![StateLibQld 1 197547 Students from Townsville Grammar School performing A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1907](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/StateLibQld_1_197547_Students_from_Townsville_Grammar_School_performing_A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream%2C_1907.jpg)
The mechanicals are six characters in ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' who perform the
play-within-a-play
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
''
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
''. They are a group of
amateur
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
and mostly incompetent actors from around
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, looking to make names for themselves by having their production chosen among several acts as the courtly entertainment for the royal wedding party of
Theseus
Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes describe ...
and
Hippolyta
In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Gr ...
. The servant-spirit
Puck describes them as "rude mechanicals" in Act III, Scene 2 of the play, in reference to their occupations as
skilled manual laborers.
The biggest ham among them,
Bottom
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant
* Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM
* Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...
, becomes the unlikely object of interest for the fairy queen
Titania after she is charmed by a love potion and he is turned into a monster with the head of an
ass
Ass most commonly refers to:
* Buttocks (in informal American English)
* Donkey or ass, ''Equus africanus asinus''
**any other member of the subgenus ''Asinus''
Ass or ASS may also refer to:
Art and entertainment
* ''Ass'' (album), 1973 albu ...
by Puck.
Peter Quince
Peter Quince's name is derived from "quines" or "
quoins
Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...
", which are the strengthening blocks that form the outer corners of stone or brickwork in a building.
Playwriting
Quince's amateurish playwriting is usually taken to be a parody of the popular
mystery play
Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...
s of the pre-
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
, plays that were also produced by craftspeople. His
metrical preferences are references to vernacular ballads.
Despite Quince's obvious shortcomings as a writer,
Stanley Wells
Sir Stanley William Wells, (born 21 May 1930) is a Shakespearean scholar, writer, professor and editor who has been honorary president of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, professor emeritus at Birmingham University, and author of many books a ...
argues that he partly resembles Shakespeare himself. Both are from a craftsmanly background, both work quickly and both take secondary roles in their own plays. Robert Leach makes the same point.
In performing the play, Quince recites the prologue but struggles to fit his lines into the meter and make the rhymes. The noble audience makes jocular comments, whilst the rest of the mechanicals struggle (all except Bottom, who rather confidently improvises).
Characterization
Traditionally, Peter Quince is portrayed as a bookish character, caught up in the minute details of his play, but as a theatrical organizer. However, in the
1999 film version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', he is portrayed by
Roger Rees
Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby''. He also rece ...
as a strong character extremely capable of being a director. It is he who leads the search party looking for
Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' who provides comic relief throughout the play. A weaver by trade, he is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of a donkey by the elusive Puck. Bott ...
in the middle of the play.
Cultural references
The character is named in the title of a
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
poem, "
Peter Quince at the Clavier
"Peter Quince at the Clavier" is a poem from Wallace Stevens's first book of poetry, ''Harmonium''.
The poem was first published in 1915 in the "little magazine" '' Others: A Magazine of the New Verse'' (New York), edited by Alfred Kreymborg.
It ...
", which is written in the first person as if spoken by Quince.
Snug
![Snug as Lion - Louis Rhead (before 1918)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Snug_as_Lion_-_Louis_Rhead_%28before_1918%29.jpg)
Snug is a minor character in the play. He is a
joiner
A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...
from
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
who is assigned by
Peter Quince
Peter Quince is a character in William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is one of the six mechanicals of Athens who perform the play which Quince himself authored, "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and This ...
to play the part of the lion in
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
. When he is first assigned the part, he is afraid it may take him a while to finally remember his lines (even though the lion's role was nothing but roaring originally).
Bottom
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant
* Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM
* Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...
offers to play the part of the lion (as he offers to play all other parts), but he is rejected by Quince, who worries (as do the other characters) that his loud and ferocious roar in the play will frighten the ladies of power in the audience and get Quince and all his actors hanged. In the end, the lion's part is revised to explain that he is in fact not a lion and means the audience no harm.
Snug is often played as a stupid man, a manner describing almost all of the Mechanicals.
Snug is the only Mechanical to whom the playwright did not assign a first name.
In
Jean-Louis and
Jules Supervielle's french adaptation, ''
Le Songe d'une nuit d'été
''Le songe d'une nuit d'été'' (''A Midsummer Night's Dream'') is an opéra-comique in three acts composed by Ambroise Thomas to a French libretto by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven. Although it shares the French title for Shakespeare ...
'' (1959), Snug is renamed to , where
Georges Neveux's 1945 adaptation used the English names.
On the Elizabethan stage, the role of Snug and the other Mechanicals was intended to be doubled with
Titania's four fairy escorts: Moth, Mustardseed, Cobweb, and Peaseblossom.
Nick Bottom
![Johann Heinrich Füssli - Titania liebkost den eselköpfigen Bottom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Johann_Heinrich_F%C3%BCssli_-_Titania_liebkost_den_eselk%C3%B6pfigen_Bottom.jpg)
Nick Bottom provides
comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
Definition
Comic relief usually means a releasing of emotional or other tension resulting from a comic episo ...
throughout the play. A weaver by trade, he is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of a donkey by the elusive
Puck. Bottom and Puck are the only two characters who converse with and progress the three central stories in the whole play. Puck is first introduced in the fairies' story and creates the drama of the lovers' story by messing up who loves whom, and places the donkey head on Bottom's in his story. Similarly, Bottom is performing in a play in his story intending it to be presented in the lovers' story, as well as interacting with
Titania in the fairies' story.
Francis Flute
Francis Flute's occupation is a
bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
-mender. He is forced to play the female role of Thisbe in "
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
", a
play-within-the-play
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a narrative, story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are ...
which is performed for
Theseus
Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages.
Theseus is sometimes describe ...
' marriage celebration.
In the play, Flute (Thisbe) speaks through the wall (played by
Tom Snout
Tom Snout is a character in William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is a tinker, and one of the " mechanicals" of Athens, amateur players in ''Pyramus and Thisbe'', a play within the play.
In the play-within-a-play, Tom Snout play ...
) to Pyramus (
Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' who provides comic relief throughout the play. A weaver by trade, he is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of a donkey by the elusive Puck. Bott ...
).
Flute is a young, excited actor who is disappointed when he finds he is meant to play a woman (Thisbe) in their interlude before the duke and the duchess.
Flute's name, like that of the other mechanicals, is
metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
ical and derives from his craft: "Flute" references a
church organ
Carol Williams performing at the United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.">West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel.
...
, an instrument prominently featuring the
bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
a bellows-mender might be called upon to repair.
In
Jean-Louis and
Jules Supervielle's french adaptation, ''
Le Songe d'une nuit d'été
''Le songe d'une nuit d'été'' (''A Midsummer Night's Dream'') is an opéra-comique in three acts composed by Ambroise Thomas to a French libretto by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven. Although it shares the French title for Shakespeare ...
'' (1959), Flute is renamed to , where
Georges Neveux's 1945 adaptation used the English names.
On the Elizabethan stage, the role of Flute and the other Mechanicals was intended to be doubled with
Titania's four fairy escorts: Moth (also spelled Mote), Mustardseed, Cobweb, and Peaseblossom.
Tom Snout
![MIDSUMMER-MECHANICALS-SMALL](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/MIDSUMMER-MECHANICALS-SMALL.jpg)
Tom Snout is a
tinker
Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils.
Description
''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani p ...
, and one of the Mechanicals of Athens.
In the
play-within-a-play
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
, Tom Snout plays the wall which separates Pyramus' and Thisbe's gardens. In ''
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
'', the two lovers whisper to each other through Snout's fingers (representing a chink in the wall). Snout has eight lines under the name of Tom Snout, and two lines as ''The Wall''. He is the Wall for Act V-Scene 1.
Tom Snout was originally set to play Pyramus's father, but the need for a wall was greater, so he discharged ''The Wall''. Snout is often portrayed as a reluctant actor and very frightened, but the other mechanicals (except
Bottom
Bottom may refer to:
Anatomy and sex
* Bottom (BDSM), the partner in a BDSM who takes the passive, receiving, or obedient role, to that of the top or dominant
* Bottom (sex), a term used by gay couples and BDSM
* Buttocks or bottom, part of th ...
and
Quince
The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the Malinae subtribe (which also contains apples and pears, among other fruits) of the Rosaceae family (biology), family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard ...
) are usually much more frightened than Tom Snout.
Snout's name, like that of the other mechanicals, is
metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
ical and derives from his craft: "Snout" means a nozzle or a spout, a feature of the kettles a tinker often mends.
Robin Starveling
Robin Starveling plays the part of Moonshine in their performance of ''
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors.
Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...
''. His part is often considered one of the more humorous in the play, as he uses a lantern in a failed attempt to portray Moonshine and is wittily derided by his audience. His real job is as a tailor.
References
Sources
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{{Authority control
Characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Comedy theatre characters
Fictional organizations
Fictional actors
Fictional Greek people
Theatre characters introduced in 1605