Audience Reaction to the Introduction of the Mechanicals in Act 2 Scene 1 Tan Wei Xin 11th Grade

Almost completely opposite the beautiful, grave, and love-struck young Athenian nobles are the awkward, ridiculous, and deeply confused Mechanicals, around whom a great deal of A Midsummer Night's Dream's most comical scenes are centred. They are first introduced to the audience in Act 1 Scene 2, which is immediately after the introduction of the Athenian nobles. Where the young lovers are elegant and well spoken—rather appropriate given their roles as melodramatically passionate youths—the Mechanicals often fumble their words and could not be less well suited for acting. Shakespeare uses this disparity between their roles and their abilities to make the most of their comic value in the following scene.

At the beginning of the scene, the difference that would be immediately noticed by the audience would be the use of prose language by the Mechanicals. It is obviously in contrast with the usage of verse in the Athenian court, thus making it an instant shift from the previous scene. The stark contrast is further sustained by the fact that the characters introduced are clearly of Shakespeare’s time and place, and it could be Shakespeare’s way of representing the bulk of his audience (the common folk) on stage. The practical...