Contrastingly, the lower class characters, the working men, speak in prose.
“Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in?“
The mechanicals hardly display any rhythm in their dialogue; their speech is more natural than that of the fairies, court or lovers. This is because they are ordinary men with ordinary lives, and no special status. The disparity in the language of the characters is effectual because it highlights the importance of stature in this comedy. The speech of the higher-class characters is more enriched and enhanced. The different ranks of the individuals accentuate another trait of an Elizabethan comedy.
The presence of the mechanicals completes the comedy. The lovers’ problems, the fairies’ quarrels and the brutal Athenian law seem lighter-hearted upon the entrance of the working men actors. Their names alone induce humour. Snout and Snug have comical names of animated creatures. They both have their own notions about the play. Snug has anxieties about learning his part.
“Have you the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me, for I am slow of study.“
And Snout has the rudiments of an inquiring mind.
“Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?“
Both Snout and Snug give the ideal impression of naïve, asinine men, curious yet harmless in their temperament. In comparison to them, Starveling shows signs of a bad temper and Flute is becoming modest about his beard.
“…let not me play a woman, I have a beard coming.“
Flute being the youngest man of the company has even his name suggesting his suitability for the role of Thisby. Lean and reedy, he is an effeminate, eager to please but as unable to as the other actors.
The mechanicals are keen to put forward a good show. They are at one in their anxiety to avoid giving offence to the audience, particularly the ladies, and in their failure to understand dramatic illusion, they fear lest stage presentations should be mistaken for reality.
“…Pyramus is not killed indeed; and for the more better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not Pyramus indeed, but Bottom the weaver…”
The working men take the concept of acting in “Pyramus and Thisby” too seriously. All throughout the play, the actors display immense pride in being a part of a tear-jerking tragedy. The mechanicals have a lot of faith in their choice of play and are convinced that their acting will make the onlookers cry. This is very successful in enhancing the humour because good actors are exactly what the mechanicals are not.
The working men also want to make sure that the storyline of the play is clear to the audience so as they do not get confused with its progress.
“This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
This beauteous lady Thisby is certain.”
So fervent are the actors that they even insert a prologue to the play to narrate to the audience the entire line of events they are about to witness. This effectually displays their strong desire to please and at the same time, their ignorance of dramatics.
The play is presented too literally. In a small group of six, the mechanicals wish to convey a contemplative moral. The actors decide that one of them shall stand as a wall that separates Pyramus and Thisby.
“…and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.”
Not only do the working men actors want to symbolise the barrier between Pyramus and Thisby but they also wish the presence of the person as a non-living object, to be felt as a living thing. This appropriately shows their poor acting abilities and adds all the more to the humour.
Likewise, the actors present the vista of moonshine, factually.
“…one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of moonshine.”
The mechanicals’ incapability in presenting a piece of drama has been exemplified accordingly. The actors do not even stop to think what it is that an audience expects in a tragic romance, so keen are they to perform artistically without causing offence. This helps in creating a comedy rather than a romance.
Another precept of dramatics that the working men fail to realise is the significance of characterisation. The actors frequently step out of character during the final performance of “Pyramus and Thisby”.
“No in truth, sir, he should not. ‘Deceiving me’ is Thisby’s cue.”
Upon the viewers’ commentary on the play, the actors come out of character to explain the progress they are making and the reasons for it; a tragic romance is transfigured into a satirical comedy. This emphasizes the ignorance of the working men about the theatrical world. This also affluently ends “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with the humour that was not present when it began.
The principal workman and comedian of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is Nick Bottom, the weaver. His name alone begins the play’s descent as a comedy. “Bottom” suits well with his future transformation where he gets the head of an ‘ass’, which is a synonym of ‘bottom’.
Secondly, his acting abilities create the romantic humour of this Elizabethan comedy.
“Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet, - “
Bottom believes that he is a great actor and his portrayal as the passionate Pyramus is what will make “Pyramus and Thisby” a hit with the viewers. This comic nature effectually increases the humour of the play because a good actor is just what Bottom is not.
In spite of that, Bottom considers his acting to be remarkable, so remarkable that he thinks he can play all the characters of “Pyramus and Thisby”.
“…I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an ’twere any nightingale.”
Bottom feels that he is fully capable of playing the role of a gentle, charming Thisby, and even that of a monstrously horrifying lion. This characteristic of his is very effective in generating hilarity as he very naively presumes that he alone can handle the production of “Pyramus and Thisby”.
Contrarily, his performance as Pyramus alone is rather alarming.
“Now die, die, die, die, die.”
Bottom tries exceedingly hard to convince the audience of Pyramus’ death. The word “die” is repeated four times, implying how incessantly Bottom tries to assure the onlookers that he is unquestionably dead. This initiates some final mirth on Bottom’s foolishly absurd identity.
Bottom’s transformation into a donkey is another very amusing part of the play. What makes this idiosyncrasy all the more entertaining is his nescience about it throughout the play.
“I see their knavery. This to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could.”
Bottom never realises the radical change he has undergone and very potently amplifies the hilarity of the comedy since he leads all his actions normally, never comprehending how abnormal he looks. Also very effective in this dialogue of Bottom’s is the usage of the word “ass” as a pun. He is completely unaware that at the precise moment that he is uttering the dialogue, an ass is literally what he looks. His declaration of the other workmen making an “ass” of him is also humorous since his name “Bottom” already signifies his existence as an ass.
Furthermore, is the levity of Bottom’s romance with Titania. Unfamiliar with the fairies, Bottom is far from apprehending why Titania confesses love for him.
“Methinks mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days.”
Bottom’s statement is greatly suited to the moment, not only to describe his situation but also that of the four lovers. Like Lysander’s immortal line, “The course of true love never did run smooth”, Bottom’s opinion goes well with the obstacles and complications that have developed in the play.
Despite that, it does not stop the ridiculousness of his and Titania’s liaison from augmenting the humour of the Elizabethan comedy.
“O how I love thee! How I dote on thee!”
Titania’s love for Bottom is entirely unreasonable. Being the queen of the fairies, she has one of the highest ranks in the play, while Bottom being a workman, has the lowest. The fairies also consider themselves to be of a much higher position than mere human beings. In the face of this, Titania loses both mind and body to an ass-headed and ugly Bottom, a low class workman. This efficiently illuminates the impediments that the love juice can bring about and the thoughtlessness that attaches itself to all that encounter it.
The central figure of this Elizabethan comedy is Puck, the mischievous sprite. He conducts all the melodrama of the play; all the confusion, all the mischief, begins with him.
“What, a play toward! I’ll be an auditor,
An actor too perhaps, if I see cause.”
Even before watching any of the drama, Puck has plans to play a part in it. Apart from being Master of Revels to Oberon, Puck forms a schedule of his own; he always satisfies his interests and curiosities. This makes the audience more cognisant of the trickery and complexities going on in the play. Not being related to either the fairies or the lovers, the mechanicals have no reason to be a target of Puck’s pranks. Correspondingly, his involvement in the disruption of their rehearsals proves how he has his independent diversions.
The roles and traits of Theseus, Hippolyta and Philostrate are rather similar to those of Oberon, Titania and Puck. In theatrical performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the actors playing the roles of Theseus, Hippolyta and Philostrate often tend to play the roles of Oberon, Titania and Puck, respectively. In relation to this, Philostrate and Puck have analogous characteristics as Master of Revels. At the beginning of the play, Theseus tells Philostrate to spread celebration and joy of the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta.
“Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments,
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth,”
Midsummer’s Eve was traditionally a time for celebrating with decoration, greenery and a sense of magic. Philostrate obeys the orders of Theseus as Puck obeys Oberon. Puck enters the play as a reflection of Philostrate, spreading magic and havoc with a mischievous side to all his intentions.
Notwithstanding, Puck does make a critical mistake amidst his effervescent pranks. The highlight of the play is Puck’s misunderstanding of Lysander for Demetrius.
“Did you not tell me that I should know the man
By the Athenian garments he had on?”
Puck makes an easy error with the love juice. Asked to recognise Demetrius by his attire, he mistakes Lysander for him. This is sure to instigate some tension on the audience’s part as they realise that something confusing can happen with the application of the love juice to the wrong person. It also potently marks an Elizabethan comedy because it opens the second phase of the play, where chaos is at its peak.
The love juice is the key element of this romantic comedy. Love and friendship turn to hatred in a moment, and vice versa.
“Injurious Hermia, most ungrateful maid,
Have you conspired, have you with these contrived,
To bait me with this foul derision?”
Helena accuses Hermia of deliberately setting up Lysander and Demetrius’ love for her, to mock her and humiliate her. The love juice has unconditionally distorted the relationships amongst the four lovers. The purpose and positions of love and hatred have interchanged. The circumstances change over in a moment and later, go back to normal in the bat of an eye. This efficiently improves the prospect of a dream. The onlookers will themselves be forced to wonder if all that had happened was real, or just an illusion.
Despite the fact that love and companionship instantaneously transfigure into repugnance, all the anger and vexation lacks asperity.
“Get you gone, you dwarf,
You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made,
You bead, you acorn.”
The bitterness amongst the lovers tends to be somewhat mild reflecting that past love has suddenly changed into enmity. The insults, although vociferated under strain and anxiety, do not come across as seriously as they are interpreted amongst the lovers. This helps in enriching the humour. The words “dwarf”, “bead” and “acorn” are tiny, pleasant things that have been used as objects of offence. Construed seriously amidst the characters, these insults are catalysts to laughter from the viewers as they hardly initiate any anger or humiliation.
When the play’s focus returns to the centre of civilisation in Athens, there is harmony, peace and the order of matrimony for all couples. Marriage itself is one of the chief traits of an Elizabethan comedy. During the Elizabethan era, comedies customarily followed the pattern of order and peace at the beginning, followed by extreme chaos, and ending in harmony with a marriage to mark the return of order. It can hence be concluded that “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a thoroughgoing Elizabethan comedy.
Yet, throughout the play, the lovers and their love is made fun of.
“Cupid is a knavish lad,”
All the love and its intricacies, the anxiety, loss, sorrow, bereavement and broken hearts are the exquisite ingredients of a first-rate tragedy. Nonetheless, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is intentionally developed as a romantic comedy, with the disruptive elements to mark its midst. The viewers can efficiently see all the arcane aspects of love and devotion, and at the same time, enjoy the humour of romance.
The ending of the play is greatly suited to finish off the confusion and misunderstandings of the past. In the epilogue, the actor playing the role of Puck steps out of character to accost the viewers.
“That you have but slumbered here…
No more yielding but a dream,”
The audience is addressed with an apology for any unsatisfactory or offending presentations. This helps in ending the show on a merry and cordial note. The mention of a dream creates the perfect theme for the epilogue; it relates back to the situations of the four lovers where complexities and discords were passed off as a dream.
In my opinion, William Shakespeare has been tremendously successful in portraying this play as Elizabethan comedy. I liked the structure of order at the beginning, followed by despair and disorder and an ending with marriage to restore happiness for all. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is by far the best play of William Shakespeare that I have read. I have loved the storyline and the humour as well the legendary characters.
