A Midsummer Night's Dream · Chapter
Scene II explained
The mechanicals gather at Quince's house to assign roles for their play, 'Pyramus and Thisbe,' to be performed at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding.
What happens
The mechanicals gather at Quince's house to assign roles for their play, 'Pyramus and Thisbe,' to be performed at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Bottom eagerly volunteers for multiple parts, but Quince insists he play Pyramus. The group agrees to rehearse in the palace wood by moonlight to avoid detection.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This scene is the dramatic climax because it represents the peak of the "play-within-a-play" crisis, where the…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Theater and Performance
The mechanicals' casting and rehearsal highlight the theme of performance, with Bottom's overconfidence and the group's comedic attempts at drama.
- Order vs. Chaos
Quince tries to impose order in casting, but Bottom's disruptive enthusiasm and the chaotic assignment of roles reflect the tension between structure and disorder.
Characters to notice
- Nick Bottom
Eagerly volunteers for multiple roles, including Pyramus and the lion, and discusses his acting style.
- Peter Quince
Directs the casting and assigns roles, insisting Bottom play Pyramus and organizing the rehearsal.
- Francis Flute
Assigned the role of Thisby, though reluctant because he has a beard coming.
- Tom Snout
Assigned to play Pyramus' father.
- Robin Starveling
Assigned to play Thisbe's mother.
- Snug
Assigned the lion's part, but is slow of study and only needs to roar.
Key passages
“Is all our company here?”
Has everyone arrived?
Quince checks attendance before starting the casting.
“That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure.”
That role will require real tears; if I play it, the audience will weep—I'll stir up emotions and mourn deeply.
Bottom boasts about his ability to evoke tears as Pyramus.
“I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.”
I'll adjust my voice to roar as softly as a baby dove, as gentle as a nightingale.
Bottom offers to tone down his lion roar to avoid frightening the ladies.
“We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously.”
We'll gather there and rehearse in a very bold and outrageous manner.
Bottom uses 'obscenely' in a malapropism, meaning 'obscurely' or 'vigorously'.
