Puck (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
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Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, is a character in
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's play, ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
''. Based on the Puck of English mythology and the
púca The púca ( Irish for ''spirit/ghost''; plural púcaí), puca (Old English for ''goblin''), also pwca, pookah, phouka, and puck, is a creature of Celtic, English, and Channel Islands folklore. Considered to be bringers both of good and bad f ...
of Celtic mythology, Puck is a mischievous
fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...
, sprite, or
jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...
. He is the first of the main fairy characters to appear, and he significantly influences events in the play. He delights in pranks such as replacing Nick Bottom's head with that 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), ''Ass'' (albu ...
.


Appearances in the play

The audience is introduced to Puck in 2.1:
FAIRY: Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are you not he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the
quern Quern () is a former municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Since 1 March 2013, it has been part of the municipality of Steinbergkirche Steinbergkirche () is a municipality in the district of ...
, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn;⁠ And sometime make the drink to bear no
barm Barm, also called ale yeast, is the foam or scum formed on the top of a fermenting liquid, such as beer, wine, or feedstock for spirits or industrial ethanol distillation. It is used to leaven bread, or set up fermentation in a new batch of liqu ...
; Mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm? Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck:⁠ Are you not he? PUCK: ⁠Fairy, thou speak'st aright; I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile⁠ When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile Neighing in likeness of a filly foal; And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab;⁠ And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;⁠ Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh; And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear⁠ A merrier hour was never wasted there .1.32-57
Puck serves the fairy king
Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...
. Oberon is angry with Titania, the fairy queen, because she will not let him have a particular "little changeling boy" (2.1.120). Oberon sends Puck to fetch a particular flower, whereof the juice "on sleeping eyelids laid / Will make or man or woman madly dote / Upon the next live creature that it sees" (2.1.170-72). Puck is told to apply some of it to the "disdainful youth" (2.1.261) in "Athenian garments" (2.1.264), but Puck mistakes
Lysander Lysander (; ; 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played ...
for
Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinization of names, Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male name, male Greek given names, given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, ...
and applies it to Lysander. Oberon applies some of the juice to Titania, and Titania is waked by a singing Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has changed to that of an ass. Later, Puck is ordered to rectify his mistake with Lysander and Demetrius, and he creates a black fog through which he separates the "testy rivals" (3.2.358), imitating their voices until they are asleep. Puck has the final lines of the play:
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended. That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear.⁠ And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend.⁠ And, as I'm an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long;⁠ Else the Puck a liar call: So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends .1.433-48


Name of character

The original texts of Shakespeare's plays do not have cast-lists, and are not always consistent with characters' names. Puck's case is particularly awkward. Both the Quarto and the
First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
call the character "Robin Goodfellow" on the first entrance, but "Puck" later in the same scene, and they remain inconsistent. The Arden Shakespeare calls the character "Puck", and emends all stage directions (but not actual dialogue) that refer to the character as "Robin" or "Robin Goodfellow".


Portrayals


Film and TV

*
Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...
, in the Oscar-winning 1935 film. *
Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor. After graduating from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and beginning his career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became a ...
, in the 1968 film. * Phil Daniels, in the 1981 BBC Shakespeare television production. * Razzak Khan, in the 1988 West End production. * Robert Sean Leonard plays Puck in a high-school production in the 1989 film ''
Dead Poets Society ''Dead Poets Society'' is a 1989 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman. The film, starring Robin Williams, is set in 1959 at a fictional elite boarding school called Welton Academy, and tells ...
''. *
Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (19871994), four subsequent films (19942002), and '' Star Trek: Picard'' ( ...
plays a version of Puck in Disney's ''Gargoyles'', first appearing in the season two episode " The Mirror" in 1995. * Stanley Tucci, in the 1999 film. * Tanner Cohen, in a high-school production depicted in the 2008 film '' Were the World Mine''. * Hiran Abeysekera in the 2016 film. * Avan Jogia, in the 2017 film. * Ken Nwosu, in '' Upstart Crow'' in 2018. * Jonathan Whitesell plays a version of Robin Goodfellow in ''The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' in 2020.


Theatre

* Gertrud Eysoldt, first on 10 April, 1893 at the Riga City Theater, and later in Max Reinhardt's 1905 production in Berlin. * Frederick Peisley in
Donald Wolfit Sir Donald Wolfit (born Donald Woolfitt; 20 April 1902 – 17 February 1968) was an English actor-manager, known for his touring productions of Shakespeare. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of King Lear. Born to a conventional midd ...
's production in 1947. * Adam Darius, with the Stora Teatern in Göteborg, Sweden in 1961. * John Kane, with The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1970. *Puck is renamed "Dr. Wheelgood" in Diane Paulus's production ''The Donkey Show'' in 1999. * Karenssa LeGear in Schoenberg Hall's 2007 production. * Matthew Tennyson, with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in 2013. *
Kathryn Hunter Aikaterini Hadjipateras (; born 9 April 1957), known professionally as Kathryn Hunter, is a British-American actress and theatre director, known for her work in physical theatre. Hunter has appeared as Arabella Figg in the '' ''Harry Potter' ...
in
Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King (musical), The Lion King'' debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Awards, Tony Award nominations, with ...
's 2013 production for the
Theatre for a New Audience The Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is a non-profit theater in New York City focused on producing William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and other classic dramas. Its off-Broadway productions have toured in the U.S. and internationally. History Thea ...
.


School productions

*
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
, with St Edward's School, Oxford in 1923. * Sebastian de Souza, with St Edward's School, Oxford.


Painting and sculpture

*''Puck'' (1789), a painting by
Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
*''Puck'' (c. 1810–1820), a painting by
Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as '' The Nightmare''. He pr ...
. *''Puck'' (c. 1855–1856), a marble sculpture by Harriet Hosmer * The
Puck Building The Puck Building is a mixed-use building at 295–309 Lafayette Street in the SoHo, Manhattan, SoHo and Nolita neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The building was designed by Albert Wagner (architect), Albert Wagner i ...
built in 1885–1888 in Nolita, New York City, features two naked statues of Puck by sculptor Henry Baerer. The building is named after and housed the 19th-century humor magazine '' Puck''. The magazine was named after the character, and used a depiction and a quote of him as a logotype. * Sculpture ''Puck'', by Carl Andersson, bronze, 1912, in the
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
suburb of Midsommarkransen in Sweden. * ''Puck'' by Brenda Putnam, marble, 1932, at the
Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...
in Washington, D.C.


Music

* French pianist and composer
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
dedicated a prelude to Puck, '' La danse de Puck''.


Literature

* In
Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...
's comic-book '' The Sandman'' story " 'A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1990), Puck and other fairies watch Shakespeare's company of actors perform ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. After the play, Puck decides to remain in the "mortal" world, and goes on to appear in later stories.


References


External links

* {{DISPLAYTITLE:Puck (''A Midsummer Night's Dream'') Characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream Literary characters introduced in 1596 Fictional characters who use magic Fictional elves Male Shakespearean characters Fictional goblins Fictional fairies Fictional pranksters Fictional jesters Puck (folklore)