Analyzing Peter Quince's 'Bottom'

Bottom

Are well all here yet?

Quince

Just on time; and this is the best place for practice. This green floor can be our stage, this bush can serve as the dressing room; and we’ll act the same way as if we were to do it for the duke.

Bottom

Peter Quince --

Quince

What, Bottom?

Bottom

There are parts of the comedy of Pyramus and

These that won’t work. First, Pyramus has to kill himself with a sword; and the ladies will not be able to see. What do we do about that?

Snout

That is a serious problem.

Starveling

I think we should leave the killing part out.

Bottom

Not at all: I have an idea to fix it all.

Make a prologue; and make it say, that we will not hurt with with our weapons, and that

Pyramus is not killed in reality; and, to be

more

Snout

Do you think the ladies won’t be afraid of the lion?

Starveling

I’m afraid they might be

Bottom

Guys, you all need to consider that bringing in a lion to the ladies, is the most horrifying thing; there’s nothing scarier than a lion; and we need to keep that in mind.

Snout

We’ll write another prologue explaining that he’s not really a lion.

Bottom

No, his name must be announced, and his face must be shown through the costume: and he can say the following, or something related,-- ‘Ladies,’--or ‘Dear Ladies--I ask you,’--or ‘I’d like to request to you,’--or ‘I’d like to beg you,-- to not be scared, don’t panic: my life is the same as yours. If you thought I was a lion, I’d be putting my life at risk: so, no, I am not a real lion; I’m a man like the other men;’ and then he will name his name, and tell everyone that he is just simply Snug the carpenter.

Quince

We’ll do that, then. But there are two more problems; which are, bringing the moonlight to the room;

Snout

Is the moon going to shine the night we do our play?

Bottom

A calendar! Look in the calendar; find the moonlight, find the moonlight.

Quince

Yes, the moon will shine that night.

Bottom

Then you can leave a window open from the large hall where we’ll perform, and the moon will shine through the window.

Quince

Yes; otherwise, someone will have to come in with a bunch of sticks and a lantern, and say that he will disfigure, or symbolize, the person of Moonlight. But there’s another problem: we need a wall in the large hall; because Pyramus and Thisbe, as described in the play, talked through the small hole in the wall.

Snout

You won’t be able to bring a wall. What do you think of this, Bottom?

Bottom

Someone will have to play the role of the Wall: he can have some plaster, or some type of soil, or limestone, or something rough with him, that symbolizes a wall; and he will have his fingers like this, and through a small crack will Pyramus and Thisbe whisper to each other.

Quince

If we do that, everything will turn out good. Now, everyone sit down, and practice your roles. Pyramus, you go first: When you’re done speaking, go to that bush: and everyone else as well after