A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

Harold Bloom’s criticism “Bloom on A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is a criticism of Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Bloom wrote a two part analysis of the play. The first part is a comparison between Puck and Bottom, whom are both characters in the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The second part is comparing A Midsummer Night’s Dream with another Shakespearean play, The Tempest. Having not read The Tempest the second part of the criticism will not be mentioned in this paper. In part one, Bloom starts off by saying that he likes Bottom more than Puck. Bloom states that, “Pucks are more charming, but Bottoms are rather more amiable” (Bloom n.pag.). Bloom goes on to describe the personalities of both Puck and Bottom. He includes his …show more content…
Bottom is overconfident and outgoing. He is so full of energy and wants to play every role in the craftsmen's play. However, his ego is so large he does not notice that Puck transformed his head into that of an ass. Although Bottom is extremely arrogant he means well. In his criticism, Bloom states that Bottom, “retains his courage, kindness, and humor and goes through his uncanny experience totally unchanged within” (n.pag.). Despite having his head changed into an ass head, bottom is still the same energetic person and that is part of the reason why I like him more than Puck. Bottom knows that he is not intelligent or handsome, but that does not stop him from living his life how he wants. On the other hand, Puck is a jester who likes to play pranks on others. Puck is carefree while he applies the love potion to the Athenians. Puck is the closest thing this play is to having a protagonist. Puck’s real name is Robin Goodfellow, but his nickname is Puck. Puck is a name for someone who is mischievous and likes to play pranks. His nickname suits him well. Puck and Bottom are the same in the fact that Bottom wants to play every part in the play, and Puck wants to be apart of everything that goes