Friday, November 2, 2012

What ideas do you have about the character Quince in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream? How does he move and speak in Act 1, Scene 2?

Peter Quince is the writer and director of the Athenian men's production of "Pyramus and Thisbe." He is logical and intelligent, but he must also be patient because he has to deal with Nick Bottom's narcissism in Act 1, scene 2. This is the scene when the men are first getting together to learn about their parts for the play, and Quince can't keep the meeting on track because Bottom is either interjecting too much, trying to play everyone else's parts, or telling Quince how to run the show.


As far as how Quince speaks, he is the opposite of Bottom, who misspeaks often. Quince is articulate and correct with his speech, but he tends to repeat himself at times:



"But, masters, here are your parts; and I am to entreat you, request you and desire you, to con them by tomorrow night and meet me in the palace wood" (I.ii.81-84).



The above passage shows Quince being redundant with his speech, which is used as a literary device to drive home a very important point. Another time that Quince is repetitive is when he urges Bottom to take the part of Pyramus:



"You can play no part but Pyramus, for Pyramus is a sweet-fac'd man, a proper man as one shall see in a summer's day, a most lovely gentlemanlike man" (I.ii.71-73).



This passage shows Quince repeating the descriptions of Pyramus' character to let Bottom know how he is to portray the hero as well as how important he is to the play.


As for the way Quince moves, that is to be determined by director and actor when the play is performed because Shakespeare does not provide many detailed stage directions in his plays. However, based on Quince's intelligent and patient character, it could be inferred that he is as thoughtful with his movements as he is with his speech.

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