Act 3, Scene 1

The Wood. The Queen of Fairies lying asleep.

[Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING.]
Bottom
774 Are we all met?
Quince
775 Pat, pat; and here's a marvellous convenient place for our
776 rehearsal. This green plot shall be our stage, this hawthorn
777 brake our tiring-house; and we will do it in action, as we will
778 do it before the duke.
Bottom
779 Peter Quince,—
Quince
780 What sayest thou, bully Bottom?
Bottom
781 There are things in this comedy of 'Pyramus and Thisby' that
782 will never please. First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill
783 himself; which the ladies cannot abide. How answer you that?
Snout
784 By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
Starveling
785 I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
Bottom
786 Not a whit: I have a device to make all well. Write me a
787 prologue; and let the prologue seem to say we will do no harm
788 with our swords, and that Pyramus is not killed indeed; and for
789 the more better assurance, tell them that I Pyramus am not
790 Pyramus but Bottom the weaver: this will put them out of fear.
Quince
791 Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall be
792 written in eight and six.
Bottom
793 No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
Snout
794 Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
Starveling
795 I fear it, I promise you.
Bottom
796 Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to bring in,
797 God shield us! a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing:
798 for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living;
799 and we ought to look to it.
Snout
800 Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
Bottom
801 Nay, you must name his name, and half his face must be seen
802 through the lion's neck; and he himself must speak through,
803 saying thus, or to the same defect,—'Ladies,' or, 'Fair ladies, I
804 would wish you, or, I would request you, or, I would entreat you,
805 not to fear, not to tremble: my life for yours. If you think I
806 come hither as a lion, it were pity of my life. No, I am no such
807 thing; I am a man as other men are:'—and there, indeed, let him
808 name his name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
Quince
809 Well, it shall be so. But there is two hard things; that
810 is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber: for, you know,
811 Pyramus and Thisbe meet by moonlight.
Snout
812 Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
Bottom
813 A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanack; find out
814 moonshine, find out moonshine.
Quince
815 Yes, it doth shine that night.
Bottom
816 Why, then may you leave a casement of the great chamber-window,
817 where we play, open; and the moon may shine in at the casement.
Quince
818 Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a
819 lantern, and say he comes to disfigure or to present the person
820 of moonshine. Then there is another thing: we must have a
821 wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus and Thisby, says the
822 story, did talk through the chink of a wall.
Snout
823 You can never bring in a wall.—What say you, Bottom?
Bottom
824 Some man or other must present wall: and let him have
825 some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to
826 signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that
827 cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper.
Quince
828 If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down, every
829 mother's son, and rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin:
830 when you have spoken your speech, enter into that brake; and so
831 every one according to his cue.
[Enter PUCK behind.]
Puck
832 What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
833 So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
834 What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
835 An actor too perhaps, if I see cause.
Quince
836 Speak, Pyramus.—Thisby, stand forth.
Pyramus (Bottom)
837 'Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,'
Quince
838 Odours, odours.
Pyramus (Bottom)
839 '—odours savours sweet:
840 So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.—
841 But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,
842 And by and by I will to thee appear.'
[Exit.]
Puck
843 A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here!
[Aside.--Exit.]
Thisbe (Flute)
844 Must I speak now?
Quince
845 Ay, marry, must you: for you must understand he goes
846 but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
Thisbe (Flute)
847 'Most radiant Pyramus, most lily white of hue,
848 Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
849 Most brisky juvenal, and eke most lovely Jew,
850 As true as truest horse, that would never tire,
851 I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.'
Quince
852 Ninus' tomb, man: why, you must not speak that yet:
853 that you answer to Pyramus. You speak all your part at once,
854 cues, and all.—Pyramus enter: your cue is past; it is 'never
855 tire.'
[Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass's head.]
Thisbe (Flute)
856 O,'—As true as truest horse, that yet would never tire.'
Pyramus (Bottom)
857 'If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine:—'
Quince
858 O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray, masters!
859 fly, masters! Help!
[Exeunt Clowns.]
Puck
860 I'll follow you; I'll lead you about a round,
861 Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier;
862 Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
863 A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
864 And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
865 Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
[Exit.]
Bottom
866 Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make
867 me afeard.
[Re-enter SNOUT.]
Snout
868 O Bottom, thou art changed! What do I see on thee?
Bottom
869 What do you see? you see an ass-head of your own, do you?
[Re-enter QUINCE.]
Quince
870 Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated.
[Exit.]
Bottom
871 I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me; to
872 fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this
873 place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here,
874 and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.
[Sings.]
Bottom
875 The ousel cock, so black of hue,
876 With orange-tawny bill,
877 The throstle with his note so true,
878 The wren with little quill.
[Waking.]
Titania
879 What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
[Sings.]
Bottom
880 The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
881 The plain-song cuckoo gray,
882 Whose note full many a man doth mark,
883 And dares not answer nay;—
884 for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish a bird?
885 Who would give a bird the lie, though he cry 'cuckoo' never so?
Titania
886 I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again;
887 Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note.
888 So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
889 And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me,
890 On the first view, to say, to swear, I love thee.
Bottom
891 Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for
892 that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little
893 company together now-a-days: the more the pity that some honest
894 neighbours will not make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon
895 occasion.
Titania
896 Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
Bottom
897 Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of
898 this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.
Titania
899 Out of this wood do not desire to go;
900 Thou shalt remain here whether thou wilt or no.
901 I am a spirit of no common rate,—
902 The summer still doth tend upon my state;
903 And I do love thee: therefore, go with me,
904 I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee;
905 And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,
906 And sing, while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep:
907 And I will purge thy mortal grossness so
908 That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.—
909 Peasblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!
[Enter Four Fairies.]
First Fairy
910 Ready.
Second Fairy
911 And I.
Third Fairy
912 And I.
Fourth Fairy
913 Where shall we go?
Titania
914 Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;
915 Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;
916 Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,
917 With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
918 The honey bags steal from the humble-bees,
919 And, for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs,
920 And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,
921 To have my love to bed and to arise;
922 And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,
923 To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:
924 Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
First Fairy
925 Hail, mortal!
Second Fairy
926 Hail!
Third Fairy
927 Hail!
Fourth Fairy
928 Hail!
Bottom
929 I cry your worships mercy, heartily.—I beseech your
930 worship's name.
Cobweb
931 Cobweb.
Bottom
932 I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb. If I
933 cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.—Your name, honest
934 gentleman?
Peasblossom
935 Peasblossom.
Bottom
936 I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and
937 to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peasblossom, I
938 shall desire you of more acquaintance too.—Your name, I beseech
939 you, sir?
Mustardseed
940 Mustardseed.
Bottom
941 Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well:
942 That same cowardly giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a
943 gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred hath made my
944 eyes water ere now. I desire you of more acquaintance, good
945 Master Mustardseed.
Titania
946 Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
947 The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye;
948 And when she weeps, weeps every little flower;
949 Lamenting some enforcè d chastity.
950 Tie up my love's tongue, bring him silently.
[Exeunt.]

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Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 777cultural context
“tiring-house”
The tiring-house (attiring-house) was the backstage dressing room of an Elizabethan playhouse, positioned behind the stage facade. Quince adopts the vocabulary of the professional theatre, pressing a hawthorn thicket into service as the mechanicals' makeshift backstage.
TLN 781classical allusion
“Pyramus and Thisby”
Pyramus and Thisbe are Babylonian lovers in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book IV, lines 55-166): separated by a wall, they plan to meet at Ninus's tomb; Thisbe, frightened by a lion, drops her veil which is bloodied; Pyramus finds it and kills himself believing her dead; Thisbe then kills herself over his body. Their blood turns the white mulberry tree red. Shakespeare takes the story directly from Ovid, possibly via Golding's 1567 English translation.
classical Pyramus and Thisbe
TLN 784archaic vocab
“By'r lakin”
A mild oath: a contraction of 'By our Lady-kin' (little Lady — the Virgin Mary), marking Snout as a rustic character using old Catholic-tinged exclamations. By the 1590s such oaths were becoming quaint rather than impious.
TLN 792cultural context
“written in eight and six”
'Eight and six' refers to ballad metre: alternating lines of eight and six syllables (iambic tetrameter / trimeter), the most popular verse form in cheap printed ballads and popular street literature. Bottom immediately escalates to 'eight and eight' — pure iambic tetrameter throughout — showing off while missing the point that ballad metre was already a condescending choice.
TLN 813cultural context
“look in the almanack; find out moonshine, find out moonshine”
The almanac was an annual printed pamphlet giving, among other data, the phases of the moon for every day of the year — a practical tool for farmers, sailors, and anyone who needed to plan outdoor events. Bottom's insistence that they 'look it up' is played as practical common sense: they genuinely want to know whether there will be real moonlight on the night of the performance, and the almanac would tell them.
TLN 818cultural context
“a bush of thorns and a lantern”
In Elizabethan folk tradition, the man in the moon was depicted carrying a bundle of thorns (or a thorn-bush) and a lantern — a figure derived ultimately from the biblical account of a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36) who was punished by being set in the moon forever. This is why Starveling later enters carrying exactly these props when he plays Moonshine in Act 5.
TLN 832cultural context
“hempen homespuns”
A contemptuous label for rustic working-class people: hemp was the coarsest, cheapest fabric, used for sacking and laborers' smocks, while 'homespun' means cloth woven at home rather than by a professional weaver. Puck marks the mechanicals immediately as people of the lowest social rank — the very opposite of the silks and satins of courtly dress.
TLN 870archaic vocab
“translated”
Translated here means transformed or metamorphosed, not rendered into another language. The Latin root translatus (carried across) was still available in its literal sense: Quince sees Bottom physically carried over from one form to another. The word choice links this comic transformation to the Ovidian genre of metamorphosis the whole play is playing with.
TLN 875archaic vocab
“ousel cock”
The ousel cock (male ousel) is the common blackbird (Turdus merula). 'Ousel' is the Old English name; 'cock' specifies the male, which alone has the black plumage and orange-yellow bill Bottom describes in the next line. The identification is accurate folk natural history.
TLN 877archaic vocab
“throstle”
The throstle is the song thrush (Turdus philomelos), one of Britain's most musical birds. The name is Old English and remained the common country term into the nineteenth century. Bottom's list of songbirds — ousel, throstle, wren, finch, sparrow, lark — is accurate Elizabethan natural observation.
TLN 881wordplay
“plain-song cuckoo gray”
'Plain-song' means singing only one note, unadorned — a mock-modest compliment to the cuckoo's call, which is literally just two notes. But 'cuckoo' carried a second meaning in Elizabethan English: a cuckold (a man whose wife is unfaithful). The cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests; a cuckolded man is similarly deceived. The following lines make the joke explicit: many a man 'dares not answer nay' (cannot deny being a cuckold) when he hears the bird call his name.
TLN 892cultural context
“reason and love keep little company together now-a-days”
This is a Renaissance commonplace: that reason and passionate love are enemies. The idea runs through medieval and early-modern love poetry from Chaucer's Knight's Tale to the Petrarchan sonnet tradition, where the lover is described as a madman whose reason has been overthrown. Bottom, who has no idea he has an ass's head, stumbles onto a philosophical truism while trying to be polite to a fairy queen who has just told him she loves him.
TLN 894archaic vocab
“I can gleek upon occasion”
To gleek is to jest or make a witty jibe; a gleek is a scoffing joke. Bottom is congratulating himself on his accidental philosophical profundity: he made a good quip without meaning to, and now takes credit for it. The word was common slang in the period but fell out of use before the eighteenth century.
TLN 932cultural context
“If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you”
Cobwebs were a standard Elizabethan first-aid remedy for staunching bleeding cuts. The practice is documented in Gerard's Herball (1597) and was common household knowledge. Bottom is making a practical — if absurd — joke: he will use this fairy, whose name is Cobweb, as a literal wound-dressing.
TLN 942cultural context
“That same cowardly giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house”
Mustard was the standard condiment served with beef in Elizabethan England. Bottom personifies the beef as a 'cowardly giant' (beef is enormous but mindless) that has 'devoured' many a seed of the Mustardseed family — each grain of mustard ground up and eaten alongside a joint. It is a deadpan condolence, delivered with comic formality as if Bottom is consoling a bereaved family. 'Your kindred hath made my eyes water' adds a second layer: mustard famously stings the eyes.