Puck sings this song in Act III as he sets off to lead the lovers in circles, eventually tiring them out and bringing them together so he can re-charm the men and set things right. The simplicity and straightforwardness of this rhyming couplet indicates that, after so much confusion, Puck truly intends to reverse his mischief and set things right again.
Puck encourages us to think the same about the play. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why does Oberon order Puck to fetch the magic flower?
Why does Puck delight in causing chaos and confusion? What causes the animosity between Hermia and Helena? Quotes Puck aka Robin Goodfellow Quotes. In honour of that merry wanderer of the night This site is dedicated to Puck, that mischievous imp of English folklore, also known as Robin Goodfellow or as a Hobgoblin. Puck Through the Ages: The History of a Hobgoblin Trace the history of this mischievous fairy through his different names and natures from medieval tradition to modern pop culture.
Would you like to learn more about Robin Hood? Check out these other sections of this website. Robin Goodfellow is one of the faeries known as hobgoblins or just hobs. Hob is a short form for the name Robin or Robert "the goblin named Robin". Robin itself was a medieval nickname for the devil. Robin Goodfellow was not only famous for shape-shifting and misleading travellers. He was also a helpful domestic sprite much like the brownies.
He would clean houses and such in exchange for some cream or milk. If offered new clothes, he'd stop cleaning. There are stories of the Phouka and Pwca doing similar deeds. Ironically, Reginald Scot wrote in that belief in Robin Goodfellow was not as strong as it had been a century earlier. In fact, Robin was about to get some big breaks in Renaissance show business.
There's a record for a Robin Goodfellow ballad in And a little less than a decade later, William Shakespeare gave his Puck the name and nature of the more benevolent Robin Goodfellow. However, Shakespeare's Puck is more closely tied to the fairy court than most Pucks or Robin Goodfellows.
Here's a long quotation from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's from a meeting between Puck and one of Titania's fairies. I think it sums up Robin Goodfellow's nature better than I could. Are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery, Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern, And bootless make the breathless housewife churn, And sometime make the drink to bear no barm, Mislead night-wanders, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck. Are you not he? 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. Having Shakespeare as a publicist certainly did not hurt Puck or Robin Goodfellow's career.
Prior to Shakespeare, who may have been influenced by the Welsh Pwca, Puck and Robin Goodfellow were considered separate creatures. Now they are considered the same creature. A Midsummer Night's Dream remains one of Shakespeare's most performed plays. Perfect for a forest-like setting, this classic is performed every summer in parks around the world. Robin Goodfellow appeared in more plays around And there were many 17th century broadside ballads about him. Click here to see two of these ballads.
In these ballads, Robin Goodfellow is the son of Oberon, the fairy king, and a mortal woman. He pulls pranks, shape-shifts into various animals and the foolish fire known as the Will O' The Wisp, gets into trouble and does the kind of thing described in Shakespeare's play.
Robin's trademark laugh is "Ho Ho Ho! And Ben Jonson certainly knew his tricksters. There may be a connection between Robin Hood and Robin Goodfellow. I think that case is overstated, as there is little magic in the earliest Robin Hood tales. But still, the two Robins have some things in common. Both had a penchant for giving travellers a hard time. Puck was a shape-shifter, and Robin Hood a master of disguise. And Gillian Edwards notes that the Goodfellow in Robin Goodfellow's name could either mean a boon companion or thief.
For more information on Robin Hood, please visit my Robin Hood website. Even though after Shakespeare fairies seemed more dainty and inoffensive than their heroic or demonic medieval forms, Puck and Robin Goodfellow still had their critics. But the hobgoblin so despised by 17th century Puritans became a much-beloved figure in children's literature in our own century thanks to Rudyard Kipling. Two English children, Dan and Una, were performing a simplified version of A Midsummer Night's Dream , when Puck, the last of the People of the Hills he is offended by the term, fairy appeared before them.
Kipling used to play A Midsummer Night's Dream with his own children. In a series of popular stories collected in Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies , Puck delighted Dan and Una with tales, and visitors, from England's past.
Kipling's Puck was very critical of the common image of fairies at the beginning of the 20th century, which Puck said were made up things. Butterfly wings, indeed! This Puck was "the oldest Old Thing in England" and immune to many of the traditional fairy weaknesses.
Sprinkle plenty of salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I'll eat it with you. That'll show you the sort of person I am.
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