overshot the puck quotation
PUZZLE LINKS: JPZ Download | Online Solver Bonus Tuesday puzzle for you, and it’s a guest acrostic by Twitch streamer extraordinaire and all-around great guy JibbyMAX! Jibby, what do you have to say? Hi everyone! I’m very excited to present my second ever acrostic [ed note: check out the first one here!]. I was inspired...
In Act II, Puck says these words in response to an unnamed fairy who identifies Puck and celebrates his infamous mischief. Here Puck describes the role he plays for Oberon, which is not unlike that of a jester, albeit a magical one. In the particular example he gives here, Puck amuses Oberon by tricking a horse into thinking he’s a young mare.
Puck utters these lines as an aside in Act III, after he’s transformed Bottom’s head into that of a donkey and the rest of the craftsmen have run away. Puck indicates he’ll lead the craftsmen in circles (i.e., “about a round,” meaning in a circular dance) through the forest, and that he’ll continue to frighten them by assuming various animal and inanimate forms. Puck’s sing-song wordplay in these lines serves to express his delight in creating mischief.
Puck says this line in Act III, responding to Oberon’s frustration that Puck applied the charm to the wrong person; he was meant to charm Demetrius, but charmed Lysander by mistake. With these words Puck implies that fault must not ultimately lie with him, but with fate. Puck declares that for each man who keeps his word, as he himself has done, a million others do not.
In Act III Puck utters these words to express his love of mischief. His use of the word “prepost’rously” is significant. The word derives from the Latin prepositions prae (in front of, before) and posterus (behind, after). Thus the word literally means “back first.” In the Renaissance period “preposterous” was used to describe inversions of the normal order of things, and especially of social and sexual norms. It therefore suggested monstrosity and perversity. Puck clearly enjoys the perversity of such inversions.
Puck sings this song in Act III as he sets off to lead the lovers in circles, eventually tiring them out and bringing them together so he can re-charm the men and set things right. The phrase “up and down” functions nicely as a metaphor for the mischief Puck has already caused. These words may also be an allusion to John Farmer’s 1599 madrigal “Fair Phyllis,” where the refrain “up and down” features prominently as a humorous code for sex. The allusion is appropriate, since Puck’s goal at this moment is to unite two pairs of lovers.
The simplicity and straightforwardness of this rhyming couplet indicates that, after so much confusion, Puck truly intends to reverse his mischief and set things right again. Given the legal problems the lovers left behind in Athens, Puck’s words also unwittingly imply that once each “Jack” has been united with his proper “Jill,” nothing further will stand in their way once they return to the city.
These are Puck’s parting words to the audience at the end of Act V. Here the word “shadows” refers to the actors in the play that now comes to a close. Puck’s words echo a speech Oberon gave earlier in the play, when he said the lovers, upon waking, would consider their night in the forest but a harmless dream. Puck encourages us to think the same about the play. No one should leave feeling disturbed by what they’ve seen. In this sense, Puck’s closing words also echo the concerns the craftsmen had about not offending their audience, lest they face dire consequences.
"She later admitted she’d put something in the cake, but whether it would have made Melchior ill, very ill or finished him off altogether we never found out"
"To add to the hypothetical,disputed, absent father that was such a feature of our history, now you could add a holy father, too. Put it down to liberation theology."
Many different Puck quotes show his characteristics and thoughts throughout the play. Here are some of those quotes, along with their context and significance:
""The king doth keep his revels here tonight:/ Take heed the queen come not within his sight"" (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 18-19).Puck is trying to keep Queen Titania away from King Oberon because he is mad at her for taking a child away from him. This passage shows Puck positively. However, he likes to play cruel pranks on those around him, and this can be seen throughout the play.
""Lord, what fools these mortals be!"" (Act 3, Scene 2, Line 115)This is one of Puck"s most famous quotes from the entire play and one of the most quoted. Puck is giving his opinions of mortal love and how foolish he believes mortals can be. He finds Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander to be amusing and foolish because of how they are acting as he and Oberon watch them. It can be stated, though, that Puck is part of the reason that they are acting in such a way. He is the one that messed up by giving the potion of the purple flowers to the wrong man.
""I am the merry wander 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.../Then slip from her bum, down topples she"" (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 44-49, 53).Puck introduces himself in his conversation with another fairy and explains how he likes to cause mischief. He also talks about his shape-shifting abilities, which he explains later in the play. Here he is showing that he likes to pull pranks on people.
An archetype in literature is a common idea, symbol, pattern, or character type that appears in a story repeatedly throughout cultures around the world. They show universal ideas throughout the human experience.
One common archetype in literature is the Trickster archetype. Many attributes make up the personality of a trickster, including being mischievous and being a practical jokester. They like to play pranks and tricks on those around them. Throughout literature, there are many different Trickster characters, and one of the most famous comes from A Midsummer Night"s Dream.
Puck is a crucial example of the Trickster figure during the play"s plot. He likes to pull pranks on those around him and causes a lot of mischief. He even admits to being a trickster and a troublemaker when a fairy in Act 2 questions him. The third quote mentioned above shows that scene.
A common motif is the Trickster character being tricked. Puck has this happen to him during the play when he gets confused about who he is supposed to give the flower"s potion to and administers it to the wrong couple.
Tricksters can also sometimes be depicted as shape-shifters. In the following quote, Puck is shown to be able to change his shape between many different animals and fire:
During this scene, Puck is pulling a prank on the men trying to prepare a play for the Duke. He turns Bottom"s head into that of a donkey and then starts chasing after them as many different creatures.
Puck has many different roles throughout the play. He is one of the characters that plays a role in the fantastical aspects of the play as well as those of reality. The magic created during the play"s plot comes mostly from him, and he gives the play its dream-like atmosphere. Puck is also the character that brings the audience back to their reality at the end of the play, which he addresses in his final speech:
""If we shadows have offended,/Think but this, and all is mended-/ That you have but slumbered here/ While these visions did appear."" (Act 5, Scene 1, Line 415-418)
Puck is telling the audience that if they were offended by anything in the play, they should treat it like a dream and forget about it. He is saying that he is waking them up from the events they just witnessed.
In William Shakespeare"s famous comedy A Midsummer Night"s Dream, one of the significant characters is a shape-shifting trickster fairy servant named Puck or Robin Goodfellow. Puck is the servant of the King of the fairies, Oberon. He is introduced in Act 2 of the play when he tries to convey a message to the fairy Queen Titania to avoid her husband, King Oberon. Puck says that Oberon is mad at her because she took a child away from him. To another fairy, Puck openly admits to being a trickster and that he enjoys causing trouble.
King Oberon tells Puck to get the juice from a purple flower, which makes people fall in love. Puck misinterprets what he wants him to do and gives the juice to the wrong human, and mischief ensues because of his mistake. As he watches the humans running around in love with the wrong person, he comments, ""Lord, what fools these mortals be!"" At the end of the play, Puck tells the audience that if they are offended by what has occurred, they should act as if the play was a dream and forget all about it.
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