Puck The Heart and Soul of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Essay

â€Å"Puck: The Heart and Soul of A Midsummer Night’s Dream† Within the genre of melodrama, the atmosphere and emotions of a story are romanticized and magical. Not only does it engage the audience emotionally, but it is also meant to be performed in a very exaggerated manner. William Shakespeare incorporates this melodramatic style into his plays with a specific purpose in mind. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare utilizes the sprightly character of Puck to reinforce the complexity of love, and the idea that magic sometimes causes more harm than good. Although there is no definitive protagonist, Puck stands out as a character who steers the direction of the plot and gives movement to the actions that occur throughout the story. His†¦show more content†¦Puck considers human emotional distress to be trivial, leading him to view their dilemma with amusement rather than empathy. In the end, however, he alleviates the dramatic tension that he had created between the lovers. After observing the senseless behavior of the Athenian lovers, Puck exclaims to Oberon, â€Å"Lord, what fools these mortals be† (III.ii.115)! This line, aimed at Lysander’s foolish behavior is meant to be humorous, but it also cleverly addresses the prominent theme of the story: that love is not under human control. Puck is clearly referring to the foolishness and exaggerated emotions of the four lovers in the play; however, Shakespeare also intends to target the audience members by emphasizing that humans in general have the tendency to do and say crazy things because of love’s powerful grasp on their emotions. Therefore, a character such as Puck, according to Robert Diyanni, â€Å"may remind us in some ways of ourselves; they may appeal to us because they differ from us† (Diyanni 1270). Although the Athenian lovers neglect to realize the extent of their ludicrous behavior, their unbalanced emotions are very noticeable to the fairies, who replace the au dience’s role in this scene. 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