Bottom the Weaver

Nick Bottom, the weaver, first appears in I.ii, with the other mechanicals, or clowns (Quince, Snug, Flute, Snout, and Starveling), as they are sometimes called. It is often noted that the mechanicals' names reflect their work. "Bottom," critics explain, refers to the bottom, or skein, around which yarn is wound. Bottom directs Quince to tell the group which play they will be performing and to tell everyone which parts they will be playing. Quince assigns the role of Pyramus to Bottom. Bottom seems enthusiastic about playing this part, and he volunteers also to play the role of Thisby and that of the lion. Quince convinces him, however, that he "can play no part but Pyramus" (I.ii.85).

Bottom appears again in III.i as the group of mechanicals gathers in the wood to rehearse. He tells Quince that the play needs a prologue to explain that the dangers in the play (Pyramus drawing his sword to kill himself, and the lion) are not real. After the group decides that the moonshine by which Pyramus and Thisby meet and the wall which separates the lovers must be played by people, the group proceeds with their rehearsal. Bottom bungles his first line, and Quince corrects him. Flute, playing Thisby to Bottom's Pyramus, doesn't do much better, to Quince's dismay. Puck, who has been watching, intervenes to change Bottom's head into the head of an ass. When the others see this, they run off, frightened. Bottom thinks they are playing a trick on him, trying to scare him, so he begins singing to show them he is not afraid. His song is interrupted by Titania, who has just woken up, having been anointed with the love juice by Oberon. Titania swears she is in love with Bottom, a man with the head of an ass, and he replies ''Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that" (III.ii.142-43). When Titania tells Bottom that he is both wise and beautiful, he assures her that he is not. Nevertheless, he seems to accept her affection and follows her with little objection.

Bottom is next seen seated upon Titania's ''flowery bed'' as she caresses him, adorns his head with flowers, and kisses his "fair large ears" (IV.i.l-4). Bottom is busy instructing the fairies to fetch him honey and scratch his ears. When Bottom and Titania fall asleep, Oberon reverses the effect of the love juice on Titania. As Titania wakes up saying that she thought she had been in love with an ass, she sees Bottom lying next to her and exclaims "O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!" (IV.