Passion in A Midsummer Night's Dream

“Puck: The Heart and Soul of A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Within the genre of melodrama, the atmosphere and emotions of a story are romanticized and magical. Not only does it engage the audience emotionally, but it is also meant to be performed in a very exaggerated manner. William Shakespeare incorporates this melodramatic style into his plays with a specific purpose in mind. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare utilizes the sprightly character of Puck to reinforce the complexity of love, and the idea that magic sometimes causes more harm than good. Although there is no definitive protagonist, Puck stands out as a character who steers the direction of the plot and gives movement to the actions that occur throughout the story.

Puck's tricks and loyalty makes Oberon's goals and the happiness of the lovers possible. Bottom's foolishness provides for comedy for both the characters in the play and the audience, and it’s his transformation which enables Oberon to obtain the boy from Titania. Puck, Oberon's fool, and Bottom, the fool of the play, both provide comedy and some-what intelligent observations, which make them an important part of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Puck's tricks and loyalty makes Oberon's goals and the happiness of the lovers possible. Bottom's foolishness provides for comedy for both the characters in the play and the audience, and it’s his transformation which enables Oberon to obtain the boy from Titania. Puck, Oberon's fool, and Bottom, the fool of the play, both provide comedy and some-what intelligent observations, which make them an important part of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Analysis of Puck Considered by most as one of William Shakespeare's greatest plays, A Midsummer Nights Dream reads like a fantastical, creative tale; however, its romantic lines contain a message of love, reality, and chance that are not usually present in works of such kind. All characters in the play are playful, careless and thoughtless, and Puck, one of the central characters in the play, is significant to the plot and meaning of A Midsummer Nights Dream, consequently becoming a representative of the above-mentioned themes. The plot of this Shakespeare's plays is comical and, at times, ironic. As summarized by Puck in the last stanza of the play. Puck suggests to both the watchers and, consequently, to the readers, that if they did not enjoy the tale, they should pretend it was a dream, an impression so convincing that at times the audience is left confused.

William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream utilizes the technique of multiple characters playing leading roles. The fairy character Puck stands out as a dominant and leading role in the play. Puck is the best fit for the role of the protagonist because he is mischievous and therefore, has the ability to change the outcome of the play through his schemes and actions. As the protagonist, Puck is responsible for creating the major conflict that occurs between the four lovers throughout the play. This is important because the play focuses on the lives and relationships of the lovers.

The idea of Puck's character is a lovely one. One can't help but be attracted to him and his innocent, little pranks. He is also known by the name Robin Goodfellow. The audience can only see this ‘Robin Goodfellow' side of Puck when he is trying to fix something he disrupted, hence the name Goodfellow. When compared to Oberon, King of the Fairies and Titania, Queen of the Fairies and the remaining fairies of the play, Puck does not seem to fit in as well.

His insolence and irresponsible bawdiness make him a brilliantly effective figure on stage. Love to him is to be treated roughly and his outrageous comments and gestures to the other characters are wittily exaggerated, bringing great entertainment and comedy moments to the play. Mercutio's main role in the play is to enhance the purity of Romeo's love by contrast. He acts as Romeo's conscience when he urges him in to the ball. Moreover the figurative 'Queen Mab' speech, where the almost mystical and enchanting midwife ends up as an incubus, shows how Mercutio us... ... middle of paper ... ...nd comedy makes his character vital to the play and to keep the audience entertained.

After a short dispute between Oberon and Titania, and her refusal to give up her little Indian boy to Oberon. In fury Oberon wishes to punish Ti... ... middle of paper ... ...thence all error with his might, And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight. When they next wake, all this derision Shall seem a dream and fruitless vision, And back to Athens shall the lovers wend” (III.ii. 383-39) After placing the spell on Demetrius and correcting his mistake, he knew that these young Athenian lovers were off to a better start. Shakespeare creates Oberon to show the how fun and delirious the fairy world is.

Behind their clownish antics, Rafe and Robin highlight Faustus’ downfall and evil’s power through comic relief, parody, and parallel. According to the Neo-Classical view of tragedies, tragic action is the essence of the play; comic relief is often dismissed as mere filler (Tydeman and Thomas 48). To overturn this view, Rafe and Robin successfully render evil harmless with their lowly jests while Doctor Faustus cannot free himself from evil’s bondage with his great learning. When Mephastophilis transforms the two clowns into an ape and a dog in sc.viii, Robin and Rafe only laugh. This nonchalance dampens the severity of the curses.

The funniest part of this play seems to be when Puck, the trickster, keeps mixing up the people who he is assigned to put the love juice on. Even when he did put the love juice into the right people's eyes, they still fell in love with the wrong people sometimes. The first example of this mistake of Puck's is where he puts the love juice in Lysander's eyes, mistaking him for Demetrius. Oberon tells Puck to put the love juice in the eyes of an Athenian man, Demetrius, and to make sure that the first thing he sees after this is the woman whom he hates, but who loves him so much, Helena. Puck ends up finding Lysander and Hermia, lovers, sleeping on the forest floor.