In Shakespearean plays, the Fool is a recurring character who is often thought of as the comic relief; while clever and witty, these characteristics are heightened to create silly, broad personalities whose bumbling and wacky antics bring great humor to his works. The character of Nick Bottom in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is the quintessential fool. Despite the subtle humor of many other characters in the play (Puck, for example), Nick Bottom has very on-the-nose, sensational humor in his repertoire. He is far from the primary focus of the play; he is the main character of the subplot of a troupe of actors producing a play telling the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Throughout the play, he deals with the situations that are presented to him with a typical lack of awareness, thus providing incredible humor to the audience, providing himself as a perfect example of the Fool in Shakespearean literature.
The audience first sees Nick Bottom in Act I, scene ii, where he and his other actors are rehearsing for a play at Peter Quince's house. From the beginning, as Quince calls out his part (Pyramus), Bottom instantly responds with a self-aggrandizing speech, stating how "that will ask some tears in the true performing of it" (I.ii, 12). He then blusters forth, telling the actors how he will thrill and impress the audience with his performance, a declaration that no one asks for. This showcases his ability to self-advertise a bit too much, particularly to those who have already made up their mind about him. He makes up a poem full of rhyme, but infinitely simple; immediately afterward, he claims that it is fantastic, and denotes his 'performance style' as that of Hercules - "the tyrant style".
His blustering becomes more and more persistent when he merely claims that he could play the part assigned to the other actor. When Thisbe is cast, Bottom just says he could do a phenomenal women's voice; in the role of the lion, Bottom claims his roar would be fantastic. Quince immediately knows how to stroke Bottom's ego in just the right way, and claims that Pyramus' handsomeness is what drew them to cast him in that part. Like the rest of the craftsmen, Bottom is a lower-class citizen, constantly using baser language and fumbling their words often - they are not very well suited for the art of acting or performance, but decide to try anyway (Capell, 1973). Bottom is full of impossible ideas, and mistaken notions, claiming that his lions' roar would be "as gently as any sucking dove," this is a physical impossibility, if not rightly confusing (I.ii. 67-68). This inability to accurately describe things and present rhetorical mistakes without correction is one of Bottom's more appealingly oafish attributes.
Disappearing from the play until Act III, scene 1, this scene further demonstrates Bottom's ability to completely dominate a situation, no matter how ill-qualified he may be. Once the craftsmen all meet up in the woods in order to rehearsal, he simply states that they have to change some parts of the play. Softening the play, in his mind, to cut out the lions' roars and the swordplay would make sure that no ladies would be frightened, which would cause them all to get executed. As a result, they make sure that there is a prologue to state that the lions and swords are fake, and that everything will be all right in the end. Bottom even suggests that, in order to convey that the play takes place at night, that " Some man or other must present Wall: and let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper" (III.i.24).
It is at this time that Puck notices Bottom and his oafishness; amazed at the pitiful attempts of the "hempen homespuns" attempting to perform, he turns Bottom's head into an ass while no one is looking (III.i.65). Coming back into the scene, the other craftsmen turn, see Bottom's monstrous face, and run away in terror. Despite this happening, Nick Bottom is just a bit confused. "Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard" (III.i.112-113). Even when something obviously about him frightens his compatriots, he believes they are just trying to trick him into being afraid; this is further evidence of Nick Bottom's ceaseless capacity to assure himself that everything is right with the world.
In this same scene, however, is when Titania, having been exposed to a magic potion on her eyelids, looks upon the weaver who now has an asses' face. The two characters meet, and Titania showers him with affection, including the efforts of Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mustardseed and Mote, several fairies who are tasked to provide him with every desire. Bottom is unfazed by this, to Titania's assertion that "thou art as wise as thou art beautiful," Bottom merely replies " Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn" (III.i. 136-138). Bottom still has no idea that he has a different head than he normally does, chalking this attraction by a beautiful women merely up to his own natural charisma and handsomeness. This comedic juxtaposition is part and parcel of what makes a great Fool.
All throughout his time as an ass, Bottom continually makes references to being one, though never quite making the connection; this provides the majority of the comic relief with his character. "I must to the barber's, monsieur; for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face; and I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch" (IV.i.22-26). He also makes many references to hay without understanding that he is an ass, and that is what asses eat: "Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow" (IV.i.32-34).
When Oberon comes along and lifts the spell in their slumber, Titania awakes to believe that it was all a dream: ” My Oberon! what visions have I seen! Methought I was enamour'd of an ass" (IV.i.76-77). This is in stark contrast to what Bottom thinks of himself; instead of being disgusted, he believes that Titania is fiercely in love with him. This is not due to some divine intervention, or even in spite of his head being that of an ass, but merely due to his perceived incredible nature and charm. By presenting this reality, it helps to provide more and more of a cognitive dissonance between what Bottom perceives to be true and the reality of his situation (Hale, 1985).
At the end of his journey with Titania, Bottom wakes up, the audience finding that he has a human head again - though he never realized he had anything different. He then gives this speech, which proves that he did not really learn anything from his adventure, but in a satisfyingly comedic way:
"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about t’expound this dream. Methought I was—there is no man can tell what. Methought I was, and methought I had—but man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream. It shall be called ‘Bottom’s Dream’, because it hath no bottom." (IV.i.199-209)
In this speech, which is full of bluster and bombast, Bottom theorizes that what he experienced was just a dream, as it told the tale of a monster with an asses' head who was greatly loved by a fairy queen of great beauty. Even in his arrogance, he thinks he dreams harder and better than everyone else, since his dream is 'past the wit of man.' Human comprehension simply cannot contain the dream that he had; even though this is a contradiction, he believes it wholeheartedly. At the end of this speech, he states that he will commission Quince to write a ballad for the dream; the humor in this claim comes from the fact that Bottom so completely feels that there is no other way that other people would be able to experience what he has experienced; its immortalization in a poem (similar to one in Corinthians) is the only way anyone would get to feel anything close to what Bottom has gone through (Doloff, 2007).
His regular blustering is also very much in place during this speech; stating that eyes can hear, hands can taste, and everything else is part and parcel of his own mistakes he makes as a result of his overconfidence and abundant energy. This speech, like many of his pronouncements, is as bombastic as ever; this is almost somewhat refreshing, as the character of Bottom is far too entertaining and lively to have been sobered by even the most incredible experience of interacting with the supernatural world (Reed, 1803).
In a way, the last phrase of the speech - that the bottom 'has no bottom' - is indicative of Nick Bottom himself. Much like his dream, or at least how he describes it, Nick Bottom will never really be humbled or put down; there will be no cathartic experience for him to realize that he needs to slow down, think more realistically, or admit to his faults. He is far too secure in his identity, regardless of however flawed that may be. Instead, the audience can realize that Nick Bottom will spend the rest of his life blustering about just as he is, and they welcome that consistency, as it is part of the unique joy that is the Fool.
In conclusion, Nick Bottom is one of the more interesting and lively broad comic characters in the Shakespearean canon, as the perfect example of the Fool. He makes no apologies for who he is, he never second-guesses or truly doubts himself, and he behaves like the ass he is made to appear as. At the same time, his exuberance is endearing, as he provides an example of what even flawed people could accomplish or be like when they remove all sense of self-awareness or shame from their minds. With a lack of shame comes complete freedom to be himself, even after what would normally be a life-changing experience. This aspect of Nick Bottom is likely his most interesting, and most certainly the thing that makes him stand out among the best of Shakespeare's comedic characters.
References
George Capell, Notes and Various Readings to Shakespeare 1780; New York, 1973.
Doloff, Steven. "Bottom’s Greek Audience: 1 Corinthians 1.21–25 and Shakespeare’s A
Midsummer Night's Dream." The Explicator Vol. 65, No., 4, 2007.
Godshalk, W.L. "Bottom's 'Hold or cut bow-strings'." Notes and Queries vol. 42.no. 3. Sept
1995.
Hale, David G., "Bottom's Dream and Chaucer." Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2.
Summer, 1985. pp. 219-220.
Reed, Isaac (ed.). The Plays of William Shakespeare Notes, by Samuel Johnson and George
Steevens. London, 1803.
Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oxford University Press, 2009.
