A Midsummer Night's Dream: AS & A2 York Notes

The magical elements are very important to the play's dramatic success. Without the magic juice put on Demetrius's eyes by the puck, the quarrel between the lovers could not have been sorted out. Helena and Lysander would stay unmarried and Hermia would be forced to marry Demetrius or punished for not doing what she was told. Lysander and Demetrius might even have fought a duel to the death. All this shows that the fairies' involvememnt has a very basic dramatic function: it sees to it that the comedy has a happy ending. On the subject of comedy, the puck's use of the magic juice has the extra benefit of being very funny, firstly because it makes the lovers fall out with one another in ways that you would not expect, and secondly because the puck puts the juice on the eyes of the wrong man and gets firmly told off by Oberon for his 'mistake'.

As fairyland's practical joker, the puck repeatedly livens up the action. This role is made clear from his very first appearance. The fairy he speaks to calls him a 'knavish sprite' and he admits that he likes to play tricks. He lists some of these tricks for her, which makes sure that his character comes across firmly to the audience. Because of his magical powers, which let him change his shape and voice, turn invisible and cast spells, the puck is much more powerful than any ordinary jester, as the craftsmen and the lovers get to know to their cost.

Thematically, the magic juice he carries is a symbol of the way that love can take hold of people unexpectedly. The fighting that it causes between the lovers is a reminder that people cannot choose who they fall in love with or even whether they stay in love with them. Jan Kott says that this is the main point of the magical elements. They create a whole different world in the night, like a dream (as the title of the play tells us), where the characters' deep forbidden desires can be expressed. Of course, this aspect of the play is most effective when the actors' parts are doubled. At the start of the play, Hippolyta sounds reluctant to marry Theseus ('Four days will quickly steep themselves in night'), but in the wood at night her magic self, Titania, can be much more independent and defy her magic partner, Oberon.

Kott claims that Titania's involvement with Bottom shows her secret longing for 'animal love', but this has to be taking the argument too far. Bottom has not really been turned into an animal, only been given the head of an ass, which has the effect of making him look ridiculous and stupid. Once again, the magical element sets up a comic situation, but it also allows Bottom a chance to show how well he can cope (which is dramatically important in building his character) and mocks the class divisions which make the royals and the commoners seem like different species (a thematic contribution).