Puck: The God of Desire

Love can transpose to form and dignity.

Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.

And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

Nor hath Love’s mind of any judgment taste—

Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste.

And therefore is Love said to be a child,

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.

As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,

So the boy Love is perjured everywhere.

(Act I, Scene i)

            Robin Goodfellow, but more well known as Puck, is a very intriguing character that seems to be overlooked when discussing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Puck is often referred to as the most important character in the play. This might be due to his character threading the play together from the fairy world to the human world. Puck also adds to the comedy by his fun-loving humor, and mischievous nature. I think that Puck role in the play is to be metaphor for Cupid.

            In a play about love and the confusion of love their needs to be a force that can pull and push lovers together or apart. From the quote above, Helena is talking about the blindness of love. She refers to Cupid as blind and that is why he makes reckless and hasty decisions. Helena also says that Cupid breaks promises all the time. Helena’s description made me think of Puck immediately. Shakespeare has created Puck, who is reckless and hasty, which we see when he picks the first Athenian he sees instead of looking for the right Athenian. Puck also is reckless in the way he turns Bottom’s head into an ass on the fly. Instead of arrows, Puck has a magical flower that holds love juice, which will make people fall blindly into love. 

            Puck’s character aligns itself with the Roman version of Cupid. Cupid was the son of Venus and Mars. In the legend, Venus becomes jealous of princess Psyche, who was loved by her people so much that they forgot about Venus. Venus order Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the vilest thing in the world. Although this story is not parallel to Puck’s there are still many similarities. In the play Oberion takes the role of Venus and is jealous of Titania for having the Indian child he wants. In order for Oberion to get even he sends Puck to make Titania fall in love with a vile creature, which turns out to be Bottom.

            I believe these similarities ties Puck to being Cupid in the play. He adds the magic that makes love blind and mysterious but he is able to create love that will last forever. 

Brutus Reveals Emotions…But Only In Private

              Portia only has two short appearances in the play Julius Caesar but her presence reveals a lot about the main character, Brutus. Due to this being one of Shakespeare’s earlier plays I don’t think he truly developed Portia’s character as well as could. Portia proves to be a tragic figure in this play because of her lack of power over the situation. She has the chance to stop Brutus from killing Caesar and ultimately destroying his life but due to her position in society she is forced to remain quite.

            When Portia catches Brutus outside in the garden talking to the conspirators she wants to know the secret that burdens Brutus. Brutus holds back saying he is just sick. Portia tries to prove that she is stronger then her “sex” because she comes from a strong father and has a strong husband. She even goes as far to inflict pain on herself to prove that she will not tell his secret. Brutus ends up avoiding her request and has her find out with the rest of the citizens of Rome. The reader’s later finds out that Portia has committed suicide by swallowing hot coals. The symbolic nature of her death represents her living in silence and in her death she burns her throat to silence herself forever.

            We find out this sorrowful news two different times. I think the presentation of Portia’s death twice tries to show the different between Brutus’s private and public life. The first encounter we see Brutus talking about the death when he is alone with Cassius after their fight. In private Brutus allows his emotions to go crazy and picks a fight with Cassius to work out his aggression he has built up around his wife’s death. At this point Brutus is dealing with the decision about the state of his own life, the failure of the Roman Empire and now the sudden death of his beloved wife. Brutus seems to want to leave emotions out of the decisions he makes but at this point his emotions are now leading his decisions. He admits to Cassius the death of Portia and says how upset he really is. This private moment is very different then his public displays of emotion when he finds out from Mesalus. Mesalus enters the tent under the impression that Brutus does not know about the death. Brutus responds to Mesalus calmly and stoically. Mesalus seems impressed with the leaders ability to endure such a loss and barely be impacted.

            In the death of Portia, the audience discovers the importance that Brutus puts on his public perception. He tries to keep his private and public lives separate. If Brutus would of revealed his struggle and forget about his outward perception about the decision to kill Caesar with Portia then all the bloodshed might have never happened.