English 105A: Handout on Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream
From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base
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TA: Geoffrey McNeil
Eng 105A: Early Shakespeare
Prof. Fumerton
Fall 2002
Contents |
Midsummer Night’s Dream: Bottom
Etymology
I. The lowest surface or part of anything.
1. a. The lowest part of anything, considered as a material thing; the lower or under surface, that surface of a thing on which it stands or rests; the base. Applied spec. to the keel of a ship (cf. 7), the circular end of a cask, etc. cf. Proverb, ‘Every tub (vat) must stand on its own bottom’
b. The sitting part of a man, the posteriors, the seat. (Colloq.) Also, the ‘seat’ of a chair.
c. bottoms up!: a call or toast to finish one's drink to the last drop. Cf. BOTTOMER c. Hence as adv. phr.
2. a. The ground or bed under the water of a lake, sea, or river. Hence to go to the bottom: to sink, founder; to be wrecked.
b. to touch bottom: to reach the lowest point. to have no bottom: to be unfathomable, inexhaustible, etc. Often fig.
3. A deep place, a depth, either in the sea or land; an abyss. Obs.
4. a. The bed or basin of a river.
b. Low-lying land, a valley, a dell; an alluvial hollow. Now esp. U.S.
c. In gold-mining, the channel of an old river (also called the gutter) containing rich deposits of gold; also, the layer below it. Austral.
5. a. The lowest part of anything, considered as a place or position in space; the lowest point or locality, the ‘foot’. Said both of vertical direction, and of the lowest point, on a slope.
b. fig. in phr. from (to) the bottom of the heart, etc.
c. The foot of a page; the last place in a list or class; the lower end of a table, in point of dignity or precedence.
d. Mining. Usually pl. The lowest workings in a mine. Also attrib., as bottom captain, coal, worker.
e. The part of a boot or shoe below the uppers; the sole, heel, and shank.
6. a. transf. The deepest or most remote part of a recess, bay, or the like; the farthest point, or inmost part.
b. fig.
7. a. bottom (of a ship): generally, as in 1 (where see quots.); spec. ‘the part of the hull of a ship which is below the wales’ (Adm. Smyth); also, the hull as a whole; hence, A ship, boat, or other vessel.
b. fig.
8. a. The dregs, sediment of liquors; the last portion of the wine in a cask (obs.).
b. In Copper-smelting (see quot.).
9. bottom of a wig: the portion hanging down over the shoulder. full bottom: short for ‘full-bottomed wig’.
II. That which underlies or supports a thing.
10. a. That upon which anything is built or rests; the foundation. Obs.
b. The ground under a plant; the soil in which it grows. Obs.
11. fig. a. A foundation, basis, footing.
b. Phrase. to stand on one's own bottom: to act for oneself, be independent.
c. In fig. phrases: the bottom falls (or drops) out of: there is a collapse of; to knock the bottom out of: see KNOCK v. 6b.
12. The fundamental character, essence, reality. Phrases. to search, etc., to the bottom: to examine thoroughly, to find out the real character of. at (the) bottom: in reality, as distinguished from superficial appearances. to be at the bottom of: to underlie, to be the real author or source of.
13. A pecuniary ‘foundation’ or ‘basis’ for commercial enterprise; capital, resources; hence, financial stability, commercial standing. Obs.
14. Physical resources, ‘staying power’, power of endurance; said esp. of pugilists, wrestlers, race-horses, etc.
15.a. A clew or nucleus on which to wind thread; also a skein or ball of thread. Also fig. Obs.
b. The cocoon of a silkworm. Obs.
16. ? The lap. Obs.
17. Particle Physics. [An arbitrary choice of name.] The name of (a quark carrying) a flavour with a charge of - ; symbol b.
III. attrib. and Comb.
18. simple attrib. or adj. Of or pertaining to the bottom; lowest, basal, fundamental; last. (Hence superlative BOTTOM-MOST.)
19. General comb., chiefly attrib., in senses
a. At the bottom, forming the bottom, as bottom-discharge, -rock (also fig.), -water; bottom-heavy adj.;
b. That remains on the bottom (of sea, river, etc.); done at or near the bottom, as bottom-fish, -fishing, -liver, -living, -trailing;
c. That belongs to or forms the bottom of anything, as bottom-board, -timber;
d. fig. Fundamental, as bottom-ground;
e. Of or pertaining to low-lying ground, as bottom-glade, -grass, -land;
f. (sense 1b) bottom-pincher, -pinching.
20.
Special comb., as bottom-bed, the lowest stratum of a formation of rocks; bottom-boarding, the bottom-planks of a boat; bottom-boards, boards at the bottom of a boat serving to protect the outer planking; bottom-cargo, the cargo carried in the hold; bottom-dish, that placed at the lower end of the table; bottom dog = UNDERDOG (cf. top dog s.v. TOP n.1 34); also attrib.; so bottom-doggy a., pertaining to or characteristic of a bottom dog; bottom dollar U.S., (one's) last dollar, usu. in collocations with bet; bottom drawer, lit. the lowest drawer of a chest of drawers, etc., in which a woman stores clothes, linen, etc., in preparation for her marriage; bottom facts U.S., the fundamental facts; bottom fermentation, that during which the yeast cells collect at the bottom of the liquid; also attrib.; bottom gear, the lowest-speed gear (see GEAR n. 7) in a motor; bottom-heat, heat supplied to plants through the soil; bottom-ice, ice which forms on the bottom of a river or sea; bottom-land, bottomland U.S., low-lying land, esp. a stretch of level land near a river; = BOTTOM n. 4b; also attrib.; bottom-lift (see quot.); bottom-line, (a) the lower part of a fishing-line; (b) orig. U.S., the last line of a profit-and-loss account, showing the final profit (or loss); also loosely, the net profit; fig., the final analysis or determining factor; the point, the crux of the argument; bottom-moraine, débris dropped from icebergs on the bottom of the sea; bottom-planks the outer planking of the bottom of a boat; bottom-plate, (a) an iron plate in a printing-press; (b) the set of knives forming the bed of a pulping machine in paper-making; bottom prairie U.S., a prairie lying along the bank of a river; bottom-sampler, a grab for dredging samples from the sea-bottom; hence bottom-sampling ppl. a. and vbl. n.; bottom-scourer, an operative who smooths the ‘bottoms’ of boots and shoes; bottom-set bed Geol. (see quots.); bottom-side = sense 1a; bottom timber U.S., timber growing in bottom-lands; bottom-tool, a tool used in wood-turning; bottom-up, -upwards adv., in an inverted position, upside-down; bottomward, the part near the bottom; bottom-wigged a., wearing a wig with full bottom; bottom-wind (see quot.); bottom wool (see quot.); bottom yeast = bottom fermentation yeast.
Getting to The Bottom of Bottom: It hath no Bottom
Malapropism: Ludicrous misuse of words; an instance of this.
E.g. You were to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip. (1.2.2-3)
individually
I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any suckling dove (1.2.81-83)
moderate
There we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously. (1.2.107-08)
seemly
And a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure, or to present, the person of Moonshine. (3.1.60-61)
figure
I shall desire of you of more acquaintance (3.1.180)
I shall want to be better acquainted with you
For methinks I am marvail’s hairy about the face (4.1.26-27)
marvelous
I have an 'exposition of sleep come upon me. (4.1. 43)
disposition for
I will get Peter Quince to write a ballet of this dream (4.2.218)
ballad
And, like Limander, am I trusty still. (5.1.197)
Leander
Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true (5.1.199)
Cephalus and Procris
Language
Hermia: O cross! Too high to be enthralled to low!
Lysander: Or else misgraffed in respect of years –
Hermia: O spite! Too old to be engagef to young!
Lysander: Or else it stood upon the choice of friends –
Hermia: O hell! To choose love by another’s eyes!
Pyramus: O grim-looked night! O night with hue so black!
O night, which ever art when day is not!
O night, O night! Alack, alack, alack,
I fear my Thisby’s promise is forgot!
And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall....
1.1.136-140
5.1.169-173
Death
Lysander: And then end life, when I end loyalty! (2.2.63)
Bottom: First, Pyramus must draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies cannot abide. (3.1.11)
Helena: Stay, though thou kill me (2.2.83)
Hermia: Either death or you I’ll find immediately (2.2.156)
Hermia: plunge in the deep and kill me too (3.2. 49)
Change
Helena: I am your spaniel (2.1.203) Bottom: This is to make an ass of me (3.1. 121)
Helena: I am as ugly as a bear (2.2.94)
Hermia: Out dog! out cur!..thou serpent (3.2.64-73)
Lysander: Get you gone, you dwarf (3.2.329)
Acting
Helena: If you were men, as men you are in show (3.2.151) Bottom: Name what part I am for, and proceed. (1.2.20)
Helena:
Persever, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back;
Wink each at other; hold the sweet jest up.
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled (3.2.237-240)
Hermia: Ay, that way goes the game (3.2.289)
- Bottom is literally changed, but loses none of his personality
- The lovers are inconstant and random; they talk of changing forms but only change personality
- Lovers are defined by a logic of sorts (p.8, 11, 30) but their logic cannot sustain them
- Bottom has only confusion and play (p.37-38, 67); keeps love and reason as neighbors
Questions
What of Puck? How are Puck and Bottom alike? How do they function in the play? What spirit does each represent for the play?
What of Oberon and Titania? How do they talk? How are they different from Theseus & Hyppolyta?
How do the characters talk about place? What is the difference between Athens and the woods?
How are things reversed in the woods? What remains the same, what is different? What sorts of things are juxtaposed and how?
What about freedom? What does choice mean in this play?
How do the potions work? How do they change the consciousnesses they are applied to?
What is the relationship of the fairies to the natural world and natural processes?
How do Hermia and Helena relate to each other as women?
How do figures become reality in this play: Bottom becomes the Ass, Mustard Seed is a fairy?
How aware are the characters of dreams and dreaming? How does Puck’s speech affect the ontology of the play?
How is the tension between reason and imagination played out: argumentation and discussion versus poetry, song, play, dream?
What role does the moon play in the “play” and the play?
