Essay on Nick Bottom in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Bottom makes more remarks to being an ass, but because he is a fool, he never realizes that he is an ass literally. Puck's prank had a bonus when Titania wakes to Bottom's singing and falls instantly in love, due to the potion, with him. Puck's enjoyment in trickery and Bottom's stupidity combine and make bad go to worse in this scene, but then again, this whole scene was to further the action of the

The Elizabethans acquired certain expectations for a comedy. This included trickery, insults, jokes and puns, wordplay, misunderstandings, and happy endings; these expectations would have all been considered elements of a comedy William Shakespeare wrote called Twelfth Night and all of those expectations soon became common traits found in all comedic plays written by Shakespeare, in every comedic play written by him there consists a happy couple in the case of Twelfth night the play ended with three, a mistaken identity or a misunderstanding like the gender flip that Oliva pulled, and the use of puns typically by a character known as a fool, drunk, or sometimes even the servants in Twelfth Night most puns were told by the local fool known as

Oberon, riddled with jealousy over his queen’s beloved “changeling”, plots to make a fool out of Titania with his magic potion so he may steal away the child. Oberon's love-potion has the same effect of that of the famed Cupid's arrows, it charms the sight of those it is anointed upon, and gets them to fall in “love” with the first creature they see. Oberon anoints the eyes of Titania and she ends up falling in “love” with the first creature she sees, Bottom, an actor who is rehearsing in the woods, who’s head has been turned into that of an ass by Puck. Oberon plan is successful, he is in fact able to steal away the child while his queen dotes upon Bottom, but then things start to get more complicated in the moonlit woods.

Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, while the story involving Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, Helena, Oberon and Titania is developing, the rustic gentlemen (Bottom and his friends) are shown rehearsing for a play that they will perform in honor of the upcoming wedding of Theseus (the Duke of Athens) and Hippolyta. The play, “Pyramus and Thisby,” is based on a story that was told by the ancient Roman writer Ovid and retold by Chaucer. The “Pyramus and Thisby” play is not performed until the fifth and final act of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. By then, as Barton points out, the major problems of Lysander, Demetrius and the rest have all been neatly resolved. As such, the “Pyramus and Thisby” play-within-a-play “seems, in effect, to take place beyond the normal, plot-defined boundaries of comedy” (Barton 110).

Helena puts forth the evocative themes of “hate” and “mock[ery],” clearly exhibiting that she feels quite a lot of emotion towards the way that Lysander and Demetrius are acting. Helena’s evidently very low self-esteem causes her to believe that Demetrius and Lysander are “joining in souls” or teaming up on her to make fun of her, when they are contrarily being quite affectionate. This clearly exemplifies how dramatic irony, a common theme throughout the play, can actually intend to teach the lesson that love is very complex and quite magical, conveyed by the fairies. Similarly to Helena, Bottom, a farcical member of the mechanicals that gets comeuppance for his high self-esteem by being turned into an ass by Puck, is also unaware of the reality of his situation. When Bottom comes to the realization that he has undergone some sort of change, he is still completely uninformed about his true state of being, but yet the audience knows exactly what has occurred. Bottom infers, “This is to make an ass of me” (3.1.99). It is very ironic that Bottom thinks they are “mak[ing] an ass of [him],” when in reality he has literally been transformed into an ass. This random, confusing aspect of the play symbolizes the randomness and complexity of love. Additionally, later in the scene, Titania admires Bottom’s appearance, demonstrating the blindness of love. Shakespeare evidently utilizes the comedic device of

6. What alternatives does Theseus offer Hermia? In what tone do you imagine him presenting these alternatives? Quote

Instead, he is kind and removes the ass’s head. His gentle nature is exhibited in the last lines of the play as well: “Gentles, do not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend”(V.i.424-425). He asks them to not be offended by the play. If it is too much, he urges the audience to think of

The theme for honour and fidelity apply for both men and women in Shakespeare’s play ‘much ado about nothing’. Honour and fidelity is represented very differently for men and women as it would have been for the people in Elizabethan times. In this first section of the essay, I will be exploring double standards and Shakespeare’s awareness of the double standards between sexes and his feminist approach, the differences of honour and fidelity for men and women and upper class and lower class comparisons.

The world of A Midsummer Night dream is constructed of three different social classes, these being, royalty, nobility and commoners. As well as social classes there are also two being types- humans and fairies. Bottom and puck are two characters of different class and Being -type, Bottom a commoner and Puck a fairy. Although it doesn't seem like it there are many similarities and differences between the two. There are also many instances where Shakespeare uses this to enhance the comic nature of the play, which can be seen when Puck turns Bottom into an Ass.

In William Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” there are various literary devices displayed throughout the play, in particular Act 2 Scene 1. Many pictures, quotes and short descriptions are able to depict these attributes and are displayed within the collage.

In a Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare story about romantic desire. Theseus and Hippolyta, are about to be married; both of them are wonderful figures from classical mythology. (Greek Mythology) Theseus is a great warrior, a kinsman of Hercules; Hippolyta is an Amazon warrior-woman, defeated in battle by Theseus. (Theseus and Hippolyta) He was longing for the wedding day, and this is what opens the play and closing the play with their exit marriage bed. (Theseus and Hippolyta).

Furthermore, Titania complains due to Oberon’s actions, she and her fairy friends have been unable to meet anywhere for their usual dancing and frivolity without being disturbed. In order to further expand the point of the irrationality of love to the audience, Shakespeare continues to use hyperbole to express her intense feelings. Titania reasons that because of Oberon’s insistence on taking the Indian boy as his knight, there is no place for her to meet—not “on hill, in dale, forest, or mead, by pavèd fountain, or by rushy brook, or in the beachèd margent of the sea” (Shakespeare II.i.86). His continual interruptions have prevented their dances and moreover, his revenge has brought about terrible consequences for the human mortals. As Shakespeare details the affects, he imaginatively uses personification to describe the pale moon in her anger filling the air with disease and the icy winter wearing a crown of summer flowers in mockery. As Titania’s closes her long rant directed at Oberon, she concludes by confessing, “And this same progeny of evils comes from our debate, from our dissension, we are their parents and original” (Shakespeare II.i.118). As a

Within the first ten minutes of the play we have the characters background information and he main conflict at hand. Hermia loves lysander but hey cannot marry due to her father will, Demetrius loves hermia but is not loved in return, and Helena loves Demetrius who is also not loved in return, That gives a central conflict, an issue to be resolved as the story progresses. As the play and the film progress we begin to notice some difference in content and the context between the film and the play. The films context is shortened, most likely for length or time purposes, it becomes apparent that the words are either left out as is the case with entire conversation, an example of this can be found on page1423 where the conversation that Oberon has with puck was clearly not in the film version…( literature 6th

7. Both Hermia and Lysander will run away to his aunts house away from the reaches of Athenian law and be engaged

The poem opens by stating that his lover must behold him at the time of life corresponding to late autumn, when almost no leaves remain on the trees and the birds have flown south. The poet’s calling attention to his old age might seem incongruous, since many lovers might try to hide the fact from their companions. Yet, in this relationship, William Shakespeare not only is being forthright but also seems to be seeking the sympathy of his dear friend. (Lord 3569)