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

One of William Shakespeare’s best remembered plays for its comical and ironic tone is A Midnight’s Summer Dream. There were characters designed to be humorous and that alone. Puck and Bottom behave very much alike, and have similar roles for different people. Both Puck and Bottom are comic relief characters in one way or the other. Both of them are needed for the play, because Puck’s spirits controls the whole story, which sets the tone for it, and Bottoms comic relief for the audience and play. Bottom is the first fool or idiot to appear in the play. His first appearance is in Act I, scene ii, when the mechanicals got together. He is part of the groups called mechanicals, who are basically tradesmen who planned to put on a play for the†¦show more content†¦Puck is more than just a knavish sprite, he is loyal and does have sympathy on some occasions. Puck has no sympathy, however, for foolish mortals. When Puck and Bottom meet each other in Act III, scene i, Puck see this as a moment to get at Bottom. Bottom begins this scene the same way as in Act I, scene ii: he is bossy and pretends to know more about acting and staging than he can actually demonstrate, which shows that he has a huge ego. Because of Bottoms foolishness, Puck cannot resist pulling a prank on him—Puck gives Bottom the head of a donkey (ass in the play). Here, Shakespeare drives the irony of this trick with Bottoms reactions to his friends remarks, again this is mainly for comic relief: Snout: O bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee? Bottom: What do you see? You see an ass-head of your own, do you? [Exit Snout] Quince: Bless thee, Bottom, bless thee! Thou art translated. [Exit] Bottom: I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me... (ll. ii.104-108). Bottom makes more remarks to being an ass, but because he is a fool, he never realizes that he is an ass literally. Pucks prank had a bonus when Titania wakes to Bottoms singing and falls instantly in love, due to the potion, with him. Pucks enjoyment in trickery and Bottoms stupidity combine and make bad go to worse in this scene, but then again, this whole scene was to further the action of theShow MoreRelatedPuck and Bottom in A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesOne of William Shakespeare’s best remembered plays for its comical and ironic tone is A Midnight’s Summer Dream. There were characters designed to be humorous and that alone. Puck and Bottom behave very much alike, and have similar roles for different people. Both Puck and Bottom are comic relief characters in one way or the other. Both of them are needed for the play, because Puck’s spirits controls the whole story, which sets the tone for it and Bottoms comic relief for the audie nce and play.