Comic Relief in William Shakespeare’s A Midnight’s Summer Dream

By the play's finale, the grand and much-anticipated wedding for Theseus and Hippolyta, Bottom is rehumanized, Hermia and Helena are loved by the right men, and Titania and Oberon have settled their differences, rediscovering their own passion. Oberon is proved correct in

scene two, at the end of the play, Puck also is desiring for the audience to view the play

However, Shakespeare uses Bottom to draw the audience’s attention to serious themes, such as the relationship between reality and imagination. He is also the most down-to-earth character in the play as he does recognise that Titania's statements about him aren't true, when Titania devotes her love to him 'On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.', Bottoms responds with 'Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that', also when Titania

Puck’s interference with the Athenian citizen’s relationships and the love flower emphasizes the “the difficulties of love, the power of magic, the nature of dreams[,] and the relationships between fantasy and reality” (Bordas del Prado). When Oberon sends Puck to mess with Titania, Puck makes her fall in love with Nick Bottom, a member of the Athenian working class, after giving him the head of a donkey. When Titania professes her newfound love for Bottom, he admits, “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: and to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays” (Shakespeare). Bottom sees how illogical Titania’s interest in him is, but he goes along with it anyways. Puck creates such a strange relationship out of thin air, between two people that have absolutely nothing in common. The theme of love being completely unpredictable is evident between these two, as well as it is between the four Athenian lovers. Though Puck stirs up trouble, he is a benevolent spirit, and can easily convey the message of love to the audience. Many times in Shakespeare’s play, the main protagonist ends the show with a recap of events and a goodbye blessing. At the end of the play, Puck closes the show with a positive narration, “We will make amends ere long; else the Puck a liar

And as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.” (Shakespeare 5.1.425) The most interesting part of this excerpt is that Puck (Oberon’s henchman) says that he and the fairies are only a figment of the imagination and that he and his fairy world do not exist at all. The audience is asked to look beyond the performance at the intention of the actors. This passage allows the audience to break their character. The show is over and the reality of their own life is now. This monologue by Puck slowly unravels the reality and fantasy world from one another. The play lies in transformation and the forest is the setting of change. Puck invites the audience to think of the play as nothing more than a dream, a midsummer night’s dream. Here, it is clear that Shakespeare is commenting on the reality of plays. Like midsummer dreams, plays aren't real. All of the characters are hung in the audience’s suspension of disbelief. They are the product of imagination and fantasy and also involve the momentary suspension of reality.

Helena puts forth the evocative themes of “hate” and “mock[ery],” clearly exhibiting that she feels quite a lot of emotion towards the way that Lysander and Demetrius are acting. Helena’s evidently very low self-esteem causes her to believe that Demetrius and Lysander are “joining in souls” or teaming up on her to make fun of her, when they are contrarily being quite affectionate. This clearly exemplifies how dramatic irony, a common theme throughout the play, can actually intend to teach the lesson that love is very complex and quite magical, conveyed by the fairies. Similarly to Helena, Bottom, a farcical member of the mechanicals that gets comeuppance for his high self-esteem by being turned into an ass by Puck, is also unaware of the reality of his situation. When Bottom comes to the realization that he has undergone some sort of change, he is still completely uninformed about his true state of being, but yet the audience knows exactly what has occurred. Bottom infers, “This is to make an ass of me” (3.1.99). It is very ironic that Bottom thinks they are “mak[ing] an ass of [him],” when in reality he has literally been transformed into an ass. This random, confusing aspect of the play symbolizes the randomness and complexity of love. Additionally, later in the scene, Titania admires Bottom’s appearance, demonstrating the blindness of love. Shakespeare evidently utilizes the comedic device of

Right after Bottom scared all the people with his ass, he meets Titania (Applied to the love juice). Titania immediately falls in love with Bottom and his ass’s head. When she hears Bottom sing, she says "I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me. On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee." (Act 3 Scene 1 Line 121). She treats Bottom like her own child, she feeds him, she sleeps with him and pampers him. This is a comedy, as it is absurd to fall in love with a person with an ass. When Oberon takes the spell away from Titania, she also thinks that it is not possible and is startled. She says “My Oberon, what visions i have seen! Methought I was enamour’d of an ass.” (Act 4 Scene 1 Line 75). Titania is a the queen of fairies and has a lot of power and reputation amongst her people, In Act 3 Scene 1 Line 139, she was so powerful, she could just say “I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee”, and Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustardseed immediately came to serve her. Titania should not be under a spell. Imagine Julius Caesar falling in love with a hippo, it just does not make

The world of A Midsummer Night dream is constructed of three different social classes, these being, royalty, nobility and commoners. As well as social classes there are also two being types- humans and fairies. Bottom and puck are two characters of different class and Being -type, Bottom a commoner and Puck a fairy. Although it doesn't seem like it there are many similarities and differences between the two. There are also many instances where Shakespeare uses this to enhance the comic nature of the play, which can be seen when Puck turns Bottom into an Ass.

This is explained in the quote, “Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not / what; for if I tell you, I am no true Athenian. I / will tell you every thing, right as it fell out” (4.2.29-32). Bottom experiences this odd the situation; however he considered it to be a dream. He never suspects the doing of magic because he is a human who has never experienced magic. Bottom cannot grasp the concept of magic. Bottom’s friends are scared of the results of the magic when Puck transformed Bottom’s head. Quince says,“Bless thee, Bottom! Bless thee! thou art translated” (3.1.120). After seeing the transformation the friends run away because they are afraid. Shakespeare seems to make fun of the humans and their insufficiency in with some areas. For example, humans cannot grasp the concept of magic or fairies. Instead of thinking about how the transformation happened they are simply too scared. Not to mention that throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he makes fun of the amateur actors and their ability to perform the Pyramus and Thisbe play.

I’ll be an auditor; an actor perhaps, if I see cause” (Shakespeare). He begins by asking himself why these common people are so near to Titania, when he sees that they are preparing a play, he decides to watch, and maybe cause some trouble too. Turns out he does cause some trouble, by turning the head of Bottom into the head of an ass, the interesting thing is that Bottom does not realize that he has changed. Puck does this to frighten the other players, and it conveniently turns out to be the object of Titania’s obsession. This could be by Puck’s design because he gets the pleasure of seeing the players frightened and accomplishes the task of awaking Titania when some beast is nearby.

In his comedic play, A Midsummers Night Dream (1595), William Shakespeare utilizes the enchanting adventures of young Athenian lovers and a group of low-class rudimentary actors and their shared experiences with supernatural creatures to portray the opportunity of being in command of their destiny. By presenting conflicts to these three diverse realms, Shakespeare allows these characters to connect despite their hierarchical distinctions to reveal their determination to conquer their adversity. He uses dramatic irony, metaphor, and symbolism to heighten the audience's awareness of their self-determination and their firm control on their future. Shakespeare inspires the public by instilling in them that despite their challenging circumstances, they can still be masters of their own fate, bestowing a feeling of newfound hope and freewill.

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a play that utilises comedy to convey complex ideas that are seen throughout the play, concepts like the jealousy Helena has towards Hermia, Egeus’s strong hostility towards Hermia and Lysander’s relationship and unrequited love. He uses comical tools like unconscious irony and hyperbole to turn rather difficult topics into humorous representations of them. Events like how Puck thinks Titania had fallen in love with him, not knowing he was bearing the head of an ass, are portrayed in a humorous way so the viewer understands the meaning, but sees it as a light- hearted narrative. Shakespeare carefully uses comedy that does not overpower the meaning of the play, but puts a completely different perspective on some of the themes.

But Puck's actions are hard to separate from the kind of person he is. We first learn this from a fairy and then from Puck himself, while their words are soon illustrated by Puck's deeds. But the mischief is tempered by great benevolence to man, and a concern, ultimately, that "all shall be well". Puck clearly lives up to his other name of "Goodfellow".

There are three distinct levels of action during the play. Firstly, we as the audience see the characters play out the main narratives. Secondly, Shakespeare introduces a play-within-a-play during which the audience observes the mechanicals acting out their tragedy, and thirdly, as part of an epilogue, we are addressed directly by Puck. These differing levels of viewing the play encourages the audience to reflect upon, and compare, the interplay between the levels of address; when the three levels are compared to each other a deeper reading of the play becomes possible, even though the structure is irrational with regards to rational narrative structures. The dramatic conflict is resolved after the fourth act, begging the question of why Shakespeare opted for a play-within-a-play for his final act. The effect of “Nature” (V.i. 278) is contrasted between the main

Shakespearean plays are often known for their outstanding entertainment and classic comic conflict. In his masterwork, Hamlet, Shakespeare uses these aspects to serve his thematic purpose. He has used comedy throughout many of his historic plays, but in this play, comedy is the drawing point that makes it fun and entertaining, yet clear and intuitive. Generally, his tragedies are not seen as comical, but in reality, they are full of humor. However, these comic elements don’t simply serve to relieve tension; they have much significance to the play itself. The characters of Hamlet, Polonius, Osric, and the Gravediggers, prove to be very influential characters, and throughout the play, they are the individuals that