Puck In A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

When Puck begins to interact with the four lovers very shortly after, however, Egeus's ridiculous accusations of Lysander bewitching Hermia take an ironic echo as Oberon bewitches Titania with a love potion, suddenly bringing the ridiculousness of Egeus's statements into a new light. Puck, the perpetrator,

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

The Behaviour of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a play where the line between dream and reality disappears. It's about how love is magical. The play was written around 1598 and would have been preformed in the Globe Theatre. It is a comedy, because like almost all of Shakespeare's comedies it ends in marriage. In the play we get introduced to a character named Puck.

After observing the senseless behavior of the Athenian lovers, Puck exclaims to Oberon, “Lord, what fools these mortals be” (III.ii.115)! This line, aimed at Lysander’s foolish behavior is meant to be humorous, but it also cleverly addresses the prominent theme of the story: that love is not under human control. Puck is clearly referring to the foolishness and exaggerated emotions of the four lovers in the play; however, Shakespeare also intends to target the audience members by emphasizing that humans in general have the tendency to do and say crazy things because of love’s powerful grasp on their emotions. Therefore, a character such as Puck, according to Robert Diyanni, “may remind us in some ways of ourselves; they may appeal to us because they differ from us” (Diyanni 1270). Although the Athenian lovers neglect to realize the extent of their ludicrous behavior, their unbalanced emotions are very noticeable to the fairies, who replace the audience’s role in this scene. Moreover, it signifies the contrast between both the human lovers, who become so entangled in a disarray of emotion, and the enchanting fairies, always playful and rascally in

This is first evidenced when Puck states, “Captain of our fairy band,\ Helena is here at hand,\ and the youth mistook by me,\ pleading for a lover’s fee.\ Shall we their fond pageant see?\ Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (3.2.112-117). Puck has assumed control of Demetrius and Lysander’s love through the use of a magical flower, transferring their affections from one girl unto another, and though such had occurred by mistake, as an infamous prankster, Puck is gleeful with the knowledge of the chaos that would undoubtedly ensue. “And will you rent our ancient love asunder;\ to join with men in scorning your poor friend?\ It is not friendly; ‘tis not maidenly.\ Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,\ though I alone do feel the injury” (3.2.220-224). As a result of the boy’s sudden, unexpected change of heart, Helena feels bullied and belittled, believing herself to be the subject of some mean-spirited joke, and when Hermia enters the scene, appearing completely bewildered, Helena decides that Hermia is to blame, and confronts her.

Puck manipulates Titania and Bottom through magic. Titania loses all free will, while Bottom is changed into a donkey against his will. For example, “And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee (3.1, 140-41, Shakespeare). Titania loves Bottom, who has the head of a donkey, against her free will. Oberon placed a love potion on Titania’s eyes, which resulted in Titania loving Bottom. Furthermore, Bottom was changed into a donkey by Puck. The lines, “I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to fright me, if they could” (3.1, 119-20, Shakespeare), allow the reader to know Bottom has the head of a donkey. In Scene Two, Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius have conflict. In the lines, “Now she holds me not; Now follow, if thou darest, to try whose right, of thine or mine, is most in Helena” (3.2, 336-37, Shakespeare), Lysander begins to argue with Demetrius about Helena. Lysander’s loss of free will results in conflict. In the lines, “I will not trust you, I, nor longer stay in your curst company. Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray, my legs are longer though, to run away” (3.2, 341-44, Shakespeare), Helena is attempting to run away from the situation because Hermia was upset with the situation. Act Three summarizes the conflict. Shakespeare uses the loss of free will to spark conflict

Puck is an active person who is engaged in helping his fairy King Oberon get what he wants. However, he is also very clumsy and gets into a lot of mischiefs. A few examples are: When Oberon ordered Puck to put the love potion on the eyes of Demetrius and make sure the first thing he sees after he wakes up is the woman whom he hates - Helena. Puck ended up finding Lysander, sleeping on the forest floor with Hermia. and put the love potion on poor Lysander’s eyes, thinking that he was Demetrius. This is funny because lieutenants are highly respected individuals, and they should have a lot of skill and experience. Puck, however, does not have any of the above, quite the opposite. Another funny section in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is when Puck puts an ass (Donkey) head on Bottom’s shoulders, when he is presenting a play for the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, in front of a lot of people. Puck was invisible, therefore, people could not see the process. When the people saw Bottom, they were shocked and thought that Bottom was an ass. Peter Quince noticed Bottom, and shouted “ O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted! Pray, masters, fly, masters! Help!” (Act 3 Scene 1 Line 92). Snout also says “O Bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee?” (Act 3 Scene 1 Line 111) Bottom sees Peter and Snout’s reaction, he is confused, as he does not know

There are many comedic characters in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about love and how confusing it can be. There is a fairy world, and then the real worlds, and the various love triangles in each. Despite there being multiple comedic characters, the two who stand out the most are Puck and Bottom. Both characters are in the play for comedic effects, but both could not be more different.

The themes of this play are mostly to do with love and magic however the play as a whole is a comedy. The magic scene is the scene that brings the whole play together. Without it the lovers would not be called lovers and there wouldn’t be a marriage. Before Puck put the love potion on them Lysander was in love with Hermia but her dad wanted her to marry Demetrius; and Helena was in love with Demetrius and Demetrius was in love with Hermia. Puck sorted things out by putting a love potion on Demetrius so that he falls in love with Helena. The funny part about it all is when they are all confused when they awake from what they think is a dream which is a dramatic irony because we know it wasn’t a dream but in fact a reality.

Although there is no true protagonist in the story, many people would argue that Puck is the most important character in the Midsummer nights dream play. Many of the major conflicts in this story happen because of Puck.

In the play, A Midsummer Night’s dream, Hermia, Egeus’s daughter is denied to wed her love Lysander, but has to comply with her father’s wishes and marry Demetrius. Infuriated, Hermia runs off with Lysander to his aunt’s house, sick of the Athenian law. As the lovers wander off into the forest, Helena, who is madly in love with Demetrius, tells him about the whereabouts of Hermia. In another part of the forest, Oberon, king of fairies meets Titania, the queen of fairies, arguing for a changeling child from India. When Titania refuses to give him up, Oberon plans revenge, by hiring Robin Goodfellow, also known as “Puck”, to retrieve a magical love flower, anointing her eyes and Demetrius’s, feeling bad for Helena after how Demetrius had treated her. Accidentally, Puck spreads it on Lysander’s eyes, creating major conflicts, later being resolved as the 4 lovers get married.

Oberon will order Puck to place the juice of a certain flower of the eyes of an Athenian man. Puck will place the potion on the wrong mans eyes and all manner of chaos will ensue. “On the ground sleep sound; I’ll apply to your eye gentle lover, remedy. When thou wak’st, Thou tak’st true delight in the sight of they former lady’s eye; and the country proverb known, that every man should take his own, in your waking shall be shown: Jack shall have Jill, Nought shall go ill; The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.”(Midsummer Night’s Dream Act III, Scene II, Lines 462-477) At this moment in the tale Puck is mixing some of the havoc he caused by placing the juice on Lysander’s eyes so he was again will love Hermia. When finally the right man is in love with the right woman the play will be allowed to move towards its conclusion. Unlike the tale of Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ends with joyfulness and wedding nuptials. Puck does show some remorse for the mistakes he made and the pranks he played, as Patricia Vineski puts it, “He then asks the audience for forgiveness, which suggests that he is aware of what he has done, and feels some remorse. However, even as he asks for forgiveness, he reminds the audience of the dangers of the night, of 'graves gaping open and wolves howling at the moon.' He never asks for forgiveness from the

Puck with his misguided actions made Lysander fall in love with Helena and this is what she has always wanted but was in so much disbelief that she rejected the advances from him. On the inside, she must have been confused and a little smitten with the fact that not only Lysander but also Demetrius both wanted her at the same time, so much so that she did not believe the at all. Nevertheless, Puck brought happiness to Helena and no one was hurt in the process, well maybe Helena was a little insulted, but she ended up with the man of her dreams in the end. It was self-evident by his actions that Puck never meant to hurt anyone, he just did not take into account there being two men that dressed the same, the same as King Oberon had described. “Shakespeare’s fairies cannot resist interfering in the Athenians’ lives” (Brown, 2009). Puck seems to just cause chaos, but after telling the King of his misdoing, the Oberon dismisses him and tells him to correct the issue. The issues between the King and Queen of the fairies started to heat up over the changeling boy. The King is compelled to make him his own and the queen will not allow it. The Queen has her mind made up that the changeling will not leave her sights. “Give me that boy, and I will go with thee. Not for thy

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often read as a dramatization of the incompatibility of “reason and love” (III.i. 127), yet many critics pay little attention to how Shakespeare manages to draw his audience into meditating on these notions independently (Burke 116). The play is as much about the conflict between passion and reason concerning love, as it is a warning against attempting to understand love rationally. Similarly, trying to understand the play by reason alone results in an impoverished reading of the play as a whole – it is much better suited to the kind of emotive, arbitrary understanding that is characteristic of dreams. Puck apologises directly to us, the audience,

This leads Oberon to take matters into his own hands. Where Puck was taking the place of Cupid, casting love relatively blindly and stupidly about the forest, as"...love [is] said to be a child because in choice he is so oft beguil'd" Oberon, therefore, takes the place of reason in the unreasonable realm of love. True love in A Midsummer Night's Dream is in 3 forms. Theseus and Hippolyta, Oberon and Titania and Hermia and Lysander.