Nick Bottom

Nick Bottom- The Weaver

Chaos reigns throughout the kingdom as lovers quarrel with one another and fairies squabble over changelings. We are welcomed to the world of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with love in the air and angst on the minds of the lovers. We see how the characters in the play are in constant emotional friction with one another. Theseus is happy to marry Hippolyta, and claim the bounty he has won in the war. Hippolyta on the other hand is reserved and coolly brushes him off at every opportunity. Hermia wants to marry young Lysander, yet her father chooses Demetrius to be her betrothed. Helena pants after Demetrius hopelessly in love; on the other hand Demetrius wants nothing to do with Helena. Things are no better in the fairy world. King Oberon and Queen Titania, the rulers of the fairy realm, are at a passé as to how they should raise the changeling child. Right in the middle of all of this is Nick Bottom. Bottom’s role as a tradesman weaver with a penchant for drama, turns him into weaver of worlds, where he weaves together the logical world of the Athenians and the magical and disorderly world of the fairies.

We are first introduced to Bottom as he is assigned the role of Pyramus in “The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisby.”(1.2) Bottom is overly enthusiastic as Peter Quince announces the roles each man would play. He is ready to take on all the roles and is ready to lend his unique dramatic flair to each of the characters. Bottom shows great relish in wanting to play the parts of Thisby and The Lion. “Thisne, Thisne!” ”Ah Pyramus my lover dear! Thy Thisby dear, and lady dear” (1.2.53-55) or “I will roar that I will do any man’s heart good to hear me.” (1.2.71-72). Be it a lover or tyrant, be it man or woman, be it human or animal; Bottom shows to the men in the company how he could be the perfect fit for every role.

Bottom mocks the role of the lover. He says “let the audience look...