Nick Bottom plays a very prominent role in William Shakespeare’s ‘A midsummer night’s dream’. This world famous play has a unique character, Nick Bottom. Nick is very humorous and keeps amusing audiences throughout the play. He has an amazing sense of humor which is witty, naughty and subtle and. Nick proves his significance in various scenes of the play through his comic skills. This paper intends to discuss Nick Bottom, his relations with other characters of the play, some special plans for him and several other related aspects of the subject matter.
Nick Bottom plays a character of weaver in the midsummer night’s dream. Nick along with several others decides to organize a play to celebrate wedding of Theseus in which He was assigned the role of Pyramus. It was supposed to be a big event and they decided to do rehearsals before actually doing the play. While Nick and his colleagues were rehearsing for the play, Puck converted Nick’s head into a donkey’s head. Puck, a fairy was very naughty and a gofer of fairy king Oberon who also returned Nick into previous form on the command of his master, king Oberon.
Story progresses and Nick was noticed by Titania, Oberon’s wife. She falls in love with Nick and both shared good time together. Oberon leaves his, wife Titania and orders his gofer, Puck to return Nick’s human head to him. Nick returns to his normal life but Titania leaves him while he was sleeping. When Nick awakes, he becomes very curious whether all these incidents took place in his dream or everything was happening in real.
When Nick Bottom’s head was transformed into donkey’s head by puck, he comes in a centre role. When Nick returns to his friends, he was surprised to see them crying and evading from him. Nick, being ignorant of his transformation says, “I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me, to freight me” (Shakespeare 102). His relation with other characters was affected by this transformation in a significant way. Nick Bottom is the only character who appears to be friendly with all other characters and used to intermingle with everybody in an easy way. He shares amicable relations with everybody.
Nick Bottom and Puck are similar in the sense that both of them are comedians but apart from this similarity, there are differences in these two characters. Puck is very shrewd however Nick appears to be stupid and this stupidity makes him a better comedian in the play. Puck is clever and pretends to be like common but nick, on the other hand, is not that clever but pretends to be very smart. Nick and Puck entertain audiences through their comic expressions throughout the play. Puck turns nick’s head into donkey’s head and later on command of Oberon, transforms him into normal.
Nick bottom shares a very close relation with Titania who was the beautiful fairy queen and wife of Oberon. Titania was a bold woman who used to resist king Oberon’s step without hesitating. When puck transformed Nick into donkey’s head, Titania came into his contact and gradually started loving him. Titania loved Nick from the bottom of her heart and felt very comfortable with him irrespective of his donkey’s head. She loves him so much that she does not hesitate from admitting her love for Nick even before king Oberon. When nobody loved Nick and even he was deserted by his friends, Titania was there to love and accompany Nick. Nick also loved Titania very much but as soon as he was retransformed into human, he became confused suddenly.
Nick also shares a good reputation with Theseus. He happily gives his consent for a play that was to be organized on the wedding day of Theseus. Nick considered him a good man who takes care of people and thinks about their interest. Theseus on the other hand loves him as an individual and also admires his role and the play that was organized especially to celebrate is wedding day.
The character of Nick is very prominent and he lodges his presence everywhere. He becomes the main center of the story in various scenes of the play. He amuses audiences in way that there is not a reason for anybody to hate him. His comic behavior and witty humors make him darling of audiences. His role is highly admired in the play and audiences easily get connected with Nick than any other characters of the play. Audiences find his character and his acts close to their own lives which inspires them to admire him. The story would have become very weary in absence of this character.
If I have to design a costume for Nick in order to make him attend any special occasion, I would recommend a werewolf dress for Nick. This dress would give him a new appearance and his character would become more noticeable among others. After his head’s transformation, his abnormal look can attract unnecessary attention and by wearing this dress, Nick may look fashionable and those people, who are not aware of his transformation, may consider him very modern fashioned. His abnormality can also be hidden by wearing this dress and he will not be seen as ill at ease.
Nick Bottom can wear this newly designed dress on special occasions like the wedding of Theseus. This dress would provide him a good repute among other guests present on this occasion. His dress would be red and black colored that covers his body from top to bottom. Since Nick is very jolly and amuses everybody, red color will be suitable for his character. He will look more attractive and soothing. Dress will be divided in two parts, a fancy red gown to cover upper part of nick’s body while a black pant for lower part of the body will be good. Red gown that covers his upper part of the body should be strong but comfortable enough and pants should be very flexible.
A loose dress would be fit in order to accommodate his neck and upper portion of his body. Nick is very confident about him and in order to enhance his confidence, a blue scarf will be given to him. Nick is also a lover boy so a nice black colored pair of sports shoe will look good in his feet. A handkerchief is necessary for him which would be white colored. Now nick is ready but seems that something lacks. A hat, a big hat that covers his long ears would be adding value in his good dress.
Dresses make good impression of a person and in order to be more presentable, Nick should wear this complete dress while going on date with Titania or while playing his role in his play. Nick bottom will appear more effective and prominent in this attire and further it may affect his character of the play that has to be presented before Thesius on his wedding day. Also it would change the opinion of his critics who consider him as an idiot and useless character in the play.
After having observed above mentioned detailed analysis of the play, midsummer night’s dream, one of its prominent characters, nick Bottom and other related aspects, it is good to conclude that Nick Bottom has a very significant role in this play. His comic sense amuses audiences and his decent behavior establishes a close contact with them as soon as the play starts. He is one of most loved and admired characters of this play who succeeds in wining admiration of Audiences. Nick, his role and his special style of witty, subtle humor makes his role very special.
He keeps amusing but he is not a joker. He has in actual fact a good and important role in the play. At a point of time, he becomes such influential that queen Titania revolts, leaves her king and comes to nick. She loves him irrespective of his donkey like head. Nick appears to be very close to duke also who appreciates and awards nick for his efforts on the occasion of his own wedding.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Learning, 2004.
