Tamar Liberman- Part E

Love Is Blind

In A Midsummer’s Night Dream by Shakespeare, the use of Bottom’s guise contributes to the overall theme, which is the foolishness of love. The fairy queen’s love for a donkey-headed human articulates the message that people choose lovers groundlessly and blindly. Shakespeare uses Bottom’s veneer to convey the message that we mask our lovers in veils of perfection, without heeding to their flaws. 

In the play, the mischievous fairy Puck is ordered by Oberon to give Titania a rare love potion. Meanwhile, Puck stumbles upon an actor named Bottom, and decides to transform the actor’s head into a donkey’s head. When the Fairy Queen arises from her slumber, she espies Bottom and immediately falls in love with him. Bottom’s donkey- head, which symbolizes evident flaws, hardly even phases Titania. Titania, as the Fairy Queen, is expected to love someone of stature, but instead she loves a donkey- masked mortal.  This expresses the idea that when people fall in love, they turn a blind eye to the apparent imperfections of the relationship, or overlook the faults of their chosen partners. 

Furthermore, Titania’s love for the masked mortal shows that one does not always fall in love with the essence of a person, but one's conception of that person. Titania knows nothing of Bottom’s character, but she is magically compelled to love him. Through her lovesick, blinded eyes, Titania sees Bottom as her sublime beloved. In Act 3, Scene 1, when Titania stirs from Bottom’s singing, she cries, “What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?” The love- stricken Fairy Queen reveres her idealized love, though his true nature is concealed. Bottom’s donkey-head mask represents the shortcomings disregarded when foolishly in love. Bottom’s response to Titania’s adoration further displays this message, as he says in Act 3, Scene 1, “I don’t think you’ve got much of a reason to love me/ But to tell you the truth, reason and love have very little to do with each other these days.” Shakespeare illustrates how we tend to mindlessly overlook the masks of our lovers, or dress them in disguises of our own expectations. 

The foolishness of people in love is also displayed at the end of the play, through the use of Bottom’s “mask”.  When Titania’s infatuation fades, in Act 4 Scene 1, she remarks, “How came these things to pass/ Oh, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!” This conveys the message that once people break out of their “love” spell, their lovers are metaphorically unmasked. Once Tatiana is no longer blindly in love, she sees not only Bottom’s flawed cover, but recognizes that she clothed him in perfect facade. Similarly, once people fall out of love they can discern between their lover and the fantasy of their beloved. 

In conclusion, through the use of Bottom’s donkey-head mask, Shakespeare highlights the irrationality of love. On one hand, Titania overlooks Bottom’s animal appearance, the way humans ignore the imperfections of their lovers. However, not only did Titania distort reality, but she conjured up an unrealistic image of her lover, the way humans do.