Sunday, January 19, 2020

What is Bottom's view of love?

Bottom's love story in A Midsummer Night's Dream is a side-plot, mainly intended for comic relief. He is given the head of a donkey by the mischievous fairy Puck, who then enchants Titania, the queen of the fairies, to be infatuated with him. Bottom never seems particularly taken with her, though he appreciates the luxuries of her court. When he first meets her, he tries to get away, more concerned with getting back to his theater troupe than starting a romance with the supernatural beauty. Eventually, both enchantments are lifted, and the pair part ways without heartache on either side.
Bottom's response when Titania first sees him and tells him that she loves him in act 3, scene 1 is as follows:

"Methinks, mistress, you should have little reasonfor that: and yet, to say the truth, reason andlove keep little company together now-a-days."

This is the most explicit statement we see from Bottom regarding his view on love in general. It is clear in this statement about reason and love that Bottom believes love to be ungoverned and ungovernable by logic or sense. This view allows him to accept Titania's sudden proclamation of affection, illogical and unfounded as it may seem.

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