An Animated Ass

In the video above I am reciting the passage of Bottom’s dream which is in Act 4 Scene 1 Lines 203-222. This is when Bottom wakes up in his original human form after having been transformed the previous night into having an asses head and meeting Titania the fairy queen. When Bottom awakens he has a revelation due to his dream, but remains hesitant due to the shock of new knowledge and insight he has gained. Having been transformed into part animal, Bottom experienced the forest in a different form and gained a new perspective of his environment. In addition to this, Bottom was also regarded with a different level of respect while as his transformed self. This is because in his human form he was of a lower class which contrasts greatly with him in his “translated” form being the center of attention for the fairy queen Titania who thus attributed a higher level of authority to him.

Accompanying the audio of me reciting the passage is a screen recording that displays me drawing my representation of Bottom. I finished the drawing by adding a dream bubble with the play’s title A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as groupings of stars. My purpose in showing how I drew Bottom is to demonstrate his transformation for just as in the play he changed from human to part animal, so does the illustration. In the play Bottom is transformed back to human as he recalls his dream, but in this drawing I keep Bottom with the asses head to portray that while he may no longer physically resemble his transformation, the knowledge he gained during it stays with him. I intentionally only included the video of me drawing Bottom’s head rather than his human body to focus on the human senses that get mixed up within the passage such as sight and hearing. My intent of having the play’s title be in Bottom’s dream bubble rather than putting “Bottom’s Dream” is in order to tie in my essay’s claim that Shakespeare uses Bottom as a way to insert himself into the play. Lastly, my inclusion of gold stars has a double meaning with one reason being to resemble a light figure such as that of fairies; and the second reason being to hint at the role imagination takes within the play in terms of how Bottom’s dream could be interpreted.

From this book I drew inspiration for my drawing of Bottom and the symbolism of gold stars for fairies.