He lacks self-consciousness which is probably why he is arrogant. In my opinion his ignorance to poetry and music adds to his comical figure. Bottom is a funny character and has humorous moments in the play where we think that no-one would actually be that dim-witted to do the things that he does. I think that Bottom does not have much dignity from his antics.
The Wedding Guests
Theseus and Hippolyta are the hosts for the wedding. This is one of the couples who got married; the celebrations are for them to commemorate their wedding day. This reception is only to fill in the time before bed as explained in Act 5 Scene 1.
Theseus and Hippolyta were figures from Greek Mythology. Theseus was the son of a legendary king of Athens who was closely related to Hercules. There are stories of how Theseus fought with monsters and how he killed a Minotaur that threatened to destroy Crete. There were also stories of how he defeated the Amazons and married their queen, Hippolyta. This shows that he is very strong and that he is persuasive since he made a woman who despised men marry him.
The Amazons were a group of women warriors who hated men and refused to marry. They where thought to originate in Africa and conquered Asia before being defeated by Theseus.
Theseus was also known as the “Duke.” He seems very competitive and intellectual because he has little games with the other guests to see who can make the wittiest remark. “His speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all distorted. Who is next?” this is the part in the play where all the guests have a competition to see how can produce the best simile about Quince’s speech.
Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demitrius are fictional characters and do not have any basis around real people. These couples make up the “young Lovers”
Since the Young Lovers are Athenians from classical Greece, they believe and worship gods from Mythology. Hermia says that she is prepared to become a nun because she disobeyed the law so she has two choices, either become a nun or be sentenced to death. She chose to become a nun for Diana, the goddess of chastity. Helena blames cupid, the mischievous god of love, for all of her misfortunes.
Hermia is a hot-tempered young woman who is jealous of Helena’s fair hair and her height. Helena who is tall and blonde, suffers pain of love for the man she knows she can’t have, Demetrius. He once promised to marry Helena, but he has now fallen in love with Hermia. The only difference between Demetrius and his rival, Lysander by being much more competitive. Demetrius wants to win Hermia’s hand in marriage although she is in love with Lysander. Demetrius always tries to impress everyone, especially Theseus with his witty comments.
Wedding Celebrations
Theseus and Hippolyta have just got married and they would like some evening entertainment to pass away the time until they go to bed. In Act 5 Scene 1 Philostrate, the master of ceremonies talks to Theseus about all the plays which could be used at the evening entertainment. Theseus disapproves of all the plays except one, Pyramus and Thisbe. The master of ceremonies explains Pyramus and Thisbe is “Some 10 words long, But by 10 words, my lord, it is too long, which makes it tedious; for in all the play there is not one word apt, one player fitted. Philostrate was trying to say that not one of the actors knew their lines, that none of the actors were suited for their role in the play. After hearing this Theseus became intrigued and would like to come to his own conclusion on it after he watched it. Philostrate try’s to dissuade Theseus not to watch this play because it will not b very good and could ruin his marriage. “It is not for you; I have heard it over, and it is nothing, nothing in the world, unless you can find sport in their intents, extremely stretch’d and conn’d with cruel pain, to do you service” Philostrate is saying that this play will be no good for this occasion and that is not suitable for Theseus to watch, he also says that it will be nothing, unless you can find amusement in their intentions. Theseus then tells Philostrate that he will watch the play to see what it is like.
Pyramus and Thisbe is meant to be a romantic play where the love is worth dying for. In the end of the play the main characters kill themselves to be with each other, I don’t think this was play was picked suitably for the occasion. In a wedding your marriage is meant to be celebration, not the mourning of a tragic play. I also think that Theseus has known this play would be joyous and comical; this is why he has picked the play.
Speeches
At the beginning of every play the director is meant to give a speech to the audience explaining that he is sorry in advance if anything goes wrong. Well Quince gives this speech, but gets his words in the wrong order and says the complete opposite of what he was meaning. What Quince meant to say was that he does not mean to offend the guests because it is the actors first time in front of an audience and they might be a bit nervous. Quince says that he has come to offend the guests, “If we offend it is with our good will.” The word “will” means intention, so he is saying that he has come to offend the audience when he in fact means to say that has not come to offend the audience. Quince also says “we do not come as minding to content you.” The word “minding” means meaning, so he is saying that he has not came as meaning to please the audience, when he means the opposite. “That is the true beginning of our end” he is saying that after this it will be the end of their lives because it is so bad. He means completely the opposite of what he said in the speech, which turns the speech into a complete farce. The Guests pick up on the errors which has been made and make fun of them “He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, but to speak true.” Lysander says this about quince’s speech and how he cannot stand on points; he is saying that his speech had no pronunciation. Like a rough colt, a colt is a horse which has not been ridden before; it is very jumpy and uneven.
Then the rest of the guest join in and try to outdo each others comments. “Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder-a sound, but not in government.” The word “government” means control, Hippolyta is saying that there are words but they don’t sound right. A child on a recorder doesn’t sound professional just as Quince’s speech doesn’t. Theseus then competes in the guest’s game and says “His speech was like a tangled chain: nothing impaired, but all distorted, who is next?” He is saying that Quince’s speaking skills aren’t first-class as Theseus has expected. Theseus compares Quince’s skills to a tangled chain; he means that his speech doesn’t work, just like a tangled chain is no use.
This prologue wasn’t much of an introduction to the play since the words were all wrong. It didn’t provide much of an introduction but it set the tone for the play rather well by its comical composition of words.
In Pyramus’s dying speech I think that his overdramatic acting kills the effect of his death. Pyramus is going to kill himself because he has come to Ninny’s Tomb where he and Thisbe where supposed to meet and has found he blood stained shawl on the floor. He says that there was a lion nearby. He forgets one of his words and improvises with a word that sounds similar to the original. “Since lion vile hath here deflower’d my dear?” He means to ask if the lion has devoured his dear not deflowered. He is actually asking if the lion has taken away Thisbe’s virginity.
Pyramus took out a sword and stabbed himself in the left breast where the heart beats. After he has stabbed himself he says something that does not make any sense. “Tongue, lose thy light!” he is saying that his tongue is losing light, well your tongue wouldn’t know if it was losing light because it cannot see to begin with. He then stabs himself a further 5 times; each time does this he says die. “Now die, die, die, die, die.” This adds to dramatic effect and I think it has been well used in this part of the play, it gives you the impression that he is stabbing himself each time he say “die”
In Thisbe’s dying speech she is going to kill herself because she has found Pyramus lying on the floor in Ninny’s Tomb where they were meant to meet. She looks closer at Pyramus and finds that he has killed himself; she then proceeds to killing herself, but not before making a final speech. In this speech she describes Pyramus’s facial features, but she describes them with odd comparisons. “These lily lips, this cherry nose, these yellow cowslip cheeks, are gone, are gone, lovers, make moan! His eyes were green as leeks.” She compares his eyes to a vegetable. This is extremely odd especially if she is trying to be romantic. I think that she was trying to think of a word that rhymed with “cheeks”, and “leeks” was the only word she could come up with. Unlike Pyramus’s dying speech, Thisbe’s is short and sweet. She does not try and over dramatize her death like Pyramus does.
The Wedding Guests have a laugh at the actors expense all multiple parts during the play. I have chosen to examine the guest reactions after Quince has read his prologue.
After Quince has read the prologue the Wedding Guest begin to make comments about Quince’s pronunciation and reading skills. “He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows not the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, but to speak true.” Lysander is saying that Quince cannot stand on point he is making and that it had no rhythm to it. He was saying that it was uneven and did not flow from the tongue. A rough colt is a horse which has not been ridden before; it is very jumpy and uneven.
After Lysander’s remarks about the colt, Hippolyta uses a simile. “Indeed He hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder-a sound, but not in government.” Hippolyta is saying that the words which are in the speech don’t sound right. A child on a recorder doesn’t sound professional when they play it, I think the point she is trying to make is that it doesn’t sound professional.
Theseus tries to better the previous comment about the child on a recorder and does so by, “His speech was like a tangled chain: nothing impaired, but all distorted. Who is next?” what he is saying is that Quince’s speaking skills aren’t the best that he has heard; he compares them to a tangled chain. A tangled chain is no use when it is tangled but if it is untangled it works. Theseus is saying that if Quince got the words in the right way everything would work fine.
Snout is meant to represent a wall in the play and he explains this to the Guests. Pyramus shouts “Curs’d be thy stones for thus deceiving me!” Theseus comments on how he thinks the wall should talk to Pyramus. “The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.” Theseus is saying this because at the beginning of the play Snout introduced himself as a wall and he was talking at the beginning. Bottom then replies. “No, in truth, sir, he should not. “deceiving me” is Thisbe’s cue: she is to enter now” this quotation shows Bottom’s ignorance because he could not tell that Theseus was being sarcastic, Bottom thought Theseus was being serious and did not understand the story Bottom then stopped the play to explain to Theseus what was going on.
Theseus once again is sarcastic to the workers at the end of the play. He says “Moonshine and Lion are left to burry the dead.” He is saying that all the characters are dead except Moonshine and the Lion. Moonshine cannot burry the dead because he was not a real character in the play, he was only representing the moon and the Lion cannot burry the dead since he is not human and would not understand, let alone being able to lift the bodies. Then Demetrius adds “Ay, and Wall too.” He is adding on the point that the only characters left alive in this story are Wall, Moonshine and Lion. Bottom doesn’t understand the joke which they are saying and thinks that they are all being serious; he tells them that the wall also died since it got knocked down by the fathers. “No, I assure you; the wall is down that parted their fathers.” He also asks if they would like to see the epilogue. An epilogue is a verse an actor addresses directly to the audience at the end of the play to tell the audience what happened after the end of the play. “Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to hear a bergomask dance between two of our company.” Bottom thinks that they don’t understand the ending of the play and is asking if they would like it explained to them. Theseus begs them not to do an epilogue because there is no one to blame since all the character are all dead “No epilogue, I pray you, for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse; for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed.”