A Midnight’s Summer Dream by William Shakespeare is considered a comedy with many characters having different roles in the play. However, there are two characters in the play whose sole purpose is comical relief. Puck and Bottom are very similar to each other and have the same role for different people. Even though they are comic relief characters, both Puck and Bottom play a vital role to the tone and plot of the story. Puck is the fairy who serves Oberon, the Fairy King. Puck creates a fun and playful tone to the story by playing practical jokes on the villagers. Unlike Bottom, Puck is actually very insightful and intelligent; however, Puck likes to go his own way and not follow directions. In Act 3 scene 1, Puck says, “What hempen home-spuns have we swagg'ring here, …show more content…
What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor An actor too perhaps, if I see cause.” Oberon orders Puck to find a love potion to make Demetrius fall in love with Helena. Puck being the comic relief accidently uses the potion on the wrong person. Later on in the play, the interaction between Bottom and Puck happen. Puck very rightly turns Bottom's head into the head of the proverbial ass because Bottom is indeed acting like a donkey in terms of being an idiot. Bottom wants to play Pyramus, Thisbe, and the lion, which is foolish. Puck and Oberon find it hilarious that Titania has fallen in love with a man bearing the head of an ass! Titania praises Bottom; first he demurs, but then immediately (and comically) he accepts her attention. He is also humorously enthusiastic—he wants to play all the parts in the play the men will present to the Duke. What angel wakes me from my flowery bed? (III.i.120) ...mine eye [is] enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move
When Oberon ordered Puck to anoint Demetrius, he anointed Lysander, therefore causing chaos among the lovers! Puck was the one making his own choices based on his knowledge. Secondly, when Titania ordered the fairies to serve Bottom, she was under the love potion. Since she madly pursued Bottom, she didn’t truly know what she was doing, which caused chaos!. Though it may seem like Bottom and Oberon were controlling, they are both at the
Theatre students are often told what not to prepare for an audition because some pieces have been done so many times they lose their meaning. Of Shakespeare’s entire canon, the two most often forbidden texts are Puck and Helena monologues from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Therefore, the two roles are often the most sought-after and coveted in the play when in production. However, in the 1999 film version, Kevin Kline as Bottom gets top billing. According to the rules of Elizabethan hierarchy, Bottom, being of the merchant class, is literally at the “bottom” of the social spectrum. The Athenians and fairies rank higher on the great chain of being. Kline’s billing is not merely a result of stunt-casting: Athenian Helena is played by television star Calista Flockhart and the fairy queen, Titania, is played by Michelle Pfeiffer, both “stars” at the time. The movie is considered “The Kevin Kline Version” because, compared to the text alone, the plot changes, cinematic adjustments, and Kline’s performance flesh out Bottom’s character, creating a protagonist for an otherwise ensemble cast.
Oberon is making a spectacle of Titania and Bottom. It is ridiculous that she is in love with him because he is from such a lower class than her, he is human and she is a fairy, and he has the head of an ass. She is also a queen and he is an uneducated working man and a match like this would never happen. Bottom has such a problem with language.
There is drama caused between the young lovers initially, when Hermia loves Lysander, Lysander loves Hermia, Demetrius loves Hermia, Helena loves Demetrius, but no one loves Helena. Through this short, complicated ‘love story’, arguments and fights occur. The fairy world then comes into contact with the world of the young lovers. Mischievous Puck causes further complications when he uses magic to anoint a young Athenian male’s eyes, who is in fact the wrong Athenian that Oberon assigned Puck. Puck misuses magic when he plays a silly prank on Bottom, who is one of the Mechanicals, by giving Bottom a head of an ass.
Now Helena is confused and thinks that Lysander is playing a trick on her so she runs away. This is a most particularly funny part of the play and these mix ups with whom loves who seem to be the funniest pieces of the play. Another funny section in this play is where Puck puts an ass head on the shoulders of Bottom.
Puck causes the disruption initially, when he intervenes in the lovers' business. Jester and jokester, Puck, otherwise known as Robin Goodfellow, is like a wild, untamed memb...
Shakespeare wrote his acclaimed comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream more than a thousand years after Apuleius’ Roman novel, The Golden Ass. Although separated by thousands of years and different in terms of plot and setting, these works share the common theme of a confused and vulnerable man finding direction by relying on a supernatural female. One of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s many subplots is the story of Bottom, a comical figure determined to be taken seriously in his production of a Pyramus and Thisbe. As Bottom becomes caught up in a quarrel between the king and queen of the fairies, the commanders of the enchanted forest where Bottom and his players practice, the “shrewd and knavish sprite” Puck transforms his head into an ass’ s and leads him to be enthralled in a one night stand with the queen, Titania. (2.1.33) Apuleius’s protagonist Lucius endures a similar transformation, after his mistress’s slave girl accidentally bewitches him into a donkey, leaving him even without the ability to speak. Although Lucius’ transformation lasts longer and is more severe, he and Bottom both undergo similar experiences resulting from their animal forms. Lucius’ suffering ultimately leads him to salvation through devotion the cult of Isis, and Bottom’s affair with Titania grants him clarity and a glimpse into similar divine beauty. Ultimately, both asinine characters are saved through their surrender to the goddesses.
The character of Bottom in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is frequently foolish, but he is not a fool. His exuberance and energy are allied to practicality and resourcefulness, with an alarming lack of self-consciousness. He, at any rate, is not at all tongue-tied before the duke, as Theseus has known others to be. We do laugh at Bottom in many situations, but should note that these are situations in which any man might seem ridiculous: amateur theatricals are almost a byword for unintended comedy, whether in planning (1.2) rehearsal (3.1) or performance (5.1); any artisan afflicted with an ass's head and appetites, and beloved of the fairy queen would have difficulty retaining his dignity.
...uch like Helena, who overlooks Demetrius’ shortcomings, Titania looks past Bottom’s very apparent ignorance out of love.
He sends his jester, Puck, to use a flower that, if its juice is dropped onto someone who’s sleeping’s eyes, will make the person fall madly in love with the first person they lie their eyes on. “Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove; A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth; anoint his eyes; but do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady. Thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on. ”(64) Puck, following Oberon’s orders, finds Lysander and Hermia instead of Demetrius and Helena.
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is established in the play as the jester to the King of Fairies, Oberon. He first appears in Act 2, Scene 1 when he and another fairy discuss the disagreement between Oberon and Titania are having. The fairy gives us some indication of Puck's character as she describes how Puck “frights the maidens of the villagery” and “Misleading the night wanderers” (Act 2.1, line 35). When Titania refuses to give up the boy servant that Oberon wants, he comes up with a plan to steal the child, and enlists Puck's help to do so. Oberon is fully aware of Puck’s desire to have a good time at the expense of others, but trusts him with the task of retrieving the flower to make Titania fall in love with “Lion, Bear, Wolf, or Bull.” (Act 2.1, line 180) The idea here is to convince Titania to hand over the changeling boy while she is infatuated with a beast. Being attracted to mischief, Puck seems excited to be tasked to this adventure, and claims to return “Within forty minutes” (Act 2.1, line 176) so that they can get started on their plan.
So from all of this I still have to say Puck is a good character. He
The use and misuse of magic has an important role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As a reoccurring theme, Puck’s use of magic creates humor, conflict and balance in the play.
To emphasize, in Act III, the reader is presented with the play’s most extraordinary contrast, the relationship between Titania and Bottom. “What wakes me from my flow’ry bed?” (III.i.131). Titania is awoken by the so-called melodic singing of Bottom. In the present scene, both characters are under some particular sort of spell. Titania’s eyes were anointed with the nectar of the love flower, thus causing her to fall in love with the next living thing she encounters. In the meantime, Puck pulled a prank on Bottom, turning his head into that of an ass. Both characters of the play are interpreted as complete opposites. Titania, characterized as the beautiful, graceful fairy queen; Bottom is portrayed as overdramatic, self centered, and as of now, not keen on the eyes. However, the love nectar never fails and seems to bring the two into a state of lust. The contrast between the two is overwhelming. An important scene in the pl...
He is the type of fairy that likes to be around mortals and cause them trouble, as opposed to other fairies. This is why Puck's little job with a love potion and a young couple is perfect for him, and he is perfect for the job. Puck is a likable character who tends to create mischief around himself. Everything is a game to crafty little Puck. Yet once he realizes that he has caused a problem, he will make sure to the best of his ability and power that it is rectified.