A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Act 3 Scene 1
Titania has been asleep for the past two scenes, creating anticipation as the audience waits to see the potion's effects in action.
The wood. TITANIA lying asleep.
Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT,
and STARVELING
BOTTOM
Are we all met?
A meta-theatrical joke: Quince would be pointing at the actual tiring-house, claiming it as a bush that will serve as a backstage.
QUINCE
Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place
for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our
stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house, and we
will do it in action as we will do it before the Duke.
BOTTOM
Peter Quince—
QUINCE
What sayest thou, bully Bottom?
Bottom now begins to act as amateur director and theatre critic. The problems he finds in the play mostly stem from his assumption that the audience will not be able to separate fact from fiction, and will need scripted help in doing so.
BOTTOM
There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and
Thisbe that will never please. First, Pyramus must
draw a sword to kill himself, which the ladies
cannot abide. How answer you that?
SNOUT
By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
STARVELING
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
Another meta joke: Bottom the weaver is not Bottom the weaver, but the actor playing the part of Bottom.
BOTTOM
Not a whit. I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more
better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver. this will put them
out of fear.
Quince suggests a poetic form, made up of alternating eight-syllable and six-syllable lines. Bottom, greedy, ignorant, and/or needing to have the last word, raises it to eight and eight.
QUINCE
Well, we will have such a prologue, and it shall be
written in eight and six.
BOTTOM
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING
I fear it, I promise you.
Bottom is again getting words wrong, using "wild-fowl" for a lion, and "defect" rather than "effect."
BOTTOM
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves. To
bring in — God shield us! — a lion among ladies, is a
most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful
wild-fowl than your lion living, and we ought to look to 't.
SNOUT
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
Bottom may perform his speech in his own person, or he may take this opportunity to display his acting skill (or lack thereof) by doing his impression of Snug.
BOTTOM
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must
be seen through the lion's neck, and he himself
must speak through, saying thus, or to the same
defect — 'ladies,' — or 'fair ladies, I would wish
you,' — or 'I would request you,' — or 'I would
entreat you, not to fear, not to tremble. My life
for yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, it
were pity of my life. No I am no such thing, I am a
man as other men are,' and there indeed let him name
his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
QUINCE
Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things;
that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for,
you know, Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.
SNOUT
Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
BOTTOM
A calendar, a calendar! Look in the almanac; find
out moonshine, find out moonshine.
Quince presumably finds an almanac in order to confirm this information. The discussion has shifted from worrying that the play will be too realistic, to worrying that it won't be realistic enough: Quince and Bottom continue to escalate the absurd detail of the production, now adding actors to play Moonshine and the Wall.
QUINCE
Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOTTOM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the great
chamber window, where we play, open, and the moon
may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay, or else one must come in with a bush of thorns
and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure, or to
present, the person of Moonshine. Then, there is
another thing: we must have a wall in the great
chamber, for Pyramus and Thisbe says the story, did
talk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT
You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
BOTTOM
Some man or other must present Wall; 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 Thisbe whisper.
QUINCE
If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down,
every mother's son, and rehearse your parts.
Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your
speech, enter into that brake; and so every one
according to his cue.
Enter PUCK behind
Puck, like Oberon, seems able to appear invisible, and can speak directly to the audience, unseen and unheard by Bottom and company. The Folio indicates that Puck enters at line 47, and watches invisibly, stepping forward at this point.
PUCK
What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
QUINCE
Speak, Pyramus. Thisbe, stand forth.
BOTTOM
Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet—
QUINCE
Odours, odours.
Quince is once again acting as the company's book-keeper, whose job was to cue actors to enter, and to prompt them when they forgot their lines. He would normally carry the book or script of the play.
BOTTOM
—odours savours sweet.
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear.
But hark, a voice! Stay thou but here awhile,
And by and by I will to thee appear.
Exit
PUCK
A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.
Bottom and Puck would both exit into the actual tiring-house, or backstage, thus preparing for Bottom's transformation.
Exit
FLUTE
Must I speak now?
QUINCE
Ay, marry, must you. For you must understand he goes
but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
FLUTE
Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
Flute not only has trouble mastering his lines, he forgets to leave pauses in between for Bottom/ Pyramus to speak, running all his lines together.
QUINCE
'Ninus' tomb,' man. Why, you must not speak that
yet. That you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your
part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter. Your cue
is past; it is, 'never tire.'
FLUTE
O — As true as truest horse, that yet would
never tire.
The ass's head varies from production to production: sometimes it is a makeup effect, sometimes a mask. Some modern versions have included waggling ears, a mouth that opens and shuts, and moving eyes.
Re-enter [PUCK, and] BOTTOM with an ass's head
BOTTOM
If I were fair, Thisbe, I were only thine.
QUINCE
O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted. Pray,
masters! Fly, masters! Help!
[Exeunt QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING]
This speech is often performed with Puck chasing the terrified mechanicals around the stage, creating noises (or using recorded sound effects) to match his descriptions.
PUCK
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier.
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
Exit
BOTTOM
Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to
make me afeard.
Re-enter SNOUT
SNOUT
O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?
BOTTOM
What do you see? You see an asshead of your own, do
you?
[Exit SNOUT]
Re-enter QUINCE
QUINCE
Bless thee, Bottom! Bless thee! Thou art
translated.
Exit
BOTTOM
I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me,
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can. I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.
Bottom's singing voice may transform along with him, turning into a donkey's braying.
[Sings]
The ousel cock so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill—
After the anticipation, the play's last complication falls into place. Titania may re-enter here, or draw open a curtain, or simply rise from where she's been lying since 2.1.
Bottom breaks off singing to argue with his own song. The cuckoo's cry was thought to resemble the word "cuckold," and a man responding to the accusation would only strengthen it
TITANIA
[Awaking]
What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
BOTTOM
[Sings]
The finch, the sparrow and the lark,
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay—
for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish
a bird? Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry
'cuckoo' never so?
Titania's speech carries the play's depiction of love to its absurd extreme: she makes the usual arguments about her love's perfect beauty, while looking at the ass-headed Bottom.
TITANIA
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again.
Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note;
So is mine eye enthrallèd to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason
for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and
love keep little company together nowadays; the
more the pity that some honest neighbours will not
make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
Part of the scene's humour is in Bottom's ready acceptance of the situation. He remains unaware of his own transformation, and accepts Titania's affections without question, and with some confidence.
BOTTOM
Not so, neither; but if I had wit enough to get out
of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
TITANIA
Out of this wood do not desire to go.
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate,
The summer still doth tend upon my state;
And I do love thee. Therefore, go with me.
I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,
And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
And sing while thou on pressèd flowers dost sleep;
And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!
The design for these fairies is also quite variable: they may resemble Titania's train (or they may have been part of it), or they may resemble their name-sake plants. Bottom addresses them as male, though they are sometimes played by women, or by children.
Enter [PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED]
PEASEBLOSSOM
Ready.
COBWEB
And I.
MOTH
And I.
MUSTARDSEED
And I.
ALL
Where shall we go?
The fairies may be as enthralled by Bottom as Titania is, or they may be merely curious about him, or perhaps see him for what he is and are thus leery or even resentful of being made to serve him.
TITANIA
Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,
And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
To have my love to bed and to arise;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies
To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes
Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
PEASEBLOSSOM
Hail, mortal!
COBWEB
Hail!
MOTH
Hail!
MUSTARDSEED
Hail!
Bottom puts on the manners of a gentleman in order to address his fairy servants, using quite different language and behaviour from that he employs with his fellow working-men. Thecomic trope of a poor fool being made to believe he is (and to act like) a lord is also used by Shakespeare in the Induction to The Taming of the Shrew.
BOTTOM
I cry your worship's mercy, heartily: I beseech your
worship's name.
COBWEB
Cobweb.
BOTTOM
I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master
Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with
you. Your name, honest gentleman?
PEASEBLOSSOM
Peaseblossom.
Bottom demonstrates his familiarity with the items represented by the fairies, mentioning the use of cobwebs to stop bleeding, linking Peaseblossom to the plant's earlier stages, and commiserating with Mustardseed over the consumption of mustard-plants by cattle, and the eye-watering spice of mustard.
BOTTOM
I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your
mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good
Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more
acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir?
MUSTARDSEED
Mustardseed.
BOTTOM
Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well.
That same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath
devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise
you your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I
desire your more acquaintance, good Master
Mustardseed.
Titania's command to bring Bottom silently may indicate that he is making some kind of noise, possibly a donkey-like braying or laughter.
TITANIA
Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bower.
The moon methinks looks with a wat’ry eye,
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforcèd chastity.
Tie up my love's tongue; bring him silently.
Exeunt