Puck at Work

Whether it is saran wrap on a toilet seat or an onion disguised as a caramel apple,

everyone enjoys a good trick. In the case of Shakespeare, he was the master of crafting tricks
in order to extend and enhance his plays. He uses them to create humor in his comedies and
to create anxiety for his audience in the tragedies. It is an extremely clever and effective way
to manipulate the plot, and it causes the plays to have an even greater appeal.
In the play Midsummer Nights Dream, trickery is what keeps the play going, and it
all starts with someone who many consider the ultimate trickster: Cupid. When is wife,
Titania, refuses to love him, Oberon gets the idea to try and regain her love:
Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took at a fair vestal throned by the west, and
loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, as it should pierce a hundred
thousand hearts; but I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft quench'd in the
chaste beams of the watery moon, and the imperial votaress passed on, in
maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell
upon a little western flower, before milk-white, now purple with love's wound,
and maidens call it love-in-idleness. Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd
thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid will make or man or woman
madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. Fetch me this herb; and be
thou here again ere the leviathan can swim a league.
What Oberon is saying in this speech to Puck, is that many years prior, Oberon spotted Cupid
flying high in the sky and watch as he took out his bow and arrow, aiming to shoot a young

maiden. However Cupid missed, and his arrow of love struck a flower and the love seeped
into the flower itself, and when the nectar from the flower is placed on a persons sleeping
eye-lids that person will fall in love with the next person they see. So Oberon wants Puck to
go fetch the flower so that he can use it on Titania.
Rather than just immediately using the flower on her and being the first person she
sees, Oberon decides that he wants to trick her into falling in love with someone unworthy
of her. The poor fellow turns out to be a human actor by the name of Bottom, and to make
him seem even more unworthy of her, Oberon turns Bottom into a donkey, or an ass.
Oberon decides not to just have Puck use the flowers nectar on Titania, but also
Demetrius when he sees Helena chasing after him, professing her love for him and he is
showing her none. Oberons exact words to Puck are A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a
disdainful youth: anoint his eyes; but do it when the next thing he espies may be the lady:
thou shalt know the man by the Athenian garments he hath on. Putting it this way would not
have been so bad, had Lysander and Hermia not been in the same woods. Puck mistakes
Lysander for Demetrius, and drops nectar on his eyes, and when Lysander does wake it is
Helenas face, not Hermias that he sees first. Puck later puts the nectar on Demetriuss eyes
as well and he too falls in love with Helena. Rather than being upset or distraught by his
mistakes, during this whole situation (Hermia is confused by Lysanders sudden change of
heart towards Helena, Lysander pining over Helena who doesnt love him, Demetrius and
Helena madly in love, Lysander fighting Demetrius for Helenas heart, and Hermia fighting
Helena for stealing her man) Puck only finds it funny. This is something that the audience

cant completely blame him for since it is a pretty hilarious debacle. Also, Pucks reaction
really shouldnt be much of a surprise to anyone, lest of all to Oberon because Puck is his
jester who likes to play tricks on humans.
In the 1999 movie version of Midsummer Nights Dream, directed by Michael
Hoffman and staring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, and Stanley Tucci, Hoffman made an
excellent judgement call regarding the flower. He decided to show the flower as being white
until it was struck by Cupids arrow, when it back red. Throughout the movie the flower is
red, until the end when they are placing the drops of nectar on Hermia, Helena, Lysander,
Demetrius, and Titanias eyes when the flower is now white again. The poem White Rose
by John Boyle OReilly, comes to mind when thinking of the meanings of red and white
flowers.
The red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.
This poem is discussing how the red rose symbolizes lustful love, whereas the white one
symbolizes true and pure love. This is reflected in the movie by having the last drops of the
flowers nectar being true love, showing that the love Hermia and Lysander, Helena and
Demetrius, and Oberon and Titania have for one another at the end is everlasting true love.
Trickery also holds much of the main focus in Shakespeares play Much Ado About
Nothing. Trickery first appears in this play when Don Pedro decides that he wishes to try

and convince Signior Benedick and Beatrice that they are in love and enacts Leonato,
Claudio, Hero, Ursula and Margaret to help him do so (Act 1 Scene 2). In the following
scene Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio cleverly trick Signior Benedick into believing that
they do not know he is present. Pretending that Signior Benedick isnt in the room, the three
men discuss about how much Beatrice is in love with Signior Benedick. Don Pedro starts off
the conversation calling Leonato into the room after Balthasar exits: Come hither, Leonato.
What was it you told me of to-day, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signior
Benedick? It becomes even more evident that these three men are falsifying the information
they are speaking when Claudio says O, ay: stalk on. Stalk on; the fowl sits, referring to
Signior Benedick crouching in the bushes eavesdropping on their conversation. The men
continue to spin their web of lies going on to say:
Hero thinks surely she will die; for she says

Hero thinks Beatrice will surely die, for she

she will die, if he love her not, and she will

says shell die if he doesnt love her, and that

die, ere she make her love know, and she will

shell die before she tells him, and shell die

die if he woo her rather than she will bate one if he woos her and shes made to hold back
breath of her accustomed crossness.

even one of her usual insults. (No Fear:

Much Ado)
These men were extremely clever in their wording in this line because it not only explains
her coldness towards Signior Benedick, but also would prevent him from going up and
asking her whether or not she really loves him.
Don Pedros plan continues into the next Act as Hero and Ursula do the same sort of
trick to Beatrice. For when Beatrice enters, Hero says to Ursula Now begin; For look where

Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs close by the ground to hear our conference. The two ladies
continue their conversation regarding Signior Benedicks love for Beatrice, which like the
tale concocted by Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato is completely false. At the end of their
fabricated conversation, Hero says the line Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.
This line sounds like a jab at Don Pedros plot to convince Signior Benedick and Beatrice
that they love each other, since their whole plan is, in many ways a trap itself.
Another trick that is played in Much Ado About Nothing is the trick that Don John
plays on Don Pedro and Claudio trying to convince them that Hero is unfaithful to Claudio
and isnt as pure as they may think. He is able to convince the two men that if they were to
come with him and watch outside Heros window that night, the night before her wedding to
Claudio, they would see her with another man. It is several lines later, from Borachio, that
we learn that it was not really Hero in the room though.
Not so, neither: but know that I have to-night wooed Margaret, the Lady
Hero's gentlewoman, by the name of Hero: she leans me out at her mistress'
chamber-window, bids me a thousand times good night,--I tell this tale
vilely:--I should first tell thee how the prince, Claudio and my master, planted
and placed and possessed by my master Don John, saw afar off in the orchard
this amiable encounter.
Thus proving the trickery conducted by Don John and his minions, Borachio and Conrade.
Another extremely prominent form of trickery that is conducted by characters in Much Ado
About Nothing, is when Leonato, Hero, Friar Francis, Signior Benedick, and Beatrice when

the decide to make it look like Hero has died of embarrassment after Claudio leaves her at
the altar and publicly calls her, as No Fear Shakespeare translates it, a proven slut. It isnt
until the end of the play that it is revealed that Hero is in fact alive, after she is proven
innocent and Leonato makes it look like Claudio is going to be marrying Beatrice as
redemption.
Dogberry and his officers as a unit also provide much humor to the play Much Ado
About Nothing. Both him and his officers seem to mix up their words quite often within the
play, one of which would have prevented much of the confusion from happening. The word
mix up that causes the play to continue was Dogberry saying auspicious, meaning
conducive to success; favorable (Dictionary), rather than saying suspicious, meaning
causing the impression that someone is of questionable, dishonest, or dangerous character
or condition (Dictionary). He does this when he approaches Leonato trying to tell him of
Conrade and Borachio being caught. Had he told Leonato that the two were suspicious
Leonato would have stopped and gone to talk with them, thus preventing Claudio and Don
Pedro from disgracing Hero. Dogberry also mixes up words like dissembly and assembly,
malefactors and benefactors, and redemption and damnation. By doing so, he changes the
meaning of his speeches such as the following: O villain! thou wilt be condemned into
everlasting redemption for this.
It is also very easy to find trickery and humor within Shakespeares most famous
play: Romeo and Juliet. The most famous comedic scene in this play is most definitely
Mercutios Queen-Mab-monologue. Mercutio goes on an extensive rant about Queen Mab,

who, according to him, is the fairies midwife. He goes into great detail, talking about how
small she is and how she is the cause for dreams of the things people most desire. Many
directors, Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zeffirelli included, play this scene showing Mercutio
going slightly mad with his tale. Luhrmann even went so far as to make Mercutio high on
drugs during this monologue.
Another scene that is highly underrated for its humor is the scene where Romeo and
Juliet first speak to each other. The two exchange some clever word play where Romeo is
trying to get Juliet to let him kiss her, and she is playing coy (Traditional text on the right,
modern text on the left):
ROMEO

ROMEO

If I profane with my unworthiest hand

Your hand is like a holy place that my hand

This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:

is unworthy to visit. If youre offended by

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

the touch of my hand, my two lips are

To smooth that rough touch with a tender

standing here like blushing pilgrims, ready to

kiss.

make things better with a kiss.

JULIET

JULIET

Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too

Good pilgrim, you dont give your hand

much,

enough credit. By holding my hand you

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;

show polite devotion. After all, pilgrims

For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do

touch the hands of statues of saints. Holding

touch,

one palm against another is like a kiss.

And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.

ROMEO

ROMEO

Dont saints and pilgrims have lips too?

Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?

JULIET

JULIET

Yes, pilgrimthey have lips that theyre

Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

supposed to pray with.

ROMEO

ROMEO

O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;

Well then, saint, let lips do what hands do.

They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to

Im praying for you to kiss me. Please grant

despair.

my prayer so my faith doesnt turn to despair.

JULIET

JULIET

Saints do not move, though grant for prayers'

Saints dont move, even when they grant

sake.

prayers.

ROMEO

ROMEO

Then move not, while my prayer's effect I

Then dont move while I act out my prayer.

take.

Kisses her

Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is

Now my sin has been taken from my lips by

purged.

yours.

(No Fear: Romeo and Juliet)

After letting Romeo kiss her, and he says thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged she
goes on to say then have my lips the sin they have took, prompting him to kiss her again
resulting in one of the best flirting scenes of all times.

The next scene that trickery is used to create humor is the scene in which the nurse
returns to the Capulets after meeting with Romeo on Juliets behalf. All Juliet cares about in
this scene is to know whether or not Romeo loves her and intends more for their relationship,
but the nurse delays telling her anything saying jesu, what haste! Can you not stay awhile?
Do you not see that I am out of breath? Throughout the whole scene both Juliet and the
reader/viewer are thinking you would have had to say less had you just said he wants to
marry you.
Much Ado About Nothing took cue from this next trick in Romeo and Juliet:
Juliet faking her death. Both Juliet and Hero faked their own deaths in order to be with the
men they loved, however unlike with Hero, Juliet was a little too convincing by using the
potion Friar Lawrence provided her. It is almost ironic when Juliet wakes up after Romeo has
already killed himself. Some directors chose to extend this irony by having Juliet wake
before Romeo dies so that he sees that she is actually alive.
Prince Henry likes to trick his friend Falstaff often with the play Henry IV Part 1.
One such scene in which Henry does this is Act 2 Scene 4, when he pretends to be the King
and Falstaff, Prince Henry. Henry, playing the King says:
Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil haunts thee in the
likeness of an old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou
converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that
swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag

of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that
reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?
Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly,
but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty,
but in villany? wherein villanous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in
nothing?
He is referring to Falstaff, and Falstaff, playing Prince Henry has to defend himself. Some
may read this scene as Prince Henry being mean to Falstaff and trying to discretely tell him
that he doesnt like him, however from the rest of the interactions between the two it seems
to be more of a jest. It seems more likely that Prince Henry would be playing an admittedly
cruel joke on Falstaff, forcing the old man to talk himself up.
Trickery isnt as prevalent within Shakespeares tragedies as it is within his comedies,
however it still can be found but in the form of manipulation rather than for humor. An
example of this would be Shakespeares Titus Andronicus. The scene in which it is
extremely evident is Act 3 Scene 1. Tituss sons have been arrested and sentenced to death,
however in this scene Aaron comes to Titus and tells him if thou love thy sons, let Marcus,
Lucius, or thyself, old Titus, or any one of you, chop off your hand, And send it to the king:
he for the same will send thee hither both thy sons alive. Out of love for his sons, Titus does
cut off his hand and send it with Aaron in the hopes of his sons being returned to him alive.
However as Aaron leaves, he says I go, Andronicus: and for thy hand look by and by to
have thy sons with thee and aside to the audience continues by saying their heads, I mean

giving the audience the first sense of trickery within the scene.
Julius Caesar also provides its own share of trickery. Cassius is the main
trickster/manipulator within this play, focusing most of his trickery onto Brutus. We first see
Cassius manipulating Brutus when, in Act 1 Scene 2, he says:
'Tis just,

Thats true. And its too bad, Brutus, that you

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

dont have any mirrors that could display

That you have no such mirrors as will turn

your hidden excellence to yourself. Ive

Your hidden worthiness into your eye

heard many of the noblest Romansnext to

That you might see your shadow. I have

immortal Caesarspeaking of you,

heard

complaining of the tyranny of todays

Where many of the best respect in Rome,

government, and wishing that your eyes were

Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus

working better.

And groaning underneath this age's yoke,

Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.
(No Fear: Julius Caesar)
It is also the use of trickery/manipulation that allows the conspirators to convince Julius
Caesar into going to the Senate, giving them the opportunity to kill him.
The tragedy of Hamlet also contains its own examples of trickery. The first that
stands out to many readers of this play is the trick Hamlet plays on his uncle/step-father,
Claudius. Hamlet devised a plan/trick to have the actors perform a play, The Mousetrap,
depicting what Claudius had done to Hamlets father. The trick does cause Claudius to react,

providing Hamlet with the proof he needed in order for him to continue to carry out his
revenge.
If it wasnt for trickery, Shakespeares comedies would be lack-luster and his
tragedies would fall flat. Shakespeares plays are all about the trickery and the events that
follow, like Titania falling in love with Bottom, or Claudio shaming Hero, or Brutus joining
Cassius against Julius Caesar.

Works Cited
"Auspicious" Def. 1. Merriam Webster Online, Merriam Webster, n.d. Web. 10 April 2015.
Shakespeare, William. No Fear Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing. SparkNotes. 2015.
Web. 5 April 2015.
Shakespeare, William. No Fear Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. SparkNotes. 2015. Web.
12 April 2015.
"Suspicious" Def. 2. Merriam Webster Online, Merriam Webster, n.d. Web. 10 April 2015.