When James Joyce was a teenager, a friend asked him if he had ever been in love. He replied: "How would I write the most perfect love songs of our time if I were in love - A poet must always write about a past or future emotion, never about a present emotion - A poet's job is to write tragedies, not to be an actor in one" (Ellman 62). I mention this because - after replacing the word "comedy" with "tragedy" and allowing some freedom on the meaning of the word "actor" - Joyce is unconsciously making A Midsummer Night's Dream's argument about the role of 'artist. That is, the artist must be a stranger to action or, at least, not inclined to normal temptations. This emotional distance gives the artist the kind of perspective that Theseus likens to that of a madman. However, it also gives the artist an advantageous point of view from which he can make meaning of the other characters' experiences. Therefore, I will argue that, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare sees the artist as someone who is removed from the main action of the play, but who gives meaning to the experience of the play (for both the audience and the other characters). I will demonstrate this by examining the roles of the two counterpart artists: Bottom (who replaces Peter Quince as the artist of Every Mother's Son) and Puck (whose art is changing people's hearts and minds). My first four paragraphs show how Shakespeare allegorically uses Puck and Bottom to represent two different components of the artistic mind. Second, I show how Shakespeare leaves them emotionally distant from the main action of the play. Finally, I will show how they end up interpreting the work, thus giving it meaning. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay It is important to show that Puck and Bottom are very similar characters. I do not mean to suggest that they are interchangeable – as, for example, Hermia and Helena are. Rather, Puck and Bottom are counterparts, each representing a different component of the artistic mind. Shakespeare gives them enough similarities to draw attention to the fact that they share a common artistic bond. For example, both use their art to serve the rulers. Puck changes people's hearts on Oberon's orders. Even when he acts alone - when he turns Bottom into a donkey - he ends up serving his master's purposes. Bottom also uses his art to serve a ruler. He is steadfast in his commitment to perform before Theseus. In fact, he is so eager to entertain Theseus that he volunteers for every role in the play. By having Bottom and Puck both serve the rulers, Shakespeare highlights the artistic relationship between the two characters. Another way Shakespeare connects Puck and Bottom is through their differences. This sounds paradoxical, but it isn't. Their differences are so pronounced that the audience cannot help but contrast them, therefore connecting them in the audience's mind. For example, Shakespeare makes Puck full of malice and misanthropy (e.g. "Oh, how foolish are these mortals"). The name "Robin Goodfellow" was a popular name for the devil, which gives some indication of how he would have been received in Shakespeare's time (Bloom 151). Bottom, on the other hand, is simple and friendly. His arrogance as an actor seems motivated more by a passion to please Theseus than by a self-congratulatory nature. The other mechanics like him personally and worry about him when he disappears. Furthermore, he forms a friendship with Titania's child servants, although Titania offered him more selfish pleasures. His name suggests earth, or being firmly rooted (Bloom 152). This assumes aspecial meaning when compared with Puck, who, as a pixie, is associated with the air and sky. The reason Shakespeare takes so much effort to connect Bottom and Puck - and I take so much effort to emphasize their relationship - is because they represent two intrinsic parts of the artistic mind. Bottom represents a visceral approach to art. He objects to the depiction of Pyramus' suicide, for fear that women in the audience will be overwhelmed by grief. He becomes so emotionally attached to his art that he cannot understand the rational difference between art and reality. Puck, on the other hand, represents the art of the mind. By this I mean that his art takes place in the minds of other characters. His art has such a profound impact on the minds of Demetrius and Lysander that they give up their only defining characteristic (love for Helen). Puck's art not only manipulates the innermost beliefs of his subjects' minds, but leaves them struggling to articulate their experience. In this way, Puck's art engages the minds of his subjects even after he is finished with them. Even Bottom's mind - otherwise inactive - is forced to try to make sense of his experience: I had a dream, beyond the intelligence of any man to say what a dream it was -. I thought I was - and I thought I had - but man is but he would be a patched fool if he offered to say what I thought I had. Man's eye has not heard, man's ear has not seen, man's hand cannot taste, his tongue cannot conceive, his heart cannot report, what was my dream . I will have Peter Quince write a ballad about this dream: it will be called 'Bottom's Dream' because it has no bottom (IV.1.203-217) This is mostly comic speech, but Bottom takes it very seriously. Puck's art has affected his mind in a very real way, and he struggles to make sense of it. He ultimately calls it a bottomless dream, which suggests that it was a passive, visceral experience. This is appropriate for an artist who becomes emotionally attached to his art, but cannot think about it rationally. He is also very different from Puck, an artist who deals with the mind, but seems incapable of feeling human emotions. For these reasons, I argue that Puck and Bottom represent two necessary but opposing components of the artistic mind. If, as I said, Puck and Bottom represent the role of the artist, it is important to discern exactly what Shakespeare is trying to express. say about that role. First, they are both emotionally distant from the main action of the play. I said before that Bottom is an emotional character, and this is true as he believes that art is a purely emotional experience. When it comes to his actions, however, he remains oblivious to emotions of any kind. When the other mechanics run away from him, leaving him abandoned in the woods, he does nothing but sing stupid songs. His composure is quite shocking, considering his friends just ran away screaming. It alludes to the inability to feel the right emotion for a serious moment. The most striking example of Bottom's emotional detachment is found in his relationship with Titania. While he may have consummated his relationship with the beautiful fairy queen, it's quite clear that he doesn't share her enthusiasm for the relationship. A good example of this is found in one of their first trades: Titania. You are as wise as you are beautiful. Below. Not even like that; but if I had enough wits to get out of this wood, I would have enough to serve my own. Titania. Do not wish to leave this wood; you will stay here whether you want it or not. (3.1.147-153) Even after flattery (which, I assume, rarely happens for Bottom) she essentially has to threaten him to stay in the woods with her. What shouldwhat does the audience think of Bottom's lack of interest in Titania? It gets more complicated, considering the fact that he was eager to star in a great love story. By all accounts, it appears that Bottom prefers playing a lover, rather than actually being a lover. This is because he is an artist and must distance himself from the action he is trying to portray. This emotional distance from love gives him the perspective he needs to portray love in the final act. In this way, Shakespeare suggests that the role of an artist should be distanced from the main action. Puck has a similar attitude of emotional detachment. This isn't to say he doesn't get pleasure from his work - he has the same kind of maniacal love for evil that Falstaff has for laziness - just that he has no interest in his own product. The audience never sees him use his art for his own ends (except for the fact that he turns Bottom into a donkey). She appears to have no romantic desires, which is strange for a fairy whose art deals with love. Furthermore, we know that fairies can experience such feelings. Titania and Oberon are in love and their first lines indicate that they are rather lustful characters. Because Shakespeare puts a character without any romantic desire at the center of a play about romantic love - I offer the same answer I gave about Bottom - Puck, unlike Titania and Oberon, is an artist and therefore must distance himself emotionally. This emotional distance gives him a perspective in which he can interpret the experience of the play and give it meaning. In this regard, Shakespeare once again says that an artist must be emotionally distant from the main action of the play. The purpose of emotional distance – and, indeed, the purpose of all art – is to give meaning to experience. In the final act, Puck and Bottom interpret the meaning of the play in different, but not opposite, ways. The play of mechanics represents the culmination of Bottom's art, and is also the area in which meaning is given to the actions of the Athenians. The comedy represents the ridiculousness of true love. Even if the Athenians - and probably the players themselves - fail to grasp the irony, they have just had a ridiculous experience that ended in true love. The language also highlights the similarities between the work and the Athenian's experience. For example, when Bottom, like Pyramus, says: Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny rays; I thank you, Luna, for you shine now so bright By your graceful, golden glittering gleams, I trust I catch Thisby's truest sight. 272-275) It seems characteristically ridiculous that Pyramus would place his faith in something as precarious as the moon. At the same time, it seems remarkably similar to Hermia's speech in the first act, where she swears her love to Lysander on "Cupid's strongest bow" (1.1.169). (Hippolyta had just compared the moon to Cupid's bow 160 lines earlier). Bottom plays the character's experiences to his advantage. In doing so, it gives meaning to their experiences. It is appropriate that this is a ridiculous interpretation, because the Athenian had just had a ridiculous experience. Puck also gives meaning to the experience of the play, but he does so for the audience, not for the other characters. His final speech suggests a way for the audience to accept the work: If we shadows have offended, think of this, and all will be mended, that you have only slept here while these visions appeared, and this weak and idle theme is no more yielding if not a dream(5.1.423-428)Puck speaks directly to the audience and interprets their experience as spectators. It's no coincidence that the responsibility falls on Puck. He is an artist and it is his duty to give meaning to the audience's experience. In this way, Shakespeare shows that one of the. 1997.