A Midsummer Night’s Dream Group

Question:

lkackl
lkackl

What is Puck's role in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare? What might be his "apostacy"?

In a poem by Emily Dickinson, the term "Puck's Apostacy" is used. I would like to know what the poem is referring to with the use of this Shakespearean character.

Rate question:

Posted by lkackl on Saturday November 22, 2008 at 9:11 AM and tagged with a midsummer night’s dream, apostacy, puck, role.

Answers:


  1. tpisano Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    Puck plays a humorous role in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is a fairy who causes mischeif in the forest.  When he is asked to annoint the eyes of Demetrius with a flower so that he will fall in love with Helena he mistakingly annoints the eyes of Lysander.  This is what causes the conflict throughout the rest of the play.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/midsummer/puck-character-analysis

    Rate answer:

    Posted by tpisano on Saturday November 22, 2008 at 9:59 AM


  2. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    The poem you're referring to is Dickinson's "The Way to know the Bobolink". Here are the first three stanzas:

    The Way to know the Bobolink
    From every other Bird
    Precisely as the Joy of him --
    Obliged to be inferred.

    Of impudent Habiliment
    Attired to defy,
    Impertinence subordinate
    At times to Majesty.

    Of Sentiments seditious
    Amenable to Law --
    As Heresies of Transport
    Or Puck's Apostacy.

    It's an almost child-like poem, written in ballad meter (a line of iambic pentameter followed by a line of iambic trimeter) and, I suppose, to answer your question, there are two key things you need to know.

    Firstly, it's that the "Bobolink" is a type of fast-moving, small blackbird, and that - as the first stanza states - Dickinson (in more than one poem) uses it as a symbol of joy and energy.

    Secondly, "apostacy" is a term used when people turn away from or reject their former religion. Quite how Puck can be considered to forego religion - or, in some more metaphorical sense, turn away from something - is where it becomes interesting. Is that he gets Oberon's orders (to put the love-juice on Demetrius' eyes) wrong - and then enjoys his mistake? Is it perhaps, his turn to the audience at the end of the play?

    It's not, I would argue, a question to do with Puck's role in the play, his potential for mischief, for trickery and trouble-causing and for glee in the face of pain and mayhem, but more to do with precisely what might be his "apostacy".

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/midsummer

    Rate answer:

    Posted by robertwilliam on Saturday November 22, 2008 at 10:31 AM