Using language
effectively

Oberon and Titania are quarrelling, and their dispute is disturbing the entire natural world. Oberon swears that he will be revenged upon her and recalls an incident that he alone witnessed. It will provide a magic charm with which he will make Titania do as he wishes or, at least, punish her.

Oberon must make the description of what he saw clear and wonderful so that the audience both follows the details of the tale and feels the magic of it. That challenge is to make the language do the work and not rush through the piece.

Key to the Piece: “I saw, but thou could’st not.” Oberon’s vision is so magical and wonderful that only he could see it. The actor must use each detail to paint the picture so that Puck can understand where her errand will lead.

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Imagery Conveyed Through Language

	Play:	A Midsummer Night's Dream
	Scene:	II, 1: 155 – 174
	Character:	Oberon
	Setting:	A wood near Athens
	Travis first became acquainted with Shakespeare when he played Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing in grade 9. Since then, Shakespeare (among other legendary dramaturges) has been his constant ally in his acting career.

That very time I saw, but thou couldst not,
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all armed; a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal throned by the west.
And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it would pierce a hundred thousand hearts.
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon;
And the imperial votress passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell.
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love’s wound,
And maidens call it love in idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.