers are:

1. Hermia + Demetrius + Helena + Egeus
2. Hermia + Lysander + Demetrius + Helena
3. Hermia + Theseus + Demetrius + Helena
4. Bottom + Quince + Helena + Demetrius

Answer: B — Hermia + Lysander + Demetrius + Helena

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — the quartet's confusions drive the forest plot.

Felix Mendelssohn's 1842 incidental music gave the play:

1. New text
2. A sequel
3. Cuts
4. The famous Wedding March + scoring used in many adaptations since

Answer: D — The famous Wedding March + scoring used in many adaptations since

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — Mendelssohn's score has shaped operatic + filmic versions for nearly two centuries.

Hermia, alone in the forest at the end of Act 2, wakes from a nightmare in which:

1. Theseus condemns her
2. Egeus dies
3. A serpent eats her heart while Lysander watches and smiles
4. Helena marries Demetrius

Answer: C — A serpent eats her heart while Lysander watches and smiles

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — her dream literalizes the betrayal she does not yet know has occurred.

On waking from the spell, Titania reacts to the sight of Bottom with:

1. Renewed adoration
2. Anger toward Oberon
3. Astonished disgust at the creature she has been embracing
4. Indifference

Answer: C — Astonished disgust at the creature she has been embracing

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — her revulsion is part of the play's commentary on infatuation.

The cause of Oberon and Titania's quarrel is:

1. A stolen jewel
2. An Athenian groom
3. A changeling boy whose mother served Titania and whom Oberon wants as a page
4. A neglected feast

Answer: C — A changeling boy whose mother served Titania and whom Oberon wants as a page

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — Titania keeps the boy in memory of his deceased mother; Oberon demands him for his train.

Helena decides to tell Demetrius about the elopement because she hopes to:

1. Punish Hermia
2. Gain a reward from Egeus
3. Earn Demetrius's gratitude by following him into the woods after her rival
4. Win Theseus's favor

Answer: C — Earn Demetrius's gratitude by following him into the woods after her rival

A/B/D) Wrong. C) Correct — her motive is renewed pursuit of Demetrius, not revenge against Hermia.

Hermia, arriving to find Lysander pursuing Helena, is:

1. Pleased
2. Already aware of the magic
3. Calmly forgiving
4. Hurt and incredulous, accusing Lysander of betrayal

Answer: D — Hurt and incredulous, accusing Lysander of betrayal

A/B/C) Wrong. D) Correct — Hermia cannot understand the abrupt reversal.

Helena's jealousy, often misread as pure rivalry with Hermia, is more accurately:

1. Hatred of Hermia for stealing her man
2. A pain that takes the form of self-doubt and unrequited love, not malice toward her friend
3. A plan for revenge
4. A claim on Egeus's property

Answer: B — A pain that takes the form of self-doubt and unrequited love, not malice toward her friend

A) Trick distractor. B) Correct — the play repeatedly shows Helena directing pain inward rather than at Hermia. C/D) Wrong.

The penalty Theseus presents to Hermia for refusing Demetrius is:

1. Banishment alone
2. A heavy fine
3. Public whipping
4. Death or lifelong virgin service in Diana's temple

Answer: D — Death or lifelong virgin service in Diana's temple

A/B/D) Wrong. D) Correct — Theseus offers death or the cloistered religious life as the only legal alternatives to obedience.

Quince's role in the mechanicals group is that of:

1. The treasurer
2. The director and playwright figure who tries to keep order among the amateurs
3. The actor cast as Lion
4. The duke's spy

Answer: B — The director and playwright figure who tries to keep order among the amateurs

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Quince's organizational position is both serious and comic.

Symbol: the forest.

Liminal, lawless, fertile, dangerous. Where the unconscious + desire are negotiated. Returns the characters to themselves changed.

Puck's epilogue?

Addresses the audience: 'If we shadows have offended...' Asks for applause + frames the play as a dream the audience may forgive.

How does the play end on identity + memory?

The lovers describe their night as a dream that 'these things seem small and undistinguishable.' Reality + dream are deliberately blurred. The play asks where one ends + the other begins.

The fairies' attendance on Bottom?

Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed wait on Bottom. He addresses each with absurd dignity. One of the funniest scenes in Shakespeare.

Mendelssohn's music?

Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music (1842) includes the famous Wedding March. Shapes operatic + cinematic adaptations ever since.

The opening situation?

Theseus + Hippolyta plan their wedding. Egeus brings Hermia, Demetrius, + Lysander to court. Theseus tells Hermia she must obey her father by next new moon.