Characterization of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Puck
Also
known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy who
delights in playing pranks on mortals. Though A Midsummer Night’s Dream divides
its action between several groups of characters, Puck is the closest thing the
play has to a protagonist. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the
atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that
propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love
potion to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group
of young lovers; he also transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass
Oberon
The
king of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife, Titania,
because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he
wants for a knight. Oberon’s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send
Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s
confusion and farce.
Titania
The
beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband,
Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given.
Titania’s brief, potion-induced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has
transformed into that of an ass, yields the play’s foremost example of the
contrast motif.
Lysander
A
young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysander’s relationship with Hermia
invokes the theme of love’s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because
Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run
away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes
up in love with Helena.
Demetrius
A
young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with
Helena. Demetrius’s obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of balance
among the quartet of Athenian youths and precludes a symmetrical two-couple
arrangement.
Hermia
Egeus’s
daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a
childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies’ mischief with Oberon’s
love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena.
Self-conscious about her short stature, Hermia suspects that Helena has wooed
the men with her height. By morning, however, Puck has sorted matters out with
the love potion, and Lysander’s love for Hermia is restored.
Helena
A
young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once
betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with
her and abandoned Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that
Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her when the fairies’ mischief causes them
to fall in love with her.
Egeus
Hermia’s
father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has given
Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander,
refuses to marry Demetrius. Egeus’s severe insistence that Hermia either
respect his wishes or be held accountable to Athenian law places him squarely
outside the whimsical dream realm of the forest.
Theseus
The
heroic duke of Athens, engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order
throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story,
removed from the dreamlike events of the forest .
Hippolyta
The
legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus. Like Theseus, she
symbolizes order.
Nick Bottom
The
overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for
Theseus’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence
but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous
nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love for him and unawareness
of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the
pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.
Peter Quince
A
carpenter and the nominal leader of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on a play
for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the
abundantly confident Bottom. During the craftsmen’s play, Quince plays the
Prologue.
Francis Flute
The
bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s
marriage celebration. Forced to play a young girl in love, the bearded craftsman
determines to speak his lines in a high, squeaky voice.
Robin Starveling
The
tailor chosen to play Thisbe’s mother in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s
marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.
Tom Snout
The
tinker chosen to play Pyramus’s father in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s
marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two
lovers.
Snug
The
joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage
celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the
audience.
Philostrate
Theseus’s
Master of the Revels, responsible for organizing the entertainment for the
duke’s marriage celebration.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed
The fairies ordered by Titania to attend to Bottom after she falls in love with him.
