Puck or Robin Goodfellow in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
If we talk about manipulation and the character of Puck, we must differentiate between when Puck himself manipulates others and when he is being manipulated by others (basically by Oberon). To do this we should first place Puck within the play, or rather within the social setting of the play. Shakespeare provides us with two different types of society in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: the real world (the urban world) and the fairy one (the wood). Puck, despite being a hobgoblin and belonging to the fairy community can also interact with the mortals. This is the reason why he will play an important role in the development of the actions taking place in both worlds. He will influence the mortals’ lives and will be influenced, as mentioned above, by Oberon.
On the one hand we have the master-servant relationship between Oberon, King of Fairies, and Puck, where the latter is subordinated to the former. Oberon will make use of Robin Goodfellow in order to carry out his will and to perform his little puppet show. He guides and directs Puck’s actions: “Fetch me that flower” (“MND”, Act II, scene I, line 30, p. 37), “Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove (…) anoint his eyes” (Act II, scene I, line 28-30, p. 40), “Hie therefore Robin, overcast the night” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 31, p. 64). This leads us to the conclusion that the main and only character to manipulate Puck throughout the play is his master Oberon. On the other hand we find that Puck manipulates the “fool mortals” and, despite the fact that he is under Oberon’s command, it does not prevent him from enjoying running his master’s errands. He makes a couple of mistakes that result in an even messier situation, which he actually takes delight in: “And those things do best please me, that befall preposterously” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 33-34, p. 56), “And so far am I glad, it so did sort, as this their (mortals’) jangling I esteem a sport” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 28-29, p. 64). It is worth noting that although Oberon is the one who orders and leads him, it is Puck who acts and the one under control (he manipulates the love flower throughout the play). In the same way he is mastered by Oberon, he will guide the mortals in some situations: “I’ll lead you about a round” (“MND”, Act III, scene I, line 26, p. 49), “When I did him at this advantage take, an ass’s nole I fixed on his head” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 20-21, p. 53), “I led them on in this distracted fear, and left sweet Pyramus translated there” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 3-4, p. 54), “Up and down, up and down, I will lead them up and down” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 7-8, p. 66). Sometime Puck does not limit himself to Oberon’s command but performs his errands adding his personal touch, as it happens in the scene where Puck “translates” Bottom.
So far I have discussed the social role Puck plays and which characters he is closer to. We may now look in depth at the profit he takes from manipulating other characters. As already mentioned above, Robin Goodfellow performs mischievous acts for the sake of his own entertainment. Nevertheless, some people believe him to be a malevolent sprite, a devil (let us not forget that Puck was a typical name for the devil in medieval times) whose misdeeds are deliberate and malicious. On the contrary, I think this Puck Shakespeare presents us here moves away from the medieval stereotype that Elisabethans were familiar with. Shakespeare adds some honesty and kindness to the character that were not present before: “As I am an honest Puck” (“MND”, Act V, scene i, line 9, p. 91). Although he enjoys his pranks and the love mix-ups he creates he also feels, in a way, sorry for the “poor mortals”: “Cupid is a knavish lad, thus to make poor females mad” (“MND”, Act III, scene ii, line 33, p. 67). Puck takes pity on them, which reveals a kind nature that may be added to his mischievous personality.
Finally let us take a look at the result of this messy situation. The final product we get after all the pranks and mischievous acts Puck carries out, along with his manipulation of the characters and the story line, is that “all is mended” (“MND”, Act V, scene i, line 2, p. 91). Robin Goodfellow ends up undoing the fix. We can conclude then that he is not that selfish or wicked after all, though we always have to bear in mind the fact that it is Robin Goodfellow who mixes up the situation. He even wants to become reconciled with the audience in the epilogue: “Give me your hands, if we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends” (“MND”, Act V, scene I, line 15-16, p. 91).
To sum up, Puck can be seen as the great manipulator of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, however he does not control other characters dishonestly or unfairly but performs his task for sheer fun.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, William Shakespeare. Penguin Popular Classics. 1994.