The second of the tree world that we come into contact with in the play is that of the mechanicals. These are a group of working men in Athens that are performing a play for the dukes wedding, the mechanical are Peter Quince who is a carpenter, Snug who is a joiner, Nick Bottom, a weaver, Francis Flute, a bellow mender, Tom Trout a tinker and Robin Starveling who is in the tailor trade. The play that they are practising in the woods is a comedy about two people in love who are split by a wall. Puck one of the fairies interrupts their rehearsal of the play. He has to create some thing awful so that his master’s lover will be tricked in to loving the beast. He changes Bottom into a donkey, all his worker friends run off.
The last of the three groups of living creatures are the fairies. These fairies, which are spirits who inherit the natural world. Oberon who is the king of the fairies, rules the fairies. He had a helper, he his slightly mischievous and nasty in ways; called Puck or Robin Goodfellow. Oberon’s partner Titania is the queen of the fairies. Titania has many helpers. The main ones in the play are Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustard Seed. The Queen also has an Indian boy, who Oberon desperately wants as his usher boy, but Titania will not let him. Oberon tries everything to get the boy under his control.
The play has a lot of meanings with in it. Illusion, love, the moon, nature and order are used to make an idea stronger, or for you to make you think from a particular point of view somewhere within the play. Illusion, the human mind can create illusions that can seem more real that life itself. The play uses this in the fairies world, so it makes the reader actually think that the spiritual world is actually real. IN parts of the play it takes the thoughts of the characters while they are asleep, they seem real to the audience and believable as everyday life. The mechanicals play requires the audience within the play (at the dukes wedding) to use their imagination and the illusion of factors within the production. The play is trying to get us to do that also. Most of the play is set within the wood on one mystical night, which in their minds is four nights till the dukes wedding, the magical night ends when the duke and his hunting party arrives, he seems to bring dawn and the return everything to normal. This could refer to the meaning of Athens’ order.
The nearly whole play is based around the love of the characters. Mature love is shown involving not only raw passion and emotion but also thoughtfulness and forgiveness between the characters. Marriage in the play is shown as loves proper out come and how all relationships should all end up in the end. Where as Oberon’s and Titania’s relationship how the harmony of the world is effected and upset when their relationship is at a rough time, showing that the spiritual world has powerful purpose of the world, when their relationship is at a good time the world is running smoothly and all is normal, maybe this is why the four nights turn into one because the world and its patterns are disrupted by Titania’s and Oberon’s arguments. So basically true love results in harmony, but arguments and chaos result when lovers quarrel.
The moon plays an important part in imagery through out the play. Time is measured for all characters by the moon, and its powers on the world, such as how the tides are powered by the moon are stressed through the play. In the play the moon is shown as a mystical object that brings coldness illumination of the earth. Most of the play takes place at night under the moonlight, and to emphasize the mystical element within the play Shakespeare mentions the moon many times, three times as much than in any other of his plays.
Nature within the play is shown as vibrant and bursting with life and activity, even though to the characters within the play and the readers of the play it seems asleep. The fairies are the most powerful element on nature. Their forces are hidden within the natural world. The most beautiful example of this in the play is when Titania’s bower is described in ‘Act 2, Scene 1’ The love poison that Oberon creates plays such an important part within the play, the poison is created from nature and it has the power to make people fall in love at first sight. It is an example of how nature’s powers are hidden within. The colours of nature in the play are usually mentioned with birds, fruit and facial features such as eyes and lips.
The action of the play begins with chaos and ends with restoration and order. In Shakespeare time (the Elizabethan era) they saw order through out the world of nature and for them it was an important and respected idea. They believed the order in nature reflected on the order in the world; if their order were unbalanced then nature would also be unbalanced. Without order in the land chaos would reign.
The main characters within the fairy world are Oberon, the king of the fairies, Titania Oberon’s queen and Puck Oberon’s mischievous servant. Oberon has great magical powers and is the dominant figure in the world of the fairies. Oberon gets jealous easily. For example when Titania refuses to give him her Indian child he gets angry and plays tricks on her, making her fall in love with a donkey. Oberon is also active in the mortal world.
“He steals away from the fairy land”
“The farthest steep in India”
Both quotes from Titania, she also accused him of an affair with Hippolita. Oberon shows the nicer side of him when he releases Titania from under his spell.
Titania the queen of the fairyland, she is described in the play as supremely beautiful, and a woman who is graceful and sensuous. As she makes clear, when she refuses the hand over of the Indian boy to Oberon, as it is a memory of the Indian boy’s dead mother. When under her husbands love spell her scenes with bottom, the donkey, are sensual, caring and comic. She too is active in the mortal world. At the end of the play both Oberon and Titania settle their dispute and are reunited as lovers. This gives the play a sense of completeness.
Finally there is Puck Oberon’s mischievous servant. He loves to play pranks on humans. He is not very reliable or efficient at carrying out his tasks. For example when he confuses the four lovers and puts the love potion on the wrong lover. Puck never seems to feel regret when he carries out his pranks. His character is based on a traditional folklore figure called Robin Goodfellow. In performance Puck is presented in many different ways. Often a very physical character, with mime as important as speech. He is also often played in a ‘naughty school boy’ style.
These three characters are some times mirrored into the world of Athens. The actors who play Oberon and Titania also play Theseus and Hippolita. And Puck is mirrored as Theseus’s servant.
