Francis Flute is a character in William Shakespeare's ''

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 a ...

''. His 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 airtig ...

-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 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 describ ...

' 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 ...

) 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. He generally is portrayed using a falsetto voice. He is an unsure actor who asks many questions. Flute is often portrayed as the lowest in status of the Mechanicals, but his performance at the wedding of

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 Gre ...

arguably wins them favour at the court of the duke and 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

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.

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