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The mechanicals are a band of actors comprised of Quince, Snug, Bottom, Flute, Snout, and Starveling. The men are amateur actors and playwrights, and by day they work in the trades as a carpenter, joiner (woodworker), weaver, bellows-mender, tinker, and tailor, respectively. The troupe derives its name from Puck, who calls them the “rude mechanicals” in reference to their working-class professions. Although Bottom stands out as a character who functions separately from the group, the rest of the troupe act as one and don’t appear without each other. Their goal is to memorize a play telling the tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which Quince has written himself, with the hope that they might perform it for Theseus at his upcoming wedding. Unfortunately, and hilariously, the group is not particularly bright, and their acting skills are rudimentary. They are portrayed as silly and a bit dim-witted, to the extent that they believe their acting is so convincing that their audience will believe the play is entirely real. At the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, jokes abound when the troupe acts in front of Theseus and his crew, who are good-naturedly entertained by the troupe’s terrible performance.
The troupe’s ridiculous rendition of a melodramatic tragedy brings much levity to Theseus and his subjects, who enjoy lightly mocking the play together, but ultimately pay outward respect to the performers. Although Shakespeare’s play is set in Athens, the rude mechanicals, as well as the behavior of Theseus and his surrounding nobles, are reflective of Elizabethan England and its class hierarchy. At this time, England had a stringent and inflexible class system that would have made the concept of uneducated manual laborers attempting to become writers and artists impossible and laughable, heightening the comedic nature of the amateur acting troupe. Despite the potentially classist undertones in the portrayal of the rude mechanicals, Shakespeare’s own affluent upbringing was partly due to his father’s successful career as a leather worker. It may be that Shakespeare was poking fun at this group of artistic tradesmen with a sense of affectionate camaraderie rather than truly classist derision. Shakespeare often included characters of many different classes and walks of life in his plays to entertain all members of his audience regardless of caste.
There is certainly a meta quality to the role of the rude mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Their presence in the play works on a meta level in multiple ways: through the rude mechanicals, Shakespeare potentially pokes fun at himself. Also, the play-within-a-play format heightens the surreal, magical qualities of the theatrical experience, which Puck expounds on in his final address to the audience. The meta spectacle of A Midsummer Night’s Dream leaves the audience wondering if they too were caught up in a confusing dream brought on by fairy dust and mischievous sprites.
