Act 3, Scene 1 Summary

The artisans and actors gather in the forest to rehearse for “Pyramus and Thisbe.” Before they begin, they discuss their concerns and misgivings regarding the play. The first concern is raised by Bottom, the weaver, who thinks that Pyramus’ suicide (he is to kill himself with his sword) might scare the female members of the audience. He suggests that it must be announced in the prologue that the suicide is merely an enactment by Bottom, one of the performers. Quince, the director of the play, agrees to this suggestion enthusiastically. Snout, another amateur actor, raises a concern regarding Snug’s character, who is supposed to play a lion. The actors agree that this must also be mentioned in the prologue and that Snug must ensure that half of his face is visible through his costume to let the audience know that he is an actor.

Quince feels that the actors must consult the calendar to ensure that the play is staged on a moonlit night. The group then decides to cast one of the actors as “the wall” separating Pyramus and Thisbe rather than getting a set. The artisans finally begin the rehearsal.

With the actors midway through their comical rehearsal, Puck enters. Amused by their frivolity, he decides to play pranks on the actors. To this end, he transforms Bottom’s head into a donkey’s head. The other actors run away in horror. Bottom, unaware of his transformation, thinks that the other artisans are playing a prank on him. He decides to wait for their return and starts singing and loitering in the forest. He gets close to Titania’s bower, and Titania is awakened from her sleep by his singing. Under the spell of the potion, she immediately falls in love with the donkey-headed Bottom and confesses her love to him. Bottom graciously accepts the love of a beautiful fairy. Titania then commands her attendants to cater to all of Bottom’s wishes and demands.

Act 3, Scene 1 Analysis

This scene features a meeting of the two worlds: the world of reality and the world of fantasy. Though this is a humorous scene, the audience can nonetheless discern Shakespeare’s use of satire. Worried and preoccupied about the realistic depiction of gruesome scenes, the amateur actors are unaware that their play is inadvertently becoming more comic than tragic. In their ignorance, they believe that female members of the audience might not be able to tell that the lion and Pyramus’ suicide are not real. This belief is as absurd as the solutions they come up with. This serves to reiterate that the woods are governed by absurd rules and to reinforce the scene’s dream-like setting. Even in his monologue, Puck begs the audience for forgiveness and asks the audience to consider the entire thing as not real but a dream. Shakespeare, through the conversation of the artisans and by juxtaposing reality and fantasy, comments on the fantastical elements of theatre, where actors create illusions that the audience perceives as reality, even though they know that it is just a performance.

As in Act 2, Scene 2, this scene also marks the overlapping of the mortals’ world and the fairies’ world. Puck adds to the confusion by transforming Bottom’s head into a donkey’s. The scene becomes more hilarious when the beautiful queen of fairies confesses her love for him: he is unaware that his face has been replaced and believes that he is charming enough to have enticed the queen.

Act 3, Scene 2 Summary

In another part of the woods, Oberon is wondering whether Titania has fallen victim to the spell. Puck enters and reports that Titania has fallen in love with a donkey-headed mortal, Bottom. Hearing this, Oberon is overjoyed and is certain that Titania will be humiliated. He then asks Puck about the Athenian to whom Oberon had asked Puck to administer the love potion. Puck tells him that he has completed that task as well. Demetrius and Hermia enter. It now becomes evident that Puck didn’t know who Demetrius was, as Demetrius is still in love with Hermia.

Meanwhile, Hermia accuses Demetrius of killing Lysander in his sleep; she hasn’t yet been able to locate him. Demetrius vehemently denies the accusation, but Hermia doesn’t believe him. She goes off in search of Lysander, while Demetrius lies down to rest. Oberon, upon understanding what has transpired, is disheartened. Puck’s mistake has cost two couples their love. Oberon asks Puck to look for Helena and lure her toward Demetrius, so he can administer the love potion to Demetrius. Helena, furious at Lysander’s behavior, enters, followed by Lysander who, under the spell of the love potion, is still wooing Helena. Demetrius wakes up and sees Helena. He immediately falls in love with her and now the two men are showering their love on her. Helena, who thinks that the two men are mocking her, becomes extremely infuriated.

Hermia enters and is confused by Lysander’s sudden change of heart. Helena, thinking that Hermia is aware of the two men’s mocking and has joined them, is hurt and wants to know how Hermia, her childhood friend, can partake in this cruel prank. Meanwhile, Lysander and Demetrius continue to persuade Helena. Hermia is growing increasingly jealous of Helena and accuses her of stealing Lysander. As the two women indulge in name-calling, the two men also prepare themselves for a fist-fight over Helena.

Seeing the four Athenians fight, Oberon accuses Puck of creating this confusion intentionally for his own amusement. Puck denies the accusation and tells Oberon that it is an unintentional mistake. Oberon orders Puck to cast a spell to create fog in the forest and to lead the men away from each other to prevent them from fighting. After separating the four Athenians, who all will fall asleep eventually, Puck is tasked with reversing the spell cast on Lysander so that he is in love with Hermia again. Oberon leaves to see Titania in her bower and demands the Indian boy in order to set her free from the spell.

Meanwhile, Puck leads the two men away from each other amidst thick mist. He leads Hermia toward Lysander and Helena toward Demetrius. When they fall asleep, Puck pours the love potion on Lysander’s eyelids , who is expected to wake up next to Hermia and fall in love with her again.

Act 3, Scene 2 Analysis

In this scene, Shakespeare interchanges the four Athenian characters—Lysander becomes Demetrius and vice-versa, whereas Hermia becomes Helena and vice-versa. The characters are unable to escape the forest. Puck’s mistake lands the lovers in a situation that gives way to dramatic irony and circumstantial comedy. Although the audience laughs at the humor, the characters endure suffering. In addition to love, they experience a spectrum of human emotions that leaves even the fairy king Oberon dismayed. Only Puck seems unaffected by the misery of the Athenians: “And so far am I glad it so did sort,/As this their jangling I esteem a sport.” For Puck, human beings are mere entertaining fools.

Oberon is a man of contradictions. On the one hand, he is upset about the mistake Puck has committed, which has caused the two lovers suffering and agony. He repeatedly tries to restore harmony and order in their lives. On the other hand, because of a disagreement, he tries to embarrass his wife, Titania. Though he seems to revere love, he also has no qualms when it comes to embarrassing his wife. Only Puck, who is neither a mortal nor a fairy of Oberon’s stature, and who is free from the bindings of love, sees the couples from an outsider’s perspective; he is amused by their situation. Through Puck’s attitude, Shakespeare makes a comment on how the play should be seen in order to fully appreciate its comedic element—by being a detached audience.