Play Pyramus example essay topic

Obviously the main characters in this scene are the mechanical's, although the lords do add to the dramatic effect of the scene and influence the other characters. In order to make this scene so funny, Shakespeare has used a lot of literary devices to emphasise the humour. The play is a parody of "Romeo And Juliet". The star of the play is Pyramus, who is played by Bottom. In contrast to most of the other characters, Bottom is not at all nervous, and should come across as boastful and big-headed. As soon as Pyramus enters for his first scene with Thisby and Wall, he should march on stage very proudly and confidently.

Pyramus should use his words to create a mood, by rolling his "r's" and lengthening the "o" in his first speech. By doing this he is making himself sound false and affected, creating a lot of Melodrama. A lot of repetition is used in the speech, such as "alack", which sounds exaggerated and again adds to the melodrama. Pyramus is so nervous and excited that he is quick to jump to conclusions as to why Thisby is not there, and these nerves should be shown by facial expressions, such as a sharp intake of breath and widening of the eyes, as well as the speech quickening up and the hands being raised to the head in despair. Pyramus should be very exaggerated in the way that he tries to persuade the wall to "Show me thy chink", and I think he should shower it with affection, giving him kisses whilst speaking to him and perhaps winking at him, as if he is in love with him. When Pyramus realises that he cannot see Thisby through the wall he should become extremely angry with the wall, and be violent towards him, kicking him and pushing him to the floor.

This changing of emotions and them back again is called an antithesis, and it is emphasised by taking both of the emotions to the extreme. Through out the play Pyramus should continue doing this, exaggerating everything he feels like the upset of Thisby's death (or so he thought) and his anger at the lion. By doing this Pyramus thinks that he looks very good and people are enjoying the play, but in fact the audience are laughing at how ridiculous he is. Pyramus makes one big mistake during the play, which is the way that he reacts to the audience and comes out of character, which reminds us of just how amateurish the play is. Shakespeare very slyly gives us hints all the way through of how the play is going to end, such as using the name Li mander, which of course is meant to be Lysander who died a heroic death, but the mispronunciation tells us that it will be a comic death. During Pyramus's peaches there is to much alliteration used which makes him sound ridiculous, such as " Gracious, golden, glittering gleams".

When he is talking to the moon from "but stay, o spite" Pyramus should repeatedly change the pitch of his voice from high to low to emphasise and create melodrama. Shakespeare often uses similes so that Pyramus compares himself With a Greek hero, which emphasises to the audience how stupid and unlike one he is. Pyramus's stupidity is again emphasised with the classic malapropism " Deflowered my dear", which turns the statement from a sad one to a hilariously funny one which increases melodrama. Pyramus' final act of dying and then telling everyone that he has died simply sums up the stupid, overconfident man that he is. Thisby should be acted as a very feminine character, who always has an extremely high voice and is always skipping. She should use a lot of hand gestures and be very innocent.

In her first speech when she is talking to the wall, she personifies it and uses a metaphor to describe his "cherry lips". I think that Thisby should be a very flirtatious person who will flutter her eyelashes at the wall and generally touch him a lot. The way that she admires the wall creates melodrama, because it is such a ridiculous idea that she should be admiring a pile of bricks! Throughout the whole play Thisby should have an attitude of nervous excitement, because she is disobeying rules and she is romantically meeting her lover by starlight.

When talking to Pyramus, Thisby likens herself to Helen, the lover of Hero, which is ridiculous as Helen was meant to have amazing beauty, and in reality Thisby is being played by a man. Thisby's line " 'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay" is Melodramatic because she is needlessly turning it into a life and death situation. This line is also ironic, because in fact the meeting that has been arranged does result in two deaths! When Thisby arrives at Ninus' tomb, she should be skipping excitedly but being very secretive, and when she is faced with the Lion she should jump very high, give a high-pitched scream, raise her arms in the air, Throw her mantle towards the lion and flee whilst sobbing. These exaggerated actions will emphasise her cowardliness and stupidity and will make it very melodramatic. In her final speech, when Thisby says "Dead, dead?" she should raise her voice on the second dead which shows that she is very na " ive and has only just realised that Pyramus is dead.

When Thisby is asking the questions Pyramus should react to them and try to answer as he still wants to be the centre of attention, which could scare and confuse Thisby. Thisby should whisper to Pyramus to be dead, which will make the audience laugh and totally destroy the mood. In this final speech Thisby should have a look of intense shock and pain on her face and should use a lot of hand gestures, such as the hands covering her mouth or to her head. Thisby uses a simile", His eyes were as green as leeks", which would make the audience laugh as she thinks she is describing Pyramus as beautiful, but in fact she is using an Ugly and Smelly vegetable to describe him! Throughout the production there are lots of repeated concepts, such as when Thisby talks about "his thread of silk", which Pyramus also mentioned earlier on. These repetitions make the production tedious.

When Thisby tries to take the sword out of Pyramus, there should be a fight as Pyramus is not yet ready to give up his sword and his glory. This will emphasise how ridiculous the pair are. Thisby's death should also be melodramatic but a lot more tasteful than Pyramus'. There should be a lot of waving, curtseying and crying. The person who begins the play is the Prologue, played by Peter Quince, Who is extremely nervous. His very first words "If we offend, it is with our good will" give the wrong meaning, and things get worse from there!

All of his words are muddled up and he does not have any of his punctuation in the right place. When he is speaking he should stumble over many of the words and become very flustered, knocking his glasses of and crawling around to find them as well as constantly mopping his brow. This actions together with a look of extreme embarrassment and pain on his face should emphasise how nervous he is. When the audience laughs at him he should look like he is about to cry, and he should become even more flustered and muddled up with his words. In fact he should not be saying anything at all as he is giving away the story to the audience, which is a terrible thing to do. He personifies the Wall and describes him as vile, which is a hyperbole as the wall did not choose to stand were it does and it is an exaggeration.

The Prologue is trying to be clever, but in fact he looks ridiculous as he makes to many mistakes and it is very amateurish to tell the story at the beginning of a play. The Wall is an extremely nervous character and a very weak person. At the beginning of the play he states the obvious, "That I am that same wall", and he does not say it very well. He gestures the chink which is again not needed, and I think to make this even more ridiculous he should get his arms caught up in his clothes and rip them pulling it out! Immediately the Lords begin to tease him because of his stupidity, but because he is very stupid he takes their comments literally and this gives him confidence as he thinks that they like him. When the Wall says "And this cranny is, right and sinister", he is showing how amateurish he is because he actually means that the lovers make the cranny sinister, but it cannot possibly be sinister on its own.

When Pyramus is speaking to Wall and showering him with affection, the Wall must be very surprised and very pleased. He should be slightly embarrassed and very bashful, and as he is so stupid he does not understand that Pyramus is only doing it because he wants something. When Pyramus kisses his arm, the Wall should be almost bursting with pleasure. As soon as Pyramus asks to see the cranny, the wall should raise his arm as he is trying to please him. When Pyramus gets angry the Wall should be totally shocked and upset as eh thought that Pyramus actually liked him, and when Pyramus becomes violent he should burst into tears. When Pyramus explains to Theseus that it is only an act, the Wall should look confused and angry at Pyramus.

When Wall describes how he has "Discharged his part so", he should say it proudly and with conviction which makes him look ridiculous. When the audience starts laughing at him he should look hurt and stumble as he walks of which makes them laugh even more. When Moonshine first starts to speak he should be very clam and pleasant, smiling and enjoying himself. When he explains everything he has with him he should act as though he is talking to young children who do not understand. He should also have a very sing-song voice that is patronising.

The second time that he begins to speak after the interruption he should be slightly cross but still trying to be pleasant and forcing the sing-song voice. The final time that he speaks after having been interrupted again he is extremely angry. He has lost all pretence of being happy and growls out his lines to the audience as quickly and abruptly as he can, flinging his arms about and consequently dropping his lantern. When he is finally able to leave the stage he should storm off very loudly, stamping his feet. The final character is Lion. He is very nervous and timid, and does not want to be on stage in front of thousands of people, so is consequently almost paralysed with fear.

He should creep about the stage, muttering his lines and roaring very quietly. When the audience laughs he should look unsure of whether to smile or cry, so he does it again and repeats it until it is quite an impressive roar. What the Lion has to say is quite ridiculous, and when he talks about the "smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor", he is in fact using an oxymoron, a contrast whilst talking about one thing, which again shows how badly written the play is.