Act I Commentary

I don't feel like I need much structure for this. I'll comment on what strikes me, you do the same, and we'll comment on each other's comments. The commentary provided by the Cliffs Notes is helpful for me, since I think it gives me some added insight.

I thought Act 1 went quite smoothly for me. I only have a few thoughts to share.

Scene 1

I missed catching the number of references to the moon. Apparently, this is significant. Most of the play (I guess I will figure this out by the time we finish) occurs during the night. Also, the high frequency of references to the moon indicates a relationship to Luna, the goddess of chastity. This is supposed to be reference to the societal requirement that the lovers remain chaste until marriage.

I could have guessed the chastity, given the time period, but I missed how the references to the moon pointed to this.

Scene 2

I found it interesting that the commentary I read pointed out the relationship between the names Shakespeare gives to the characters and the professions they have or the roles they will play in the performance they will be doing. For instance, "Flute" is to play a woman, and the flute signifies a high-pitched voice. Similar descriptive names were chosen for the other characters as well. Knowing this now will likely keep me from getting lost among characters within characters.

Act I, in general

I actually found Scene 1 easy to read. I relied on the footnotes only about 10% of the time. I found Scene 2 a little more difficult, mostly because the "Bottom" character often chooses the wrong word for what he is trying to express (clearly Shakespeare's intention). This is where the footnotes were very helpful.

I almost started Act II last night, but decided that would probably cloud or confuse these comments that I wanted to write this morning. I will start it tonight, most likely. Act II appears to be about the same length as Act I. I think I saw that Scene 2 of Act *III* is quite a bit longer than anything in Acts I or II. We might plan ahead for that.

It is possible that I may be able to finish all of Act II tonight, since it isn't very long... if I don't crash on the couch as soon as the kids are down.