Bottom, for example wants to take on more than one role as he thinks he’s the best actor there and has a lot of talent to offer. He says, ‘An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice.’ He is trying to say that not only can he do more than one part but also he can do it better than anyone else can. The truth is though, that is actually a very bad actor. He uses the wrong words in the wrong place, pronounces words incorrectly and goes over the top with his acting. You can see this when he tries to show everyone how brilliant he is by making a small performance, ‘The raging rocks and shivering shocks... And make and mar the foolish Fates.’
Flute believes that he is too masculine to play the part of a woman. He wants to play a ‘wandering knight’ but instead he is told that he is to play the part of a woman. He reacts by saying he can’t, ‘Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming.
Peter Quince is desperately trying hard to keep everyone under control. He says, ‘Answer as I call you,’ he is getting slightly impatient but still is trying to gain control. No body is really listening carefully to what he is saying and many of the characters disagree with what he is saying. You can see this when Bottom tries to tell Quince how he should be dealing with the situation. Bottom says ‘First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on, then read the names of the actors, and so grow to a point.’ Quince often tries to ignore these comments by carrying on with what he is doing. This is shown when Bottom is showing off with his fancy language and instead of saying anything Quince sensibly carries on by saying, ‘Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.’
Shakespeare is quite obviously mocking bad acting and play writing at the time. Using this sort of parody is to create amusement for the audience. The way he makes the characters exaggerate their acting and make mistakes would make the audience laugh.
Later on in the play we meet Puck who has a mischievous spirit, Titania who is the queen of fairies and Oberon, the king of fairies. Oberon becomes jealous of Titania because she has a servant and she refuses to let Oberon have him. Oberon plans revenge by putting special juice in her eyes to make her fall in love with the first ugly beast she sees. Puck is also told to put the magic juice into Demetrius’ eyes to make him fall in love with Helena. Titania then falls asleep and Oberon puts the juice in her eyes. Lysander and Hermia meanwhile are resting in the wood and fall asleep too. Puck then puts the juice, which is meant for Demetrius into Lysander’s eyes. Helena looses Demetrius but discovers Lysander. He wakes up and falls in love with Helena.
In Act three scene one the mechanicals meet again but this time in the wood. They are there to discuss how to put the play together. Again when they start to rehearse the characters make many mistakes. Bottom is taking his part as Pyramus very seriously but by mispronouncing his words, Shakespeare makes him into a humorous character. For example he says, ‘Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet.’ At the time the audience would find those sorts of mistakes very amusing.
At the time of when the play was written a lot of the audience would have believed in magical powers because there was nothing to make them believe otherwise. The way that Shakespeare made the fact that the characters had magical powers seem quite normal would have kept the audience quite interested.
Puck then changes Bottoms head into an ass. This sort of comical costume would have really amused the audience because they are not used to seeing that sort of thing and it’s just not appropriate. The way that the other characters are so horrified and run off exaggerates the fact that Bottoms head is now an ass. The audience would also find it amusing the way Bottom just continues with the play, ‘If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.’ He is oblivious to what is going on.
The main devices used to entertain and amuse the audience in Act one scene two and in Act three scene one are parody, verbal humour and the comical costumes that are worn. Parody is the way Shakespeare mocks the bad acting and play writing. This is used an awful lot in these scenes. Verbal humour is used to amuse the audience when the characters do not pronounce their word correctly. Comical costumes are used to make the audience laugh at the play and stay interested. These devices used together, successfully entertain and amuse audiences in Shakespeare’s time and even today.
