In addition to the lovers and the fairies meeting in the woods that night, the reader should not forget the artisans. Bottom and his companions meet in the woods to prepare their play. They want to do so in secret because they mistakenly feel that they are going to present such a great play, and they do not wish any other group to steal their ideas.
One of the foolish notions of these homespun actors is that their acting will be so realistic and believable that it will frighten the ladies in the audience. Bottom informs his companions that the violent scene where Pyramus commits suicide by stabbing himself with his sword will most assuredly be too frightening (lines 9-10). Bottom’s solution is that a prologue should be written in which they first tell the audience that Pyramus is just a fictional character played by an actor – Bottom the weaver. He says they also need to explain in the prologue that Pyramus does not really kill himself and that he is just pretending to do so. The prologue, of course, is completely unnecessary. The ladies who see the performance (such as Hippolyta, Hermia, and Helena) would not be frightened at all even if the artisans did their utmost to make the play realistic.
With this scene Shakespeare thus parodies the foolish notions of incompetent play producers during the Renaissance. Perhaps Shakespeare even had a particular producer or theater in mind when he created this scene.
Another of the artisans suggests that having an actor portray a lion in the story will also frighten the ladies in the audience. Bottom’s solution is to have the lion wear only half a mask so that his face will be partially visible. In addition, Bottom suggests that the lion speak to the ladies and explain that he is not a real lion at all. The absurdity of this is wonderfully funny. The lion stops in the middle of a performance and politely addresses the women in the audience. Today’s audiences must wonder whether any of the serious performances of Shakespeare’s time could have been so ludicrous.
In producing a play, there are always a number of technical difficulties that the producer and his crew must find a way to solve. Shakespeare makes delightful fun of the way some producers handle these difficulties. Two of the difficulties that Bottom and his crew face concern the scene where Pyramus and Thisbe talk to each other through a hole in the wall at night. They are able to see at night because the moon is full. A professional acting company of the time would simply suggest through dialogue that the moon is full and might use a simple prop – a small section of a wall – to overcome these difficulties. But the artisans complicate the situation because they decide to have one actor play the part of the moon and another actor play the part of the wall. The actor playing the wall will hold his thumb and index finger together to suggest the hole in the wall. The choices that the artisans make are ridiculous, but they are ridiculously funny as well.
As the artisans continue to work on their play, Puck wanders by and decides to eavesdrop on their practice. The mischievous fairy declares …
I’ll be an auditor –
An actor, too, perhaps, if I see cause. (67-68)
Of course, Puck does not mean that he wants to be an actor in the artisan’s silly play. Rather, Puck means that he will take action – he will play a mischievous prank or joke on the artisans.
And Puck does exactly that. Puck quickly perceives that Bottom is behaving like an ass (a vain or silly person). So, when Bottom briefly hides behind a bush off-stage, Puck transforms his head into that of an ass (a donkey). When Bottom then goes back to his companions, they think he is a monster, become frightened, and run off.
Greek mythology was full of half-human and half-animal monsters. The minotaur was half man and half bull. The violent centaurs were half man and half horse. Edmund Spenser also played on the notion of half-human monsters in The Faerie Queen. In that modern epic the allegorical figure of Error is described as half-woman and half-snake. Bottom thus becomes a half-human monster following a fine literary tradition. But unlike these other monsters, Bottom is a gentle one. Moreover, he is also a rather funny monster.
As the other artisans run away, Puck decides to transform himself into various shapes (a hound, a headless bear, or even fire: lines 96-97) and chase after the artisans to scare them even more. Puck thus exits the stage at this point in the scene.
When Quince, still frightened, runs past Bottom, he stops for a second and tells Bottom that he has been transformed. Quince then runs off.
Bottom thinks Quince and the other artisans are just teasing him:
I see their knavery. This is to make an ass of me. (106)
In this line, the word ass means fool. Bottom does not know that his head has been transformed, and he stubbornly refuses to believe Quince.