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.