A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Compiled IOC notes

EXTRACT 4

[ACT III SCENE I]

Titania 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

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. 10

Titania Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. 11

Bottom Not so neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this 12

wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn. 13

Titania Out of this wood do not desire to go: 14

Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. 15

I am a spirit of no common rate; 16

The summer still doth tend upon my state, 17

And I do love thee. Therefore go with me. 18

I’ll give thee fairies to attend on thee, 19

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, 20

And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep; 21

And I will purge thy mortal grossness so 22

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go. 23

Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed! 24

Enter four Fairies

GUIDING QUESTIONS

1. What has made Titania, a fairy and ‘a spirit of no common rate’ [line 136], become ‘enthralled’ by Bottom, a monster? Make cross reference to earlier scenes to enhance your discussion.

2. Comment on some literary devices and their effects in the passage/on the reader.

Transcript

(Extract 1)

Good morning/afternoon Sir, I am Shreyas from the class of

2.13 Abraham, and today I will be presenting an Individual Oral

commentary on Extract 4, which takes place in Act 3, Scene 1,

of Shakespeare’s comedic play, The Midsummer Night’s

dream.

The characters involved in this extract are Bottom, an

Athenian workman and Titania, the beautiful queen of fairies.

This scene takes place in the woods, where Titania had

previously fallen asleep, in Act 2, Scene 2. Prior to this

extract, King Oberon had anointed Titania’s eyelids with the

love juice, causing her to lose her understanding of reality. In

the lines, preceding this extract itself, Puck, the mischievous

fairy had transformed Bottom’s head into that of an ass to

obtain personal delight. Bottom’s transformed appearance

had caused, his fellow workmen to flee in fright. Bottom,

appalled by the workmen’s reaction abruptly begins to sing, in

doing so, he wakes Titania who is within close vicinity of him.

Due to the thoughts of infatuation induced by the love juice,

Titania, instantly falls in love with Bottom, leading to the scene

presented in this extract. Where Bottom and Titania are shown

interacting with each other devoid of any inhibition.

In today’s oral presentation, I shall be discussing about 4

major points, the rationale behind Titania’s actions, the

characterisation of Bottom, the principal themes presented in

this excerpt and the holistic use of language in this extract .

Let me begin, by elaborating on the reasons behind Titania’s sudden and desperate love for Bottom. The temporary love or infatuation that Titania has for Bottom is due to the strong influence of the love juice on her. This love potion is an external instrument that causes Titania to be blinded by injudicious love and deprive her of an understanding of her surroundings in the natural world. As a result, she falls in love with Bottom, who would probably be the last person she would adore, outside confines of the love juice.

Her devotion towards Bottom translates into her, being full of praise for Bottom, throughout this extract. Titania’s admiration for Bottom can be observed in many instances through the lines spoken by her, such as line 11, in which she mentions, “Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful”. She makes this statement, as the love potion has instilled thoughts of inconstant love into her. This further reinforces her inability to differentiate between illusions and reality. As a result, Titania is preposterously mortified in this extract.

Nevertheless, we can still catch a glimpse of Titania’s true characteristic traits, of authoritativeness and possessiveness, in this extract. These genuine characteristics can be seen with a reference to Act 2, Scene 1, where she exercises possession of a changeling boy, while arguing with her husband, Oberon, the king of fairies. In this extract Titania’s actual personality is expressed evidently through the lines, “Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit of no common rate”. This line depicts her exercising her dominance over Bottom, as

she is of a high hierarchical status in the society.

Now, I shall be moving on to the characterisation of Bottom portrayed through this extract. Bottom is characterised less intensively in this extract. Much of his inner character is not shown explicitly, as a result we have to infer his characteristics, from the conversation he has with Titania .

We are able to observe that Bottom adopts a mindset that is contrary to his original attitude, which is shown in earlier acts . I shall illustrate this point by quoting a line of Bottom’s, from Act 1, Scene 2, “I will roar, that I will make the Duke say, “Let him roar again. Let him roar again.” This line shows Bottom being self-assertive and over confident, of himself and his acting abilities. Whereas in this extract he says, “Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that.” Through which he is trying to say that there should be little reason for Titania to love him.

Therefore, he is portrayed as someone who understand his shortcomings and possess self awareness to certain extent, in this extract. He also seems more learned and insightful, this sudden increase in aptitude manifests itself into his ability to come up with witty comments, such as, “reason and love keep little company together nowadays”. Unfortunately, Bottom is still unable to recognise that his head has been replaced with that of a donkey’s.

This differentiation of Bottom’s character, makes him a round personality in this play, as he undergoes a complete overhaul of his personality and returns back to his original self again. He is the only mortal that ventures and mixes with a supernatural character, blurring the lines dividing the two worlds.

Now, proceeding on, to the predominant themes in this

extract. Today I shall be focusing on the theme of perception versus sight and the theme of the adverse effects of the love juice and its consequences on a person, as the prime themes of relevance to this extract.