In Act III, scene i of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Snout is worried about the same things the rest of The Mechanicals, the acting troupe, are worried about. They fear that the swordplay and the lion in the new play they are rehearsing will frighten the ladies. They worry that they must take the related scenes out of the play. In addition, they worry about whether the moon will shine the night of their play and that they also need a wall (as in garden or outdoor wall) for the staging where the play's characters Pyramus and Thisby whisper together.

Out of all these worries, Snout offers the solution to only one. They worry that the ladies in the audience won't be able to "abide" the scene wherein Pyramus draws a sword to kill himself. This worry is solved by Bottom who calls for a prologue to be written that indicates that they "will do no harm" with their swords. When the scene with the lion is brought up by Snout, they agree that the ladieswill also fear the lion. Here is where Snout shines. The solution that Snout successfully posits is that a second prologue be written that tells the ladies that the lion is not a lion.