Shakespeare's Monologues
Shakespeare's Monologues
Bottom represents a comedic character within this play. He is part of “the Mechanicals,” who are Athenian craftsman that will be performing a play at the Duke’s wedding. Bottom does not represent a smart individual, and he proves to be rather naïve with things happening around him.
In this particular monologue, Bottom has awakened and insists he will be ready for his cue when needed; he believes he is still rehearsing a play to be performed at the Duke’s wedding. However, he does not see anyone around and realizes he has been left alone. Bottom then recalls a dream he had while sleeping, but he believes this dream is too inconceivable to describe. That said, this was no dream; Bottom does not realize Oberon ordered Puck to remove the donkey head and transform Bottom back into his normal self. In addition, Oberon wanted Bottom to remember the entire incident as a dream. Since Bottom cannot describe the vision, he makes a decision to have Peter Quince write the dream as ballad to be performed during the play, calling it “Bottom’s Dream.” He wants to sing the ballad during the death of Thisbe.
Character description, monologue synopsis, and monologue scoring provided by a student in the Spring 2019 THT 352 class. This student chose to remain anonymous.
When my cue comes, call me, and I will answer:
my next is, 'Most fair Pyramus.' Heigh-ho!
Peter Quince! Flute, the bellows-mender! Snout,
the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen
hence, and left me asleep! 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 to 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; and I will sing it in the
latter end of a play, before the duke:
peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall
sing it at her death.
| Number of syllables | Scored text | Meaning of beat |
| 9 | When my cue comes, call me, and I will | [Beginning of beat 1] To assure |
| 12 | answer: my next is, 'Most fair Pyramis.' Heigh-ho! | [End of beat 1] |
| 10 |
Peter Quince! Flute, the belows mender! Snout, |
[Beginning of beat 2] To search |
| 11 | the tinker! Starveling! God's my life, stolen | [End of beat 2] |
| 12 | hence, and left me asleep! I have had a most rare | [Beginning of beat 3] To comprehend |
| 14 | vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of a man to | |
| 13 | say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go | |
| 12 | about to expound this dream. Methought I was--there | |
| 11 | is no man can tell what. Methought I was,--and | |
| 12 | methought I had,--but man is but a patched fool, if | |
| 13 | he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye | |
| 13 | of a man hath not heard, the ear of a man hath not | |
| 10 | seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue | |
| 12 | to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream | [End of beat 3] |
| 13 | was. I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of | [Beginning of beat 4] To calculate |
| 9 | this dream: it shall be called Bottom's Dream, | |
| 14 | because it hath no bottom; and I will sing it in the | |
| 10 | latter end of the play, before the duke: | |
| 13 | peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall | |
| 5 | sing it at her death. | [End of beat 4 and monologue] |
Each row of the following table represents one line of the monologue. The first column indicates the number of syllables in that line of text. The second column is the scored text, meaning that boldfaced text indicates where emphasis should be placed when performing the monologue. The third column represents a beat, or section, of the monologue. The third column is only used to indicate the beginning of a beat and its meaning, or the end of a beat.
Definitions from David & Ben Crystal / Shakespeare's Words are under copyright, and may not be used without their express permission. All other definitions are from sources in the public domain.
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