In the play, Puck is the most informative character. He is an essential mediator between the fairy world (his own) and the human world; to the delight of the audience.
In act 2, the language so effectively supports the action that these must be considered together. The fairy, like all of Titania's attendants, uses short rhyming lines, which are spoken here and sung, in other places. Puck replies in rhyming couplets. This is his normal form of speech. It can be in pentameters or tetrameters; tetrameters is more likely for rhythmic dialogue and suited to the casting of spells, but in other places such as act 3 scene 2 there is a more musical and varied rhyme.
Act 2 scene 1 the audience would be excited and full of anticipation. In Elizabethan age when it was set, they were more amazed with magic and fairies, and it would be the first introduction to the magical characters I the play.
In addition, in act 2 scene 1 Puck intermediates to the audience the events in the play that they do not know about. He intermediates by saying ‘king doth keep his revels here tonight’ this shows Puck intermediates, what other characters in the fairy world are doing. ‘King’ is referring to Oberon; puck is introducing characters and their titles to the audiences without the actual character being present. In addition, the ‘king’ insinuates that at the moment in time puck is not on first name terms with Oberon as he goes back to just being a servant. In other parts he refers to him as Oberon ‘I jest to Oberon’, Puck choose the moments when he uses the to titles like he chooses when to refer to himself as Robin Goodfellow. When he is in trouble or telling someone Oberon action, Shakespeare refers to him as king ‘believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.’ This insinuates puck is begging ‘believe me’, this also shows he has been in rouble. When he is showing his emotions to someone else or in Puck’s soliloquy to himself he uses Oberon ‘I jest to Oberon’, ‘I’ means him. As when he is using his emotions or to gain support from the audience mostly, he uses Robin Goodfellow, he does this in the last paragraph of the play ‘robin shall restore amends’ this means he will make everything right.
Shakespeare makes Puck speaks melodically ‘for Oberon is passing fool wrath…. As her attendant hath’ i think he does this not just to entertain but also because at that time people were used to hearing important things from entertainers such as poets and jesters. Both people who either rhyme or entertain. The lines rhyme at the end ‘wrath’ and ‘hath’. I think he put the most important words at the end, for example, he puts ‘tonight’ at the end, and this is the time of day. A ‘Wrath’ show someone is angry, and before that they would have remembered Oberon name so they could have worked out it is he. Most of the words are one syllable. The rhyming couplets are at the end.
A fairy describes him as a spirit that tricks humans and masquerades. ‘a shrewd and knavish spirit’. ‘Knavish’ means a rogue, which is a dishonest or unpredictable person or mischievous. ‘Sprite’ means fairy or goblin but I think Shakespeare choose not to use those words because they are more common words and he wants Puck to be more complex and mysterious. In addition, it gives the effect of youth, as ‘sprite’ is the base word for sprightly which gives the effect of youth.
Also in the later part of act 2 he tells the audience through rhyme that Oberon is angry because Titania has a changeling boy ‘she as her attendant hath a lovely boy’, Shakespeare describes the boy as ‘lovely’ I think this is because he wants to make the child more appealing to the audience, also to let them know a reason why Oberon wants him. In addition, the audience would not have a great deal of knowledge of the aesthetics of Indian children due to the era’s lack of communication devices, such as images and television and photos. In addition, Puck tells the audience Oberon’s intentions.
When puck says Oberon’s name it usually appears on the second line of the rhyme, only one instants between 2:1:1-2:1:60 does he put him on the last line, this is because it is the penultimate line from the entrance of the fairy king and queen. In addition, he lets a fairy finish off the last rhyme. Therefore, in the rhyming scheme, it is not at the end but it is at the end of his paragraph. I think Shakespeare does this because he wants to show Puck admiration and respect for Oberon. ‘But room fairy: he comes Oberon’ a fairy says ‘and here my mistress. Would that he were gone!’ the words are Oberon and gone. This also shows that a fairy speaks in rhyme and she serves the fairy queen ‘I serve the fairy queen’. Shakespeare gives a great metaphor before ‘swifter than the moon’s sphere’ this means she will go quicker than the moon orbiting around the world, when it wanders. As at the time of the play people did not no as much as, we do now about astronomy and the orbit of the planets and their moons, so they believed the moon had no set course. In addition, it insinuates that Puck serves the fairy king. Puck tells the audience that the queen has made Oberon angry ‘ Oberon is passing fell and wrath’ Puck is being an intermediary at this point as he informs the audience the events in the play. Shakespeare let the audience know Oberon is angry from ‘wrath’. Even though Puck is a jester type person the audience would trust him because Oberon the king of the fairies trusts him and tells him his stories ‘thou remberest… I sat upon a promontory’ Oberon asks puck if he remembers, meaning Oberon has let him into one of his special events in his life. Puck say ‘I remember’ showing he remembers. All through this part, Puck has been an intermediary to the audience on the events so far in the play. He connects the two worlds together.
A fairy describes what kind of a person Puck is ‘frights the maiden of the villagery’, ‘maidens’ they are humans, so Puck is bringing his own fairy world to the humans, he is intermediating but in a mischievous way. At this part, Shakespeare creates a more sinister atmosphere, he gives Puck the image of a more evil spirit, and he does this through the use of the word ‘frights’. In addition, he uses ‘bootless make the breathless house wife churn’ this means he puts scare the housewives without a reason. This is another example of my theory that Puck is like an over active child needing something to occupy him and a person to give him, a purpose and direction, or it leads to mayhem. I know this because of the use of ‘bootless’ which means pointless, which means without reason. If puck was a normal flawless person he might as well be a narrator, without a character and without a personality; he is a magical involved in human affairs, a spirit who would capture the imagination of the audience. Therefore, he would leave them intrigued on what his next piece or mischief will be. The audience would be able to relate to him as he has the most in-depth character.
Puck intermediates so the audience knows things that other characters do not. Puck is the only character that knows practically the same as the audience most of the time. Therefore this means Puck must be involved in the majority of the events in the play and with every character; if it is changing bottom head to one of a ass and scaring the other artisans; or mixing up the lovers and undoing the mess; or finally blessing the house. He has the majority of the action and the audience can look to him if they become lost in the unwinding plot. Therefore, he is the best intermediary, as he knows things before other characters. Puck is an omniscient narrator.
Puck makes the first mistake in the play in the play with the mix up between the lovers. It could be played funny or evil. If it were played evil, it would incriminate Puck making it seem as if it was no accident. It could be played evil by changing some dramatically devices such as lighting and sound. You could have dark lighting reddish colours, as red has the connotation of evil and anger. In addition, you could have an eerie sounding music. This could be used in the same way when Puck turns Nick Bottoms head in to one of an ass.
In act 3 scene, 1 Puck is intermediates between the fairy world and the human world, which in this case are the artisans. Puck enters the artisans as they are practising for the play. Puck is no longer speaking in rhyme but he is now using rhetorical question ‘…cradle of the fairy queen’ I think Shakespeare does this so Puck directly tells the audience where the artisans are, but in a way that would make them think to try and answer the question. Puck is having a soliloquy. Puck says ‘what hempen… near the cradle of the fairy queen…I’ll be an auditor… an actor’ not only does the quote show that Puck is an intermediary, by telling the audience that the artisans are close to the queen. In addition, it shows a glimpse of Puck’s true personality. Shakespeare uses the words ‘an actor to’ this gives the effect that puck is mischievous and likes to meddle in humans affairs and he likes entertaining as an actor entertains but it would be just for Puck’s own amusement. This is him intermediating. Shakspeare makes the artisans relaxed by the informality of the artisans’ language. It is shown in their normally speaking in prose, with common words and phrases such as, ‘not a whit’, ‘by'r lakin’, ‘ay’ and ‘nay’. Bottom also contributes ‘more better’ and ‘saying thus, or to the same effect,’ I think Shakespeare dos this to relate them to the common audience also that why I think he gives them common jobs. Bottom represents the common person trying to better themselves but comically failing and sounding as stupid as before.
Snout reappears. ‘O Bottom,’ he says, ‘thou art changed! What do I see on thee?’ Bottom replies that it is an ass head of Snout's own, again pointing to the responsibility in the viewer for what he is seeing. Bottom, of course, does not know what his own head looks like. Quince takes another look and flees again. Bottom thinks he sees their jest; they are making fun of him. Just like Hermia thought that Lysander and Demetrius was just making fun of her ‘and now both rivals to mock Helena’ this means now they are both against each other to make fun out of Helena she thinks.
This is the longest scene in the play; it is longer than any of the scenes Puck’s unintentionally makes mistakes, but he greatly enjoys - reaches a climax, which might prove fatal if it wasn’t for his intervention; at the end of the scene he tells the audience that ‘all shall be well’.
Most of the scene is rhymed verse, but in mid-speech Helena, (195) switches to blank verse. As with the fairies in act 2 scene 1, this indicates a greater seriousness in the four lovers' dispute. As the threatened violence descends into pursuit of Helena again (340) who picks up the rhyme. In general the lovers use pentameters arranged as couplets, but more detailed patterns are used for particular purposes: Lysander and Helena speak in six-line stanzas, when they come on stage; with the next two lines (a couplet) they form a sonnet in effect. The same six-line stanza is used by Helena and Hermia at the end of the scene, though for Hermia the metre is subtly varied (suggesting her exhaustion) with "Never so weary, never so in woe". The fairies use both pentameter and tetrameter, and a more fluid verse form but the lines vary in length.
Puck tries hard to undo his mistake, he does this by imitating the Athenians voices. He also makes it hard for them to see this could be portrayed as evil ‘ho ho ho! Coward com’st thou not?’ Puck is imitating Lysander voice. I think he is enjoying it by the ‘ho ho ho’
In this scene, it can be performed as evil or comical. This can be said about Pucks personality. Therefore, the theme of the play depends on the character Puck and his personality and how he intermediates. I think Puck enjoys the chaos of the play from the ‘ho ho ho’. I also think he is a loyal servant to Oberon so although he enjoys he chaos, he must do his orders to the best of his abilities. Puck, with his usual mischievous gleam, offers us this apology. If you didn't like the play, he says, just pretend that you have "slumb'red here, … While these visions did appear." In that case, all you have seen is "but a dream." Like Theseus, you can pretend that it was all some airy construction of the imagination. Like the lovers you can cover it over, as if the dream were best forgotten. Alternatively, like Bottom you can test it, move toward it, glimpse it, respect its power, and think it over. In the end Shakespeare teases you, pretends innocence, and leaves the serious matter of his comedy for you, the reader, or viewer, to judge. Puck admits he is just an actor; theatre and spirit magic are the two sides of his persona. If he can escape the hisses from his audience, he will play the part the best he can. If you befriend him with your applause, he will befriend you with his magic.
Puck gives a fitting end to the play, as the audience has come to love the little fellow known as Robin Goodfellow. He tells them the morals behind the play. He does this in a melodical way, Shakespeare does this because the audience already knows that when Puck speaks in blank verse he is serious and not happy. So Shakespeare gives them the happy rhythmic Puck, which will give the audience something they can be at ease with.
Puck is an intermediary; he joins the fairy world and the human world. He does this through verse with rhyming and blank verse, and many metaphors. He also does this through dialogue with other characters such as a fairy and Oberon. He makes a fitting and good intermediary because he is involved in every story line.
