One of William Shakespeare’s best known and acclaimed works is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a play set in Ancient Greece that tells of the marriage of king Theseus to Hippolyta and delves into the love affairs of four Athenian youths. The narrative predominantly explores the themes of the nature of love and the perception of reality, while providing the audience an opportunity to laugh not only at the insane events that take place throughout the story, but also at both the poet and themselves. The story features a vast amount of characters; however, Robin Goodfellow, most often called Puck, is one of the most relevant to the understanding and development of the story. In fact, Puck serves as Shakespeare’s voice in the play by confronting the …show more content…
Thanks to Puck, the reader can appreciate the complex story arc involving Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia. Were it not because of Puck mistakenly squeezing the “love-in-idleness” flower on Lysander’s eyelids instead of Demetrius’, the story would have been completely different. Puck also provides the audience a chance to enjoy the comedic transformation of Bottom’s head into that of an ass, as well as his brief affair with Titania, Queen of the fairies. However, Puck’s strongest relationship is with Oberon, King of the fairies. In fact, Oberon is the only character who addresses Puck as “My gentle Puck,” which seems to reveal that before Oberon’s eyes, Puck is not just a mere mischievous spirit, but also a genuinely and positively gentle being. This particular relationship is the one that sets the whole story in motion. Daniel Derrin further defines Puck and Oberon’s relationship as complementary, by pointing out that “Other fairies in the play recognize Puck as one who can laugh at the harm of misled “night wanderers,” but that representation is balanced by his subordinate relationship to an Oberon who can step in and fix things before they create permanent harm” (Derrin
True love’s path is paved with every step. Through the assistance of fanciful elements as well as characters Puck and Oberon, the true message of love in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is revealed. The four lovers know the direction in which their hearts are inclined to turn, but when the love potion is administered, the bounds of their rectangle are thrashed without knowledge or consent. The rapid shifts in affection between the play’s “four lovers” is representative of the idea that love isn’t a conscious choice, but a cruel game in which we are the figurines, being controlled by whomever the player may be, relating the characters’ karmic fates.
Phyllis Rackin claims that Shakespeare celebrates romantic love but also satirizes it. In this essay, using the example of the comedy “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, we will try to argue that the writer uses the notion of love as a metaphor, in order to explore certain topics concerning human feelings. This play was written in 1595-1596, probably a little later than “Romeo and Juliet” and deals with the marriage of Theseus, Duke of Athens and Hippolyta, the Amazon queen as well as all the surrounding events. The other main characters of the play are Demetrius, Hermia, Lysanderand Helena, the four young Athenians, Nick Bottom, one of the six laborers that prepare a play,Oberon, the king of
Despite magic and freedom there is also a hierarchy commitment, Puck serves to Oberon, Fairies serves to Titania. Oberon used the magic and deception to obtain desired. But he doesn’t like the results of misunderstood between lovers caused with magic, he orders Puck to prevent fight between Lysander and Demetrius “and all things shall be peace”.
It is only through the machinations of the play’s metatheatrical stage managers that the issue of Demetrius’ unhappiness can be smoothed over into something that resembles the happy ending we expect as an audience. It is, in the end, the Faeries’ magic that allows the happy ending to emerge from all the chaos within the Green World, even if some of that chaos was caused by the Faeries to begin with. Puck, for instance, mistakenly applies the love-in-idleness to Lysander’s eyelids and causes him to fall in love with Helena. Oberon later realizes the mistake, and utilizes the love-in-idleness once more to enchant Demetrius, so it is now Helena who has too many suitors, and Hermia too few. Magic becomes the only force capable of undoing its own mischief, and resolves the play’s tensions by restoring a balance to the love between the four young Athenians. That surreal, fantastic element in the play’s major action allows for happiness to come to light in the end, even if we view the outside influence as something artificial within the relationships.
William Shakespeare starts with a seemingly unresolvable conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main characters are lovers who are either unrequited in their love or hassled by the love of another. These lovers are inevitably paired. How does Shakespeare make this happen? He creates many subplots that, before long, are all snarled up into a chaotic knot. So, what actions does Shakespeare take to resolve these new quandaries? He ends up trusting a single key entity with his comedy. It’s only then that he introduces a special character into his world: a mischievous fairy whom is known by the name of Puck. Puck is the catalyst for all these subplots and, indeed, for the entirety of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to take Puck
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment,
Puck, the Lord of Misrule in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is mischievous and more than willing to have a laugh at others’ expense, even when the trick has gone too far. Despite Oberon’s chiding, Puck shows no remorse after his careless mistake when applying the flower’s juice on the wrong Athenian’s eyes. Puck merely observes the chaos he creates, and revels in every moment of it. Neither the disarray brought into the four lovers’ lives nor the possible consequences of his actions ever affect what Puck does next. He may be loyal to
Ryan: Puck is one of the more obvious characters in the play, describing his tricks he plays on people. “The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,/Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;/Then slip I from her bum, down topples she…” (II,i,410) It is obvious that Puck is a “fun” trickster character. He messes around with Demetrius and Lysander, messing up (and fixing) their love
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 human race could be greatly reduced with the number of casualties that the expected World War III. The character Puck in “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare quotes, “ Lord, what fools these mortals be!” which means without thinking problems out, humans jump to conclusions. Could you imagine yourself having to risk your life every time you use the technology which lies in the comforts of your own home? For example, in 1961 NASA launched a rocket to the moon, that same technology is being used for combat arsenal. Humans are the smartest mammals of the world but use the knowledge to go against one another.
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream Puck and Bottom are different in many ways including the way they behave, their sense of humour, and how they deal with their problems. Puck may be considered a protagonist because he is the character who puts the remedy on Lysander’s eyes and corrects the love problems with the Athenian lovers. Puck makes the mistake by putting the love potion on Lysander’s eyes, making him fall in love with Helena, forgetting Hermia. This causes problems because Hermia is still in love with Lysander and Demetrius is in love with Hermia. Like every protagonist, Puck fixes his mistakes and makes everything rights again.
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that utilises comedy to convey complex ideas that are seen throughout the play, concepts like the jealousy Helena has towards Hermia, Egeus’s strong hostility towards Hermia and Lysander’s relationship and unrequited love. He uses comical tools like unconscious irony and hyperbole to turn rather difficult topics into humorous representations of them. Events like how Puck thinks Titania had fallen in love with him, not knowing he was bearing the head of an ass, are portrayed in a humorous way so the viewer understands the meaning, but sees it as a light- hearted narrative. Shakespeare carefully uses comedy that does not overpower the meaning of the play, but puts a completely different perspective on some of the themes.
The Shakespearean Puck well illustrates the
Role of Magic in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a largely captivating play which conveys the magic world in a unique way. Magic is used in the play delightfully to form the thread that links all the play scenes. Being an aspect of supernatural element of the mythic world, Shakespeare uses it as a simpler natural force that can be seen through love, art and the poetry in his play. Through the characters’ eyes, the reader of the play can perceive the world as a different place as each character of the play experiences the magic differently and from their own perspectives.
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often read as a dramatization of the incompatibility of “reason and love” (III.i. 127), yet many critics pay little attention to how Shakespeare manages to draw his audience into meditating on these notions independently (Burke 116). The play is as much about the conflict between passion and reason concerning love, as it is a warning against attempting to understand love rationally. Similarly, trying to understand the play by reason alone results in an impoverished reading of the play as a whole – it is much better suited to the kind of emotive, arbitrary understanding that is characteristic of dreams. Puck apologises directly to us, the audience,