Dissertation : Songe d’une nuit d’été en anglais acte 1 scène 2

Workmen are introduced. They constitute a group opposed to the courtiers on different levels: simple men identified by a name and a trade and each of them have something different and they are also actor. Quince the carpenter is also the one who has written the play they intend to perform in front of the court for Hand T wedding. Act 1 sc 1 ended with H’s monologue expressing her bitterness and despair at not being loved by D now with act 1 sc 2 tension is relieved by the simple presence of the workmen planning “an interlude». The title of this scene could be “The casting of the play” and can be divided into 3 parts: (l.1-48) workmen meet in the street in front of Quince’s house to cast the play , (l.47-66) Quince seems to be in charge but Bottom interrupts ,(the end) Actors agree to meet secretly in the woods. In another part of Athens a group of workers meet to get ready for a play, they hope to perform for the wedding of T and H. Quince tries to conduct the meeting but Bottom interrupts. Quince explains what play they are going to perform: P&T (which tells the story of 2 lovers separated by their parents’ feud, who speak to each other at night through a hole in a wall (in the play a lion surprises Thisbe one night and tatters her mantle before she escapes. When Pyramus find it he assumes that the lion has killed her and stricken with a grief ,he commits suicide .when Thisbe finds Pyramus’s bloody corpse, she commits suicide too .[From the beginning Quince seems to be in charge he calls out the parts. This scene is a comic one. The humour comes mainly from the workmen’s lack of understanding about how drama works. Bottom is far more developed as a character than others: he’s a boisterous character self-confident and enthusiast (he can see that because he would like to play the lion part P&T(l.17, 35, 49)).The fact that the workmen have chosen to perform P&T Babylonian myth familiar to