The principal reason the audience laughs at the “rude mechanicals” in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream instead of with them is that the mechanicals are the butt of Puck’s mischievous practical jokes. The “mechanicals,” of course, are actors set to put on a performance within Shakespeare’s play for the benefit of Theseus’s approaching nuptials with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazon. Puck, as we know, serves largely at the pleasure of Oberon, the king of the fairies, but is prone to miscalculations, the sum of which propel Shakespeare’s plot. The actors, or “mechanicals,” typify the degrading treatment to which actors the world over were routinely subjected. The profession, unlike today, was treated by much of society as beneath contempt. (Reportedly, during the early days of Hollywood, actors were held in such low esteem that hotels and inns would hang signs in their front windows discouraging such disreputable individuals from seeking shelter...
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there, the signs stating “no dogs or actors allowed.”)
In Act III, Scene II of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon, who is conspiring against his wife, Titania, queen of the fairies, engages Puck in what could best be described as a covert action intended to wrest control of his wife’s Indian prince, whom the king of the fairies hopes to turn into a knight, away from her. Oberon’s instructions to Puck with respect to a love-making potion, the misapplication of which causes much of the play’s confusion, has created a situation in which the influence of Puck’s potion on Titania has resulted in her sudden and intense infatuation with Nick Bottom, one of the actors. Unbeknownst to Bottom, however, Puck, disdainful of the actor’s exceedingly dull personality, has changed his head to that of a donkey, which makes Titania’s passion for Bottom extremely unlikely. The relevant passage from Shakespeare’s play follows:
OBERON
I wonder if Titania be awaked;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.Enter PUCK
Here comes my messenger.
How now, mad spirit!
What night-rule now about this haunted grove?PUCK
My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.
The “monster” to whom Puck refers is Nick Bottom, whose head, as noted, was changed into that of a donkey by Puck. Bottom is unaware of his physical transformation, which makes his aloofness regarding Titania’s affections all the more comical. Consequently, the audience presumably laughs at the “rude mechanicals” rather than “with” them.
References
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, why do we laugh at the mechanicals rather than with them?
When one laughs with characters, it is because they have
made jokes that show their clever and amusing natures. Another reason we laugh
with characters is that they have played pranks on a fellow character that we
can find amusing. When we laugh at characters it is because
they have done something particularly stupid or foolish, showing themselves to
be uncouth and uneducated. Shakespearean comedy always includes characters that
are either fools or clowns. We typically
laugh with fools while we laugh at clowns. Fools are known for their
intelligent wit and satire. In addition, fools are often the wisest characters
in Shakespeare's plays, making astute philosophical observations or remarks
that foreshadow the things to come. In contrast, clowns are usually uneducated
country bumpkins and do ridiculous things that are laughable.
Most of the mechanicals can be recognized as clowns, except for Bottom, who is
recognized as a fool. We laugh at the mechanicals because their lack of
education and mannerisms portray them as doing things that are ridiculous. One
example can be seen in the way that they mix up words. For instance, when
Quince is mourning the loss of Bottom, he says that no one else can play the
part of Pyramus because Bottom is "a very paramour for a sweet voice"
(IV.ii.11-12). Since the word paramour refers to an illicit lover, Quince
actually meant to say paragon, which is an excellent model. The fact that
Quince mixed paragon with paramour shows us how uneducated he actually is.
Furthermore, mix-ups such as this provoke the audience to laugh at him and the
rest of the mechanicals.
While the audience also laughs at Bottom, he is recognized as a fool rather
than a clown because he does say some enlightening things. For example, when
Titania proclaims she swears she loves him, Bottom relays one of the play's
primary themes of the irrationality of love by saying:
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days. (III.i.134-136)
Yet, we also laugh at Bottom when he too does ridiculous things, such as
decide to ask Quince to write him a ballad to sing before the duke about his
dream of being a donkey.
Hence, we see that the reason why we laugh at the mechanicals instead of with
them is that they are clowns who are uneducated bumpkins that do ridiculous
things.