2025-02-25 18:32:17 ¶ ● ⬀ ⬈

totallyboatless:

> edettethegreat:

> > totallyboatless:

> > > Puck’s closing monologue in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a baller move, honestly. Shakespeare wrote a raunchy fantasy and ended it with a character going “if you’re offended by this horny-ass story, good news: IT IS FAKE. THIS IS A FAKE THING I WROTE FOR HORNY PURPOSES. THE HORNY FAERIES ARE NOT REAL AND THEY CANNOT HURT YOU”

> > WAIT WE LEARNED ABOUT THIS IN SHAKESPEARE CLASS

> > basically. the church super hated theater. they kept trying to close down theaters because they considered all of it ‘immoral’

> > both puck’s monologue at the end, and the bit where the guy’s like “I may look like a lion, but I’m just a guy dressed as a lion. I’m not a real lion. please don’t be scared. I’m actually just a human guy” are digs at the church, and shakespeare’s way of saying “y'all really can’t differentiate fiction from reality. If you don’t like what’s going on in a play, that’s a you problem.”

> > and the audience of the time 100% understood shakespeare’s intended message. and they found it hilarious

> Yep, exactly! Also why so many plays are set abroad, particularly the ones that discuss suicide and more direct criticisms of power. It’s plausible deniability so he could be like “I’m not writing about England when I’m talking about tyrannical power, I’m writing about *Rome* and there definitely isn’t any commentary going on here”

OH

I never noticed that but yeah

shakespeare’s beef with the church and government will always be admirable <3