Excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream - anthology.

Excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream - anthology. A Midsummer Night's Dream weaves together a number of separate plots: an argument between the fairy king and queen; a royal wedding in Athens; the love affairs of four young Athenians; and the efforts of a group of common workmen to produce a play for the state wedding celebrations. Act I, Scene 2, introduces the workmen as they begin their production and assemble for the distribution of parts; Bottom the weaver's desire to steal the stage and play every role contrasts comically with Snug's timidity. They meet to begin their rehearsals in Act III, Scene 1, and Shakespeare's portrayal of this early amateur dramatic society at work has charmed audiences for many years. As the summer night moves towards its conclusion the many strands of the plot are increasingly woven together. Here Bottom is drawn into the middle of the conflict between Oberon, the fairy king, and his queen Titania. The sleeping Titania has been bewitched with a magical flower so that she will fall in love with the first man she sees on waking. Stumbling across Bottom and his companions in the forest near Titania's bed, Oberon's servant Puck decides to ensure that the queen's humiliation--and thus his master's revenge--are complete, by transforming the unwitting weaver into an ass. A Midsummer Night's Dream Act I, Scene 2 Enter Quince the carpenter, and Snug the joiner, and Bottom the weaver, and Flute the bellows-mender, and Snout the tinker, and Starveling the tailor QUINCE: Is all our company here? BOTTOM: You were but to call them generally, man by man, according to the script. QUINCE: Here is the scroll of every man's name which is thought fit through all Athens to play in our interlude before the Duke and the Duchess on his wedding day at night. BOTTOM: First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on; then read the names of the actors; and so grow to a point. QUINCE: Marry, our play is "The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe." BOTTOM: A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves. QUINCE: Answer as I call you. Nick Bottom, the weaver? BOTTOM: Ready!--Name what part I am for, and proceed. QUINCE: You, Nick Bottom, are set down for Pyramus. BOTTOM: What is Pyramus?--a lover or a tyrant? QUINCE: A lover that kills himself, most gallant, for love. BOTTOM: That will ask some tears in the true performing of it. If I do it, let the audience look to their eyes! I will move storms. I will condole, in some measure. To the rest.--Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant. I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split: "The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates, And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates." This was lofty!--Now name the rest of the players.--This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein. A lover is more condoling. QUINCE: Francis Flute, the bellows-mender? FLUTE: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: Flute, you must take Thisbe on you. FLUTE: What is Thisbe?--a wandering knight? QUINCE: It is the lady that Pyramus must love. FLUTE: Nay, faith, let not me play a woman--I have a beard coming. QUINCE: That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and you may speak as small as you will. BOTTOM: And I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too. I'll speak in a monstrous little voice: "Thisbe, Thisbe!" "Ah, Pyramus, my lover dear; thy Thisbe dear, and lady dear." QUINCE: No, no; you must play Pyramus; and Flute, you Thisbe. BOTTOM: Well, proceed. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, the tailor? STARVELING: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, you must play Thisbe's mother. Tom Snout, the tinker? SNOUT: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: You, Pyramus' father; myself, Thisbe's father; Snug, the joiner, you the lion's part; and I hope here is a play fitted. SNUG: Have you the lion's part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me; for I am slow of study. QUINCE: You may do it extempore; for it is nothing but roaring. BOTTOM: Let me play the lion too. I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me. I will roar that I will make the Duke say "Let him roar again; let him roar again!" QUINCE: An you should do it too terribly you would fright the Duchess and the ladies that they would shriek; and that were enough to hang us all. ALL: That would hang us, every mother's son. BOTTOM: I grant you, friends, if you should fright the ladies out of their wits they would have no more discretion but to hang us. But I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove. I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale. QUINCE: You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man as one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely, gentlemanlike man. Therefore you must needs play Pyramus. BOTTOM: Well, I will undertake it. What beard were I best to play it in? QUINCE: Why, what you will. BOTTOM: I will discharge it in either your straw-colour beard, your orange-tawny beard, your purple-in-grain beard, or your French-crown-colour beard, your perfect yellow. QUINCE: Some of your French crowns have no hair at all; and then you will play bare-faced! But, masters, here are your parts, and I am to entreat you, request you, and desire you to con them by tomorrow night, and meet me in the palace wood a mile without the town by moonlight. There will we rehearse; for if we meet in the city we shall be dogged with company, and our devices known. In the meantime I will draw a bill of properties such as our play wants. I pray you, fail me not. BOTTOM: We will meet, and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. Take pains, be perfect. Adieu! QUINCE: At the Duke's oak we meet. BOTTOM: Enough; hold, or cut bowstrings. Exeunt Bottom and his fellows Act 3, Scene i Enter the clowns: Bottom, Quince, Snout, Starveling, Flute, and Snug BOTTOM: Are we all met? QUINCE: Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn brake our tiring-house, and we will do it in action as we will do it before the Duke. BOTTOM: Peter Quince! QUINCE: What sayest thou, Bully Bottom? BOTTOM: There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe that will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself, which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that? SNOUT: By'r lakin, a parlous fear! STARVELING: I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done. BOTTOM: Not a whit. I have a device to make all well. Write me a prologue, and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and for the more better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver. This will put them out of fear. QUINCE: Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be written in eight and six. BOTTOM: No, make it two more: let it be written in eight and eight. SNOUT: Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion? STARVELING: I fear it, I promise you. BOTTOM: Masters, you ought to consider with yourself, to bring in--God shield us--a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wildfowl than your lion living; and we ought to look to't. SNOUT: Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion. BOTTOM: Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen through the lion's neck, and he himself must speak through, saying thus, or to the same defect: "Ladies", or "Fair ladies--I would wish you", or "I would request you", or "I would entreat you--not to fear, not to tremble. My life for yours: if you think I come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No. I am no such thing. I am a man, as other men are"--and there indeed let him name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner. QUINCE: Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard things: that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber--for, you know, Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight. SNUG: Doth the moon shine that night we play our play? BOTTOM: A calendar, a calendar! Look in the almanac--find out moonshine, find out moonshine! QUINCE: Yes, it doth shine that night. BOTTOM: Why, then, may you leave a casement of the Great Chamber window--where we play--open, and the moon may shine in at the casement. QUINCE: Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure or to present the person of Moonshine. Then there is another thing. We must have a wall in the Great Chamber; for Pyramus and Thisbe, says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall. SNOUT: You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom? BOTTOM: Some man or other must present Wall; and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some roughcast about him to signify Wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe whisper. QUINCE: If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down every mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin. When you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so everyone according to his cue. Enter Puck PUCK: What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen? What, a play toward? I'll be an auditor-- An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause. QUINCE: Speak, Pyramus! Thisbe, stand forth! BOTTOM: (as Pyramus) Thisbe, the flowers of odious savours sweet-- QUINCE: Odours--odours! BOTTOM: (as Pyramus) ...odours savours sweet. So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisbe dear. But hark, a voice. Stay thou but here awhile, And by and by I will to thee appear. Exit PUCK: A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here. Exit FLUTE: Must I speak now? QUINCE: Ay, marry must you; for you must understand he goes but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again. FLUTE: (as Thisbe) Most radiant Pyramus, most lilywhite of hue, Of colour like the red rose on triumphant briar, Most brisky juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew, As true as truest horse that yet would never tire, I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb-- QUINCE: "Ninus' tomb", man!--Why, you must not speak that yet. That you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your part at once, cues and all. Pyramus, enter--your cue is past. It is "never tire". FLUTE: O! (as Thisbe) As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire. Enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass's head BOTTOM: (as Pyramus) If I were fair, fair Thisbe, I were only thine. QUINCE: O monstrous! O strange! We are haunted! Pray, masters! Fly, masters! Help! Exeunt Quince, Snug, Flute, Snout, and Starveling PUCK: I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, Thorough bog, thorough bush, thorough brake, thorough briar, Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire, And neigh, and bark, and grunt and roar and burn Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire at every turn. Exit BOTTOM: Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard. Enter Snout SNOUT: O Bottom, thou art changed. What do I see on thee? BOTTOM: What do you see? You see an ass head of your own, do you? Exit Snout Enter Quince QUINCE: Bless thee, Bottom! Bless thee! Thou art translated! Exit BOTTOM: I see their knavery! This is to make an ass of me, to fright me, if they could; but I will not stir from this place, do what they can. I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid. (sings) The ousel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill. TITANIA: (wakes) What angel wakes me from my flowery bed? BOTTOM: (sings) The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plainsong cuckoo grey, Whose note full many a man doth mark And dares not answer "Nay" --for indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird? Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry "cuckoo" never so? TITANIA: I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again! Mine ear is much enamoured of thy note. So is mine eye enthrallèd 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. TITANIA: Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful. BOTTOM: Not so neither; but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn. TITANIA: Out of this wood do not desire to go! Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no. I am a spirit of no common rate. The summer still doth tend upon my state, And I do love thee. Therefore go with me. I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, And sing while thou on pressèd flowers dost sleep; And I will purge thy mortal grossness so That thou shalt like an airy spirit go. Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed! Enter the four Fairies PEASEBLOSSOM: Ready! COBWEB: And I! MOTH: And I! MUSTARDSEED: And I! ALL: Where shall we go? TITANIA: Be kind and courteous to this gentleman. Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes; Feed him with apricocks and dewberries, With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries. The honey bags steal from the humble bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs And light them at the fiery glow-worms' eyes To have my love to bed and to arise; And pluck the wings from painted butterflies To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes. Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies. PEASEBLOSSOM: Hail, mortal! COBWEB: Hail! MOTH: Hail! MUSTARDSEED: Hail! BOTTOM: I cry your worships mercy, heartily. I beseech your worship's name. COBWEB: Cobweb. BOTTOM: I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb--if I cut my finger I shall make bold with you!--Your name, honest gentleman? PEASEBLOSSOM: Peaseblossom. BOTTOM: I pray you commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance, too.--Your name, I beseech you, sir? MUSTARDSEED: Mustardseed. BOTTOM: Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well. That same cowardly, giantlike Oxbeef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed. TITANIA: Come, wait upon him. Lead him to my bower. The moon methinks looks with a watery eye; And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enforcèd chastity. Tie up my lover's tongue; bring him silently. Exit Titania with Bottom and the Fairies