Qu: At his point in the play discuss the role and importance of the character bottom?
The main role of Bottom in the play is to act as the ‘bud of the joke’ a comic character, which amuses the audience. Where as his importance is in that he mixes with the fairy and human world and how bottom represents the working class person in the play.
The role of bottom in the play is to be a comic character, this is clear from the very beginning of the play from the introduction of the Mechanicals when quince is assigning roles and Bottom wants to play every role because he thinks he is such a great actor. Bottom describes how he would play the lion “I will roar that I will do any mans heart good to hear me” and then fears that if he plays the lion to well he will scarce the audience. His eagerness to play the characters and then his realization that his ‘amazing’ acting skills will scare the audience is very comedic and funny as his confidence and self belief in his acting skills makes him think that he will scarce the audience which of course is a silly and ridiculous thing to say. But this is an example of his role in the play to act as this comic character make those silly ridiculous suggestions.
Bottoms misuse of words in the play is another example of his role as a comic character as his misuse of words makes him a funny, comedic character. Bottom misuses words to obviously add comedic value to the play. Bottoms misuses of words is can be interpreted as him trying to fit into higher society or trying to depict himself as a person of higher class or to he misuses word to seem more intelligent than he really is “ Ah speak in a monstrous little voice”. Here he is trying to so those things but he is looks silly as “monstrous” and “little” contradict each other.
One of bottoms more serious roles in the play as a comedic character is to lighten the mood after a scene of conflict or tension. For example in the first act the scene where bottom is included in follows a massive rant by Helena about her misfortune. So in this case the mood is shifted from sympathy for Helena to laughter for Bottom and the other Mechanicals. So while Bottom is a silly comedic character his role as this can be used for more practical serious uses in the play as was mentioned to lighten the atmosphere of the play with laughter.
Bottom is important as he is the only character (apart from Puck) who mingles freely with the fairy world and he does this very calmly as if it is normal. He does not worry that the love between him and Tatiana a fairy queen is both quite strange and inappropriate at the same time. He admits this is strange at one point but says, “ reason and love keep little company”. So he is the single character which brings the two worlds together the Athenian, human world and the fairy world and he does this through he oblivious nature towards everything where he oblivious to his
