other words, he frustrates people's daily tasks, and he is to blame for everyday annoyances that make people feel upset. However, the fairy says that if people are nice to Puck and call him "sweet Puck" (line 26), he does their work for them and treats them well. He is like the sprite who controls how everyday chores turn out.

Puck answers and says that what the fairy says is true. He describes himself as a sprite who wanders at night and plays jokes on people. He also is a kind of joker who performs for Oberon. The kinds of jokes he plays include pretending to be an apple in a woman's drink and causing her to spill her drink on herself. He also pretends to be a stool so that a woman telling a sad tale will sit on him, and then she will fall off the stool and everyone will laugh at her. Puck is a kind of immature, silly sprite who does not do anything that harmful but who is constantly annoying other people. He is to blame for little misfortunes that make people embarrassed and momentarily uncomfortable.

Shakespeare was greatly influential in changing the way people of the Elizabethan era perceived fairies, pixies, changelings, etc. His plays use these creatures as dramatic elements that move the plot along. His "fairy figure"...

...not only encompass current beliefs, but also inevitably changes how his audience perceives their current superstitions of the supernatural...

For a long time, these supernatural characters were considered evil. Before Shakespeare's plays, they were...

...thought to resemble more gruesome creatures such as goblins and even elves.

It was believed they would use any opportunity to cause mortals harm. However (and we see this most especially in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), fairies are seen as playful creatures that may entertain themselves at a human's expense, but with no harm intended. (Witches and ghosts, as seen in Hamlet and Macbeth, are perceived in a much darker way—with suspicion and fear.)

Oberon, the king of the fairy realm, is a romantic—dismayed at how ill used Helena is at Demetrius' unsympathetic "hands." (He uses Puck to "fix" this situation.) Titania sees the need for her and her husband to get over their quarreling because it brings harm to the humans, who depend on Oberon and Titania for so many things. They are portrayed as loving creatures.

The fairies tease each other, but playfully, and Puck is much like the typical fairies that are shown in attendance to Titania. Puck, however, is a central figure in the play because he is a servant to Oberon. In Act Two, scene one, Puck arrives in the play with his own reputation already in place among the fairies. One fairy recognizes him immediately:

Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavishsprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Skim milk, and sometimes labor in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn,
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he? (32-42)

She refers to him by his real name, Robin Goodfellow, who appeared in literature long before Shakespeare included him in the play. He was...

...based on the ancient figure in English mythology, also called Puck. 

The fairy points out similarities to this early "Puck," noting that he is a "shrewd and knavish sprite." He scares the young girls in the village, steals the cream from the surface of the milk or causes other unnatural events to occur in the kitchen—as well as scaring night wanderers.

Later, in order to get back at Titania, Oberon lets Puck put a potion on her eyes so she will fall in love with the first thing she sees at waking. Puck also turns Bottom the weaver into a creature with a donkey's head and Titania falls in love with him; Oberon and Puck have a good laugh over her embarrassing state of affairs.

By the end of the play, however, when everything is set right, Puck appeals to the audience:

PUCK:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here 
While these visions did appear. (V.i.418-421)

The audience is left with a sense of a playful rather than harmful creature that has displayed the quirks of human behavior (without malice) to the entertainment of the audience. Sneaky he is, but also charming—and easily forgiven.

The character Puck, also called Robin Goodfellow, in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night`s dream was not actually an invention of Shakespeare's. Just as Theseus and Hippolyta were derived from Greek mythology, so the fairy kingdom, and especially Puck, were creatures of British legend. Thus when the fairy identifies Puck and describes him, the description is one that would have been known to members of the audience before they attended the play. In the speech immediately after that of the fairy, Puck confirms his identity and gives us additional details about his nature and activities.

Puck is probably one of the most memorable Shakespearean characters of all time, so it's worth analyzing his entrance in Act 2, Scene 1. One of the best insights into Puck's character comes in the form of the following quote at the beginning of the scene:

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale. (43-50)

Puck's humorous description of himself in Act 2, Scene 1 provides a valuable insight into his portrayal as a whole. Overall, he is portrayed as a mischievous prankster, one who delights in amusing his lord, Oberon, and playing tricks on unsuspecting mortals. This characterization is important in the context of the rest of the play, as Puck's mischievous, mirth-loving personality is ultimately responsible for the convoluted (but still hilarious) relationship dynamics amongst the Athenians.

However, though he's fond of pranks, it's important to note that Puck is not ill-spirited or evil; rather, he's a good-natured jokester who loves to jest but does not ever cause serious harm. Puck's portrayal in the first scene of Act 2 suggests this important distinction, as his mischievousness is always shown in a cheery and benevolent light.  

Puck is the following:

Chameleon-like: He can appear in different guises and is even called a "hobgoblin." He says that:

Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire,
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.

At the end of the play, he is willing to be all things to all people, saying:

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended:
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.

Prickly: Anyone who can turn himself into a hog, a fire, or a headless bear isn't just a spritely fairy. Puck has a threatening side. He calls mortals "fools."

Prankster: He doesn't have to make Bottom's head an ass's head but he does for his own enjoyment.

Jester: A prankster plays practical jokes, but Puck also has a way with words and knows how to amuse, which is what a Jester does. He notes that his job is to "jest to Oberon and make him smile."

Hasty: He gets the love-potion eyedrops in the wrong eyes—Lysander's rather than Demetrius's— because he doesn't stop to think before he acts. He is also a speedy traveler who can make it around the world in less than an hour.

Realistic: Puck offers reminders that it is not all sweetness and light on this midsummer's eve, but that it is also a threatening time:

Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide ...

Puck, in fact, has spawned an adjective all of his own "puckish". And if you look at that word a little, and think about what it might mean, or what its synonyms might be, you get a very clear idea of what adjectives might represent Puck.

I've put some ideas below:

impish
whimsical
mischievous
naughty
daring
quicksilver
mercurial

Remember though, that these adjectives and their base in a common (actually a Victorian) conception of Puck aren't necessarily what is in Shakespeare's play. Puck in the actual play is nastier, enjoys the sufferings of the mortals, and can change himself (look at his first scene with the First Fairy) into cups, stools, and horses to baffle and confuses humans and animals alike.

So think carefully - and check against Shakespeare's play what you put down.

Hope it helps!

Hope it helps!

Puck is usually shown as a boy, young man, or teenager, with no beard.  He has no wings, and is clothed in materials that look like they came from the forest.  

Puck is portrayed as a boy because he is Oberon's younger, wilder, more irresponsible servant.  Oberon, king of the fairies, is grave and dignified and plans the tricks he wants to play on the humans.  Puck, by contrast, is impulsive and mischievous, a complete wild card. He is a bit like Peter Pan.  I have also seen him played by a teenaged girl. 

Because Puck is a woodland spirit, he should look woodsy and wild. He is not a fairy, so he should not have wings or look too feminine or flowery.  Usually he is clothed in materials that look like they are made of leaves or moss.  Often he is bare chested.  

For further inspiration about how Puck should look, search for images of the Green Man or of fauns.  

There is no extended description of Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream. Since this is a play, description is not necessary, such as it is in a narrative story (novel, short story).

Puck is described by the Fairy in Act II, Scene 1 of Midsummer Night's Dream as a sprite fairy. A sprite is a particular species of fairy that has a human form, pointed ears, sparkly fairy dust and gossamer wings (think of Tinker Bell in Peter Pan). Though possessing beautiful features, Puck loves a good laugh at humans' expense.

Puck is also a shape-changer. He claims to change his shape into that of a "three-foot stool" and then whisk away so the human attempting to sit on the stool falls on the floor instead. He also claims to change to the shape of a "crab" and to impersonate the neighing of a "filly" horse.

He is a mischief maker who likes to pull pranks, though not truly evil ones (nothing worse than skimming the cream from the milk so the wife can churn all day and still get no butter and misleading night-wanderers) and will trade good luck with anyone who will call him Puck or Hobgoblin instead of his real name of Robin Goodfellow, which is an ill-suited name for a sprite fairy who loves pranks and jests.

[Note: Puck first appears in Act II, Scene 1 when he converses with Fairy, not in Act II, Scene 2.]

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream one can argue that Puck is the key character of the play. It is Puck (Robin Goodfellow), a mischievous hobgoblin or sprite, that generates much of the comedy—and Puck's character is effective in developing and driving the plot.

Perhaps most importantly, it is Puck that brings together the world of humans and fairies as he transforms Bottom's head to that of an ass. When Titania (queen of the fairies) wakens and finds Bottom there, she immediately falls in love with him (because of Cupid's "love-juice"). It is Puck who reports to Oberon how the fairy king's plan to torment his wife has played out. Puck notes:

Titania waked, and straightway loved an ass. (III.ii.35) 

Oberon is very pleased:

This falls out better than I could devise. (36)

It is under these circumstances that a human is introduced to the existence of the fairy world. For Bottom it is an idealistic afternoon that he later recalls as nothing more than a strange and inexplicable dream.

Puck is important as Oberon's minion. He serves the king of the fairies—it is through his actions that Cupid's love potion is retrieved. Many comical confrontations take place between the lovers because of Puck's machinations. Puck is central to creating these conflicts.

Mistakenly, Puck has placed the "love-juice" on Lysander rather than Demetrius so that Lysander (who loves Hermia) falls in love instead with Helena. When Puck tries to fix this, he puts the potion on Demetrius' eyes, but this creates more confusion when Demetrius mistakenly falls in love with Hermia. Seeing Demetrius and Hermia together, Puck is confused; Oberon explains:

OBERON:
...Thou hast mistaken quite,
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight. (III.ii.89-90) 

Oberon "fixes" Demetrius so he falls in love with Helena, but now both Demetrius and Lysander love Helena—and no one loves Hermia. Acting now as commentator, Puck suggests that he and Oberon should watch what promises to be a comical melee—and great "sport."

PUCK:
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be! (III.ii.115-116) 

Eventually, Puck must return order to everything. Oberon tells him to remove the spell from Lysander, and then to send the lovers wandering in opposite directions so there is no more confusion. The sleeping lovers are discovered together in Act Four, scene one, by Hermia's father, Egeus, and the Duke, Theseus. Demetrius no longer loves Hermia, so Theseus declares that all is well and that both couples shall marry when Theseus and Hippolyta are wed later that day.

Bottom has been returned to his natural state, and though the players present a less-than-perfect performance at the wedding, they receive the Duke's approval, a testament to further theatrical engagements. 

Because of their responsibility to watch over humans (whose world suffers when Oberon and Titania fight), the king and queen of the fairies stop arguing. 

Finally, Puck is the peacemaker: he apologizes for any misunderstandings, and declares that if the audience will be patient, Puck will make everything as it was—with balance restored between the fairy and human worlds.

PUCK:
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here... (V.i.418-420)
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends. (432-433)

Puck is key, involved in all that happens with humans and mortals. He is the most constant element in the play.

One of Puck's main character traits is mischievousness. We learn about his mischievous character when we first meet him in the second act. Puck's fellow fairy asks Puck to verify if he is "that shrewd and knavish sprite / Call'd Robin Goodfellow" (II.i.33-34). The term "shrewd" can be translated as either intellectually sharp or malicious, meaning having a tendency to want to cause harm (Collins English Dictionary). The term "knavish" can be translated as "mischievous." Therefore, Puck's fellow sprite is accusing Puck of being an intellectually devilish, or mischievous little fairy. Both Puck's fellow fairy and Puck himself go on to describe different antics Puck has been known for, such as scaring the maidens in the village (35).

Beyond being mischievous, we also know that Puck is very loyal. He is a very loyal servant to Oberon and is Oberon's court jester. We especially see Puck's loyalty when he very willingly and very speedily carries out Oberon's requests. For example, when Oberon asks Puck to find for him the magic flower as quickly as he can, Puck very obediently replies, "I'll put a girdle round the earth / In forty minutes," meaning that he'll circle around the earth to find the flower in forty minutes time, which is quite speedy (178-179).

We also know that Puck is a very compassionate fairy. We see evidence of his compassion when, after Oberon tells him to enchant the Athenian man who is disdaining a fair maiden, meaning Demetrius and Helena, Puck finds whom he thinks is the couple and feels pity for the way the man is treating the lady. When Puck sees the couple he believes Oberon is referring to, he sees that the maiden is lying far off from the man and believes that it is because the man hates her and is being unkind to her. We see Puck express sympathy for what he believes are the maiden's feelings in his lines, "Pretty soul! she durst not lie / Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy" (II.ii.76-77). We further see him express compassion for the maiden when he calls the man a villain, as we see in his line, "Churl [villain], upon thy eyes I throw / All the power this charm doth owe" (78-79). Hence, not only is Puck devilish, he is actually a "devil" with a compassionate heart.

Puck is also known by the name Robin Goodfellow.

Puck is a sprite or Hobgoblin, a fairy from British folklore.  He is a trickster and magic user, and serves Oberon, the king of the fairies.

When Puck meets the fairy, she knows immediately who he is.

Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow. (Act 2, Scene 1)

Puck acknowledges that he is a prankster, and that he is Puck/Robin Goodfellow.  He describes himself as “that merry wanderer of the night.”  He “jests” with Oberon, and serves Titania.  In his spare time he has some fun with human beings, playing pranks on them like pretending to be a stool and then pulling it out so someone falls down.

Puck’s role in the play is actually pretty important.  He anoints the wrong Athenian youth, and gets the lovers all mixed up.  He replaces Bottom’s head with that of a donkey, causing the craftsmen to run away.  He then makes sure Titania sees him first when she wakes up, so she falls in love with a mortal wearing a donkey head.  Although Oberon is annoyed at his mistakes, Puck generally does intent to follow orders, and he usually gets them right.

Puck is first of all a sprite, which is an elf or a pixie, and as such is mischievous and playful, with a naughty sort of playfulness. It is this personality trait that makes Puck--also know as Robin Goodfellow (an ironic sort of name for someone who is always up to no good)--play pranks on the townspeople and frightened the maidens in town: "frights the maidens of the villagery" (II.ii.35). Another personality trait that Puck has is the tendency to mix things up as when he mistakenly puts the magical flower nectar on Lysander's eyes instead of Demetrius's eyes.

This trait leads to results very similar to the results of his propensity for playing pranks. As a result, Oberon accuses Puck of causing the mix up with Demetrius and Lysander on purpose. Yet Puck denies this, thereby showing that while he is mischievous, his personality is not wantonly mean--regardless of appearances to the contrary! One other personality trait that is important in relation to Oberon is that Puck is loyal to and trusting of his master Oberon. Puck willingly does what Oberon says and tries his best to execute his tasks rightly--despite the fact that he is prone to mixing things up.

Puck is called many things in this play.  The reference to "Hobgoblin" comes in Act II, scene i, when Puck meets one of Titania's fairies in a spot that both Titania and Oberon are claiming possession of.  This fairy does not seem to be very friendly to Puck, so the words that he/she speaks against Puck are simply this one character's opinion, but also reflect the mercurial nature of who and what, exactly, Puck is.

Here's the text spoken by the First Fairy, abridged to show the different names used to refer to Puck:

Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow. . . .
Those that "Hobgoblin" call you, and "sweet Puck"...

This fairy, even though he/she is not on Oberon's team, and as Titania's fairy has no reason to particularly like Puck, calls him "shrewd," "knavish," a "sprite," "Hobgoblin," and "sweet Puck," all which conjure up some different images.

Certainly Puck admits in his next speech to being mischievous (as you describe him).  Puck says:

I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile...

Puck goes on to describe some of the tricks he has played on unsuspecting humans.  So, yes, certainly, among other things, Puck can be considered a mischievous fairy.

For more about Puck and the fairy world of Shakespeare's s day, please see the links below.

We might learn about a character from three sources: the playwright, the other characters, and the character him-/herself.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare has nothing whatsoever to say about Puck, or any other character for that matter. He provides us with no character descriptions for any of the characters in any of his plays.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare gives us a description of Puck through other characters, including Puck himself, shortly after Puck's first appearance in the play, in act 2, scene 1:

FAIRY: Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Goodfellow. Are not you he . . . ?

PUCK: Thou speakest aright:
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal;
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob,
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there. (2.1.31–58)

There are very few clues in the play as to whether Puck is male or female (or of indeterminate gender), but there is one clue in the lines quoted above at line 43: "Are you not he . . . ?" Another clue comes from the name Puck is sometimes called—"Robin Goodfellow"—which might lead us to believe that Puck is a "fellow" (i.e., male).

Although Puck was played by a male actor in Shakespeare's time—as were all the characters in his plays—the character of Puck has become increasingly less gender-specific over time and has been played successfully by both male and female actors.

The name "Puck" is derived from Old English, and describes a mischievous spirit. We also learn from that Puck is called "Hobgoblin." The "Hob'" in "Hobgoblin" refers to an elf or sprite, and "goblin" is an ugly, evil fairy. In folklore, a "goblin" is a malicious creature, whereas a "hobgoblin," like Puck, is more mischievous than malicious.

"Robin Goodfellow" is another name by which Puck is known, which means a domestic spirit ("hob" also means "hearth") or one that lives in nature. Puck is both. He is both Oberon's household sprite, and he also moves quickly and easily through nature.

OBERON: . . . Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.

PUCK: I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes. (2.1.176–179)

In fact, Puck returns in less than ten minutes.

We learn from Puck himself that he's a shapeshifter, as "hobgoblins" were believed to be. Puck tells us that he can change his shape from a "roasted crab" to a "three-foot stool," so it's entirely conceivable that he can be in any physical form he chooses to be at any time.

It would seem, though, that Puck might need to be in a consistently recognizable physical form when he interacts with other characters. We might also assume that this physical form is not ugly or grotesque—hobgoblin though Puck might be.

You are limited to one question, and what you listed in your request seemed to be asking about both Puck and Bottom.  I will assist you with information about the personality of Bottom, but you must list another question for information about Puck.

The first trait that Bottom has, as a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream, is one he shares with his fellow "rude mechanicals" (a term to describe the group of workers of which Bottom is a part, coined by Puck).  They are considered the clowns of the play.  In Shakespeare's day, clown was a term used to describe the actors who were relied on for comedy and comic bits.  They were usually good at physical comedy (slapstick, pratfalls) and would often ad lib, or make up lines, to get laughs from the audience.  Bottom is definitely a character who is meant to make the audience laugh.

Probably the most famous trait of Bottom's is his know-it-all attitude about acting.  The whole of Act I, scene ii is pretty much a show of Bottom acting out every part and asking to play that part too.  He says:

. . .let me play Thisbe too!  I'll speak in a monstrous little voice.. . . . Let me play the lion too.  I will roar that I will do any man's heart good to hear me.. . . .

Bottom is also somewhat bossy.  He, rather, than the director and organizer of the play Quince, tells everyone what to do at the end of the scene to get ready for their next rehearsal:

We will meet, and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously.  Take pains.  Be perfect.  Adieu. . . . Enough.  Hold or cut bowstrings.

And finally, once Titania "falls in love" with him.  He certainly acts very modest and shy, which seems to indicate that he is not experienced in the ways of love. In Act III, scene i, when Titania surprises him and says, "I love thee,"  Bottom answers:

Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that.

Titania

Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.

Bottom

Not so, neither.

So, the guy that has all the answers when it comes to acting and producing a play, is turned into a modest and shy lover when confronted with the bold moves of Titania.

For more on Bottom, please follow the links below.

Bottom is often considered to be the common man or to represent the normal man's experience in the way that he embodies so many normal and good traits.  He is one of the mechanicals and his name "bottom" refers to the skein around which yarn is wound, you could of course take this to mean that he is the central piece of the story, the part about which this "yarn" is wound.

He is brave in a way, though he will acknowledge his insecurities.

He makes mistakes and is willing to try to get over them.

He is wise, wise enough at least to understand that trying to go around explaining this dream he has had to anyone else would be unwise and that he ought to take it as it was.

He is also funny and has a wild imagination, wild enough at least that he is the only one of the characters that can see the fairies and interact with them.

Puck is a sprite, a creature with magical powers, similar to a pixie or an elf. There are different opinions regarding how harmful Puck is. At worst, he's seen as dangerous and scary. At best, he's viewed as mischievous, not meaning to do anything that would cause significant harm or trouble. Puck is connected, however, to the darkness and the things that go bump during the dark hours of the night. He serves a second purpose in the play by interpreting it for us and commenting on the action of the play.

The quotes that will help you write a character analysis essay on Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream are the ones that shine a light on his mischievous and cheeky character.

Puck is a fairy and causes havoc with his spells and tricks, so the best quotes to analyze Puck will be the ones that reflect his playful elements. One famous quote that helps explain Puck’s prankish character is when he exclaims, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” This highlights Puck’s irrelevant stance towards the Athenians and the lovelorn characters. He doesn’t think highly of them; he doesn't carefully consider their feelings. Instead, they’re “fools.” He’s the type of character who views humans and their relationships as a source of entertainment since people and their feelings can often create nonsensical or foolish outcomes.

To further the analysis of Puck’s flippant character, try this quote:

Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.

This quote reinforces Puck’s belief that he can take advantage of humans and get them to do what he wants as if they were his playthings or puppets. It also reveals his childishness since the quote has the tone of a nursery rhyme. More so, the quote helps expose Puck’s love of control since he’s the one leading the humans in different directions. Finally, the quote illustrates something about his relationship with Oberon since, after all, Puck has to take orders from him, so Puck doesn’t have absolute authority in the sprite world.

Puck’s trick on Bottom furthers his gleeful torment of humans and his belief that he can subject them to whatever he feels like. After Puck turns Bottom into a donkey (an “ass”), he says, “I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, / Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier.” As with the prior quotes, this quote helps analyze Puck’s desire for power and pranks. It shows the joy he receives from manipulating a person’s conditions.

Another useful quote comes at the end when Puck states, “If we shadows have offended, / Think but that, and all is mended.” As everyone winds up in a relatively happy situation, Puck’s jests are ultimately innocuous. Though mischievous, Puck’s character, as the final quote indicates, isn't malicious.

Puck is a mischief maker whose alienating acts include turning Bottom's head into an ass's and misusing love potions which leads both Demetrius and Lysander to fall in love with Helena. Oberon, for one, questions whether Puck made a mistake or played a deliberate prank when he applied the love potion to Lysander rather than Demetrius.

Puck is important to the play, first, because his mischievous magic adds to the zany quality of the comedy and helps propel the plot forward, especially when Lysander and Demetrius both vie for Helena. However, more importantly, he stands above the action as the only major character in the play who isn't in love. While the other characters are deeply invested in love's machinations, he is impervious to love's madness, and says about the human lovers:

Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Because he stands above the action, and because he has interactions with most of the major characters as the deliverer of love potions, he has the opportunity to observe both fairies and humans. This gives him an outlook none of the other characters have and allows Shakespeare to use him as a spokesperson. For example, it is Puck who takes on the role of explaining to the audience that if they don't like what they saw in the play, they should treat as a dream:

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Puck is a fairy character. He is introduced to the play in the first scene of act 2 and is described as a "shrewd and knavish sprite." From this initial description, we might infer that Puck is sharp-witted, mischievous, and somewhat unscrupulous. Indeed, we learn shortly afterward that Puck "frights the maidens of the villagery" and "Mislead[s] night-wanderers, laughing at their harm."

Puck is also a servant of Oberon's. Oberon, the king of the fairies, instructs Puck to enchant Demetrius with a love potion so that he, Demetrius, will fall in love with Hermia. Puck, however, in accordance with his role as the play's clown, accidentally administers the potion to Lysander instead. Puck also administers the love potion to Titania to make her forget about the Indian boy, making her fall in love with Nick Bottom, the pompous weaver, whose head he transforms into that of a donkey.

Much of the play's comedy derives from these tricks and mistakes of Puck's, and the moment when he transforms Nick Bottom's head into a donkey's head is one of the most strange and memorable moments in any of Shakespeare's comedies. Puck is also, by the end of the play, a rather likeable character. Directed by Oberon, Puck fixes his mistakes, and the lovers of the play are all matched up with their proper partners. In the monologue which concludes the play, Puck swears to the audience that he is "an honest Puck," and as such, he promises to make amends for any offense that he might have caused during the play.

Puck could be seen as a protagonist of sorts in that he's by far the most important character in the play. It's through his mischief and magic that many of the play's most significant events are set in motion. One only has to think of Bottom's head turning into a donkey's or Lysander's falling in love with Helena after Puck inadvertently puts him under a spell to see this.

More than any other character, Puck is responsible for creating the prevailing atmosphere at any one time. This is largely because he embodies an astoundingly wide range of different personality traits, which allows him to impose himself on the action and dominate the drama in a way that no one else can. As a result, Puck is so much more of a complete character than anyone else on stage, more three-dimensional. Furthermore, his playful, yet mysterious nature parallels that of the enchanted forest itself. The forest is the setting of the play, and Puck, through whom the forest lives and breathes, is very much the protagonist.

Hermia in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a courageous and determined young lady who is set on marrying the man she loves even though it means disobeying her father, but she ends up caught in the confusion of Puck’s mistake. Let’s look at some quotations from Hermia that could fit nicely into a character sketch.

Look at the very first scene in the play. Egeus, Hermia’s father, has come before Theseus to have the Duke order Hermia to marry Demetrius although she is determined to marry Lysander. She declares,

So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,
Ere I will my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke
My soul consents not to give sovereignty.

Hermia will accept the consequences, but she will not marry Demetrius. Theseus tells her that she will or be sent to a convent. When Lysander comes up with a plan to bring them together, Hermia readily agrees. She swears “by Cupid's strongest bow, / By his best arrow with the golden head,” that she will meet her beloved the next day and go away with him. And indeed she does.

Hermia and Lysander enter the woods and get themselves rather lost. Hermia, however, refuses to do anything improper. Her modesty will not allow such a thing. She tells Lysander to lie some distance from her when they sleep, for “in human modesty, / Such separation as may well be said / Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid.” Her morals are sound.

Puck makes his mistake that night, and Hermia awakes to find herself alone at the end of Act 2. She panics but vows to find Lysander no matter what. “Either death or you I'll find immediately,” she declares. Lysander, however, thinks himself to be in love with Helena, thanks to Puck’s potion, and Hermia is confused. At first, she thinks that Demetrius has killed Lysander, and she berates him soundly: “Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds / Of maiden's patience.” When she finds Lysander, she is bewildered by his behavior, thinking that he must be joking. Then she blames Helena, declaring, “O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom! / You thief of love! what, have you come by night / And stolen my love's heart from him?”

In the end, though, Puck fixes his mistake, and Hermia receives her Lysander back. When she first awakens after that difficult night, she says, “Methinks I see these things with parted eye, / When every thing seems double.” But her vision soon clears as she marries her beloved.

I would not agree that Puck adds little to A Midsummer's Night Dream. This mischevious hobgoblin, the only supernatural creature outside of Oberon and Titania to be given a distinct personality in the play, is important to the story's mood of eery enchantment and topsy-turvy love. 

It's Puck who puts the love potion meant for Demetrius into Lysander's eyes, causing Lysander to fall in love with Helena. This confusion provides some of the most comic moments in the play. Perhaps another fairy could have mixed up the potion, but who could have done it with Puck's exuberance?  Who else but Puck could carry off convincingly the famous line "what fools these mortals be," after he, ironically, had been a fool about the potion?

Finally, it's Puck who speaks the epilogue, leaving the audience with the mischevious question as to whether this entire play has been a dream:

If we spirits have offended /Think but this, and all is mended/That you have but slumbered here...

Who put such a spirit figure could put us into such doubt? Who else could later in the epilogue ask "if I be honest" and have us so focused on the "if?