Puck: Character Analysis

Once again Shakespeare has beautifully illustrated the bi-polar nature of human emotions. Although the character Puck was an impish fellow, he certainly knew how to develop a study in falling in and out of love.

scene two, at the end of the play, Puck also is desiring for the audience to view the play

One of William Shakespeare’s best remembered plays for its comical and ironic tone is A Midnight’s Summer Dream. There were characters designed to be humorous and that alone. Puck and Bottom behave very much alike, and have similar roles for different people. Both Puck and Bottom are comic relief characters in one way or the other. Both of them are needed for the play, because Puck’s spirits controls the whole story, which sets the tone for it, and Bottoms comic relief for the audience and play.

Throughout the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare uses both fate and free will to present his philosophy towards the nature of love. The characters struggle through confusion and conflicts to be with the one they love. Although the course of their love did not go well, love ultimately triumphs over all at the end of the play. The chaos reaches a climax causing great disruption among the lovers. However, the turmoil is eventually resolved by Puck, who fixes his mistake. The confusion then ends and the lovers are with their true love. Throughout the play Shakespeare's philosophy was displayed in various scenes, and his concept still holds true in modern society.

Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.

The Puck that I chose is a character from Norse mythology, Loki. I chose this one because they resemblance each other in many ways. Just like Loki, Puck is mischievous that likes to prank mortals and immortals. Puck seems to enjoy that he is getting people in trouble and we see these when he says” My mistress with a monster is I love”. Puck says these as he enjoys his mischievousness. Like Loki, Puck has a big role in the play because it is him who created the biggest problems and it is also him that fixed the problem. I think that Loki is very similar to Puck because, in Asgard, he created problems with the gods and also played with humans.

Puck’s interference with the Athenian citizen’s relationships and the love flower emphasizes the “the difficulties of love, the power of magic, the nature of dreams[,] and the relationships between fantasy and reality” (Bordas del Prado). When Oberon sends Puck to mess with Titania, Puck makes her fall in love with Nick Bottom, a member of the Athenian working class, after giving him the head of a donkey. When Titania professes her newfound love for Bottom, he admits, “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: and to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays” (Shakespeare). Bottom sees how illogical Titania’s interest in him is, but he goes along with it anyways. Puck creates such a strange relationship out of thin air, between two people that have absolutely nothing in common. The theme of love being completely unpredictable is evident between these two, as well as it is between the four Athenian lovers. Though Puck stirs up trouble, he is a benevolent spirit, and can easily convey the message of love to the audience. Many times in Shakespeare’s play, the main protagonist ends the show with a recap of events and a goodbye blessing. At the end of the play, Puck closes the show with a positive narration, “We will make amends ere long; else the Puck a liar

Tom, the agent for change gains sight and knowledge into the acceptance of his impending death. The opening of the play starts with the ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Tom as Puck says “Gentles, do not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend.” This foreshadows Tom’s healing role in the play. Although Tom seems to be the character in the least need of a discovery, he still gains sight into the reality of his condition and knowledge that he needs to accept this. This is evident through reading King Lear. The scene is set outside, as instructed by

And as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.” (Shakespeare 5.1.425) The most interesting part of this excerpt is that Puck (Oberon’s henchman) says that he and the fairies are only a figment of the imagination and that he and his fairy world do not exist at all. The audience is asked to look beyond the performance at the intention of the actors. This passage allows the audience to break their character. The show is over and the reality of their own life is now. This monologue by Puck slowly unravels the reality and fantasy world from one another. The play lies in transformation and the forest is the setting of change. Puck invites the audience to think of the play as nothing more than a dream, a midsummer night’s dream. Here, it is clear that Shakespeare is commenting on the reality of plays. Like midsummer dreams, plays aren't real. All of the characters are hung in the audience’s suspension of disbelief. They are the product of imagination and fantasy and also involve the momentary suspension of reality.

In the comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the plethora of comedic styles used by Shakespeare illustrate his intention to poke fun at love throughout the play. The play is notorious for its intricate and irrational plotline, mainly due to the constantly shifting love triangles. Once the powerful fairies become involved with the fate of the naive lovers – Demetrius, Helena, Lysander and Hermia – matters are further complicated. The complication inflicted by the fairies is credited to the powerful love potion that Oberon, King of the Fairies, hands over to Puck, a mischievous fairy, to use on his wife Titania, with intentions to embarrass and distract her. This spiteful attitude is due to Oberon and Titania’s argument over the custody of an

Exerting the type of power that is influenced by malicious intentions can cause one to make decisions that are not beneficial to others. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is written within a time period and setting that favors men instead of woman. In other words, men have all the authority to control the events that occur in their own lives as well as the lives of others whom are considered insignificant. The plot displays the catalysts that ignite many characters’ desire for control that is misused by higher status people. Shakespeare’s use of characterization demonstrates how the wanting of control causes the characters to act irrationally through the misuse of power. Shakespeare’s use of setting, plot and characterization causes the ordeals

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 the movie version of A Midsummer Nights Dream, Puck has a more overt sense of humor. Although the dialogue is purely Shakespeare, the actions and direction of Puck’s character bring a new perspective to the story. When we are first introduced to Puck in the tree, he plays some jokes, such as vanishing, and turning up in a goblet of wine. He is speaking the same lines as in the play, but the addition of visual humor adds to the appeal of the original play. One is again exposed to this when Oberon and Puck discuss the flower while lying in the forest. Puck imitates Oberon’s position, adjusting himself in a friendly mocking manner towards his master. One also gets the impression from Puck’s body language that, although he

After observing the senseless behavior of the Athenian lovers, Puck exclaims to Oberon, “Lord, what fools these mortals be” (III.ii.115)! This line, aimed at Lysander’s foolish behavior is meant to be humorous, but it also cleverly addresses the prominent theme of the story: that love is not under human control. Puck is clearly referring to the foolishness and exaggerated emotions of the four lovers in the play; however, Shakespeare also intends to target the audience members by emphasizing that humans in general have the tendency to do and say crazy things because of love’s powerful grasp on their emotions. Therefore, a character such as Puck, according to Robert Diyanni, “may remind us in some ways of ourselves; they may appeal to us because they differ from us” (Diyanni 1270). Although the Athenian lovers neglect to realize the extent of their ludicrous behavior, their unbalanced emotions are very noticeable to the fairies, who replace the audience’s role in this scene. Moreover, it signifies the contrast between both the human lovers, who become so entangled in a disarray of emotion, and the enchanting fairies, always playful and rascally in

The themes of this play are mostly to do with love and magic however the play as a whole is a comedy. The magic scene is the scene that brings the whole play together. Without it the lovers would not be called lovers and there wouldn’t be a marriage. Before puck put the love potion on them Lysander was in love with Hermia but her dad wanted her to marry Demetrius; and Helena was in love with Demetrius on the other hand Demetrius was not in love with either of them. Puck sorted things out by putting a love potion on Demetrius so that he falls in love with Helena. The funny part about it all is when they are all confused when they awake from what they think is a dream which is a dramatic irony because we know it wasn’t a dream but in fact a reality.