Robin Goodfellow - The Trickster

AS Comedy Titles• The course of love never did run smooth: Egues’s command, (Pyramus and

Thisbe,) the lovers (which never feels too ominous and stays comic because of Oberon’s speech), Oberon and Titania and the happy ending.

• What fools these mortals be: The fool in comedy – Puck’s role v’s Bottom’s role.

• Fry’s World’s- The New World: the function of the different worlds, Oberon’s final speech and its links to the Green world, how resolved is the end – are we completely comfortable with the outcome? Why does it end with the player’s play and not the wedding?

• How does the mechanical’s performance of Pyramus and Thisbe demonstrate the way dramatic comedy can show us truths about ourselves and the way we behave? “Love is essentially impractical and ridiculous” page 46 cambridge intro. , metatheatricality, Puck’s line “...these visions...”

• The Green World represents disorder:

Putting the comedy in dramatic comedyWhat is the difference between these stock comic characters?

Trickster

Clown

Fool

Jester

In European cultures, he is often a thief or liar, a practical joker and sometimes clever at disguise. They delight in the chaos and disorder they manage.

Often a person who does comical tricks, but is better defined by the word ‘buffoon’. The character is usually clumsy and unsophisticated.

A silly or stupid person; a person who lacks judgment or sense. They are sometimes a person who has been tricked or deceived into appearing or acting silly or stupid.

Makes his living by begging for tips for his jokes and songs; he is usually attached to a noble household. His role is to deflate, through wit, the more pretentious attitudes of those in power.

Which of these comic characters

do we see in MSND?

Putting the comedy into dramatic comedyLearning Objective

• How does Shakespeare establish the roles of the Clown and the Trickster in MSND?

• What is each ones impact on the dramatic comedy?

• How are their functions different?IMPORTANT: Character as ‘construction’ – not as ‘real’One of the main errors many students make in their discussion of texts is to present studies of characters in dramatic comdies as if they are somehow ‘real’, explaining their characteristics, personality and traits as if they actually exist, and somehow forgetting that they are a fictional construct. You should think about the way the dramatist (Shakespeare) constructs the character – using form, structure and language. It may also be useful to consider their dramatic function in the play.

Robin Goodfellow, the PuckExploring characterisation

Our first encounter with the character of Puck is in Act 2 Scene 1 where the Fairy describes his character.

• Read lines 2:1:32-41. Find as many verbs and adjectives as you can to help describe Puck’s character. What first impressions are we given of Puck?

On Puck’s entrance, he describes himself to the audience.

• Read 2:1:42-57. Add to your verb and adjective list. How does this add to our understanding of Puck’s character?

Robin Goodfellow, the PuckThe context of his character

His name is Robin and he is a puck, a type of goblin. He is not a fairy; the fairy in Act 2 Scene 1 certainly recognises him as different from herself. Before Shakespeare, he was not classified as a puck either, but as an earth spirit. In folklore he always carried a broom with him (as he seems to do in Act 5, when he tells us “I am sent with broom before...”(5:1:379) so that he could help maids who had behaved well and so deserved his assistance. He also took great interest in sorting out love conflicts, as in a fashion he does in MSND.His last name, Goodfellow, is a propitiatory coinage, given to him by countryfolk who wished to flatter him into leaving them alone. We need to remember that despite an overlay of Christianity, people in this period were still very superstitious, believing in the work of fairies and little people.


Lines Action (in own words) Mischief (add the quote here if it shows mischief)

Thoughtfulness (add the quote here if it shows thoughtfulness)

Note on form of speech

2:1:32-58

2:1:175-6

2:2:72-89

3:1:60-63

3:1:88-93

3:2:6-34

3:2:38-40

3:2:42

3:2:92-93

3:2:100-101

3:2:110-115

3:2:118-121

Throughout the play, Puck’s actions reflect his role as a trickster. •Copy and complete the table looking at his actions over the course of the play.

•How do his actions reflect his role as a trickster? Are any of his actions not in fitting with this role?

•Some directors have chosen to present the puck as a dark, malevolent character. What features of Shakespeare’s characterisation support this reading of the puck? •What is an alternative way of presenting the puck? (support with evidence please)

Forms of speech: couplets,

quatrains (four lines of verse),

blank verse, prose.


Lines Action (in own words) Mischief (add the quote here if it shows mischief)

Thoughtfulness (add the quote here if it shows thoughtfulness)

Note on form of speech

2:1:32-58

2:1:175-6

2:2:72-89

3:1:60-63

3:1:88-93

3:2:6-34

3:2:38-40

3:2:42

3:2:92-93

3:2:100-101

3:2:110-115

3:2:118-121

The Trickster...you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery,Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn, And sometime make the drink to bear no barm, Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? (2:1:32-38)

I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal; And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl In very likeness of a roasted crab, And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And ‘tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough;And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh...(2:1:42-58)

I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes(2:1:175)

This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground.Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe: When thou wakest let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid. (2:2:72-82)

Enter Robin [Goodfellow (Puck)] (3:1:60) [Re-enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass's head]

(3:1:95)

My mistress with a monster is in love(3:2:30)

I took him sleeping,—that is finish'd too,— And the Athenian woman by his side;(40) That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed(3:2:39-41)This is the woman, but not this the man.(43)

Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath. (3:2:91-92)

I go, I go; look how I go, Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. (3:2:101)

Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand, And the youth, mistook by me Pleading for a lover's fee; Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be! (3:2:110-115)

Then will two at once woo one. That must needs be sport alone;

And those things do best please me That befall preposterously.(3:2:118)

And those things please me bestThat happen ridiculously.

The Trickster...you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery,Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn, And sometime make the drink to bear no barm, Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? (2:1:32-38)

I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal; And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl In very likeness of a roasted crab, And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And ‘tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough;And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh...(2:1:42-58)

I'll put a girdle round about the earth In forty minutes(2:1:175)

This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground.Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe: When thou wakest let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid. (2:2:72-82)

Enter Robin [Goodfellow (Puck)] (3:1:60) [Re-enter Puck, and Bottom with an ass's head]

(3:1:95)

My mistress with a monster is in love(3:2:30)

I took him sleeping,—that is finish'd too,— And the Athenian woman by his side;(40) That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed(3:2:39-41)This is the woman, but not this the man.(43)

Then fate o'er-rules, that, one man holding troth, A million fail, confounding oath on oath. (3:2:91-92)

I go, I go; look how I go, Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow. (3:2:101)

Captain of our fairy band, Helena is here at hand, And the youth, mistook by me Pleading for a lover's fee; Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be! (3:2:110-115)

Then will two at once woo one. That must needs be sport alone;And those things do best please me That befall preposterously.(3:2:118)

Rhyming CoupletsStage DirectionsBlank Verse


With one exception (the fairy in Act 2 Scene 1), Puck speaks only to Oberon and the audience.

• What is the effect of this? Look at his final speech to support your views. Think about how this final speech might be staged.

• How does Shakespeare use verse in Puck’s speeches? What might this suggest about his character?

He seems almost to exist outside of the rest of the drama, unconstrained by the actions and expectations of others. To some extent, the puck is our representative, carrying out the mischief we hope to enjoy, commenting on it and addressing us directly at the end.He is free to use a wide range of verse forms, couplets of various lengths and quatrains as well as blank verse, and he employs a wide range of tones.


• How does Robin’s character change over the course of the action of the play? Why might this be?

Unlike Bottom, who aspires to play the hero, the love interest and the lion, the puck can actually become a foal, a crab, a stool, a horse, a dog, a hog, a bear and even a fire but he seems unaffected by his experiences and always remains the himself. Where the marriages change the mortals who undertake them as a pivotal part of their journey through life to death, the spirits are immortal, immaterial and incapable of development.

Robin Goodfellow, the PuckA Trickster?

Puck could be described as a trickster figure. He is unpredictable, somewhat manic, and delights in the chaos and disorder he manages. He loves making mischief in the mortals’ world. The relationship between Oberon and Puck has some similarities to the relationships between other Shakespearian created kings and their fools, but Puck is no ordinary fool. Whereas other fools debate and test their masters, Puck does what he is asked.

Trickster: In European cultures, he is often a thief or liar, a practical joker and sometimes clever at disguise. They delight in the chaos and disorder they manage.•To what extent does Shakespeare draw on the conventions of the Trickster character in writing Robin Goodfellow? (Support your answer please)

Putting the comedy into dramatic comedy• What is Robin Goodfellow’s function in this

dramatic comedy? Which elements of dramatic comedy does his character bring to the play?

Puck has multiple functions within the comedy. On one level he is a manifestation of the evil malevolence of Oberon (representing a dark strand of the comedy) and he can sometimes make audiences feel uncomfortable. On another level he is playful – exhibiting the kind of bad behaviour we sometimes admire in others. He is enjoyed by the audience as one who brings fun, which he does without offending our conscience and our sense of identification with the victims. Puck is the instigator of mischief that leads to the disorder we expect to see in a dramatic comedy. He is a symbol of the Green World – a world of freedom, but also a world of confusion. He comments on the foolishness of human behaviour: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” (3:2:115) and makes the situations more absurd for the Lovers and the Mechanicals, reflecting the idea that dramatic comedy highlights that the order of the world is a veneer that can easily be removed.

Putting the comedy in dramatic comedyLearning Objective

• How does Shakespeare establish the roles of the Clown and the Trickster in MSND?

• What is each ones impact on the dramatic comedy?

• How are their functions different?

Next lesson: Nick Bottom – to what extend does

Shakespeare present him as a Clown?

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Robin Goodfellow - The Trickster