The Impact of Social Discrimination on Bottom's Psychology in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
How does Bottom work as the lens of the
hypocrite Elizabethan society in the play A
Midsummer Night’s Dream?
1.
In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the character Nick Bottom is filled with
all the virtues of energy and enthusiasm believing him to be a fine actor. He
is a weaver with high aspirations and tends to be overly confident all the
time. Bottom and his group will perform the play The most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe in
the royal wedding ceremony of Duke Theseus and Hippolyta.
Among all the mechanicals, Nick Bottom is the most
memorable creation of Shakespeare. He is the direct reflection of the worlds of
rationality and irrational as well as wilder elements. He is first introduced
in act i, scene ii where the group of the amateur actors is rehearsing for the
play. When Bottom is asked to perform the role of Pyramus, he asks, “What is
Pyramus? A lover, or, a tyrant?” This kind of interruption shows that Bottom
considers himself as the authority of the group. Moreover, he emphasizes that
his performance in the role of Pyramus will cause a heavy flow of stormy tears
in the eyes of the audience. He says, “If I do it, let the audience look to
their eyes; I will move storms.” His speeches are extremely dramatic and
self-aggrandizing. Besides, Bottom has extraordinary faith in his abilities.
That’s why, he wants to play the roles of Thisbe and the lion, too. He claims
that if he is given the role of Thisbe, he will speak in a monstrous little
voice. From this statement, it is clear that Bottom is absolutely a fathead person because this
statement is nothing but an absurd and ironic sort of boast.
Furthermore, Bottom says, “Let me play the lion too:
I will roar, that I will do any man’s heart good to hear me; I will roar, that
I will make the duke say, ‘Let him roar again, let him roar again.’” Bottom’s
farcical attitude often stems from the fact that he does not know about his
ridiculousness. His nonsensical notion of roaring is shown when he tells that
he will roar as “sucking dove” or “a nightingale” just to keep the ladies free
from fear. He is using these biologically improbable metaphors because he is
totally void of sophisticated understanding. Bottom constantly draws his fellow players’
attention back to the question of the audience’s gullibility. He suggests Peter
Quince to include a “prologue” to assure that the players will not do any harm
with their swords and Pyramus is not killed indeed since Pyramus is not Pyamus,
rather Bottom, the weaver. Otherwise, the “ladies cannot abide” this scene. To Bottom, “a lion among ladies is a most
dreadful thing.” So, he commands Snout who is playing the role of the lion to
show half of his face and explain that he is a real human being, not an animal.
Besides, Bottom has solutions to fix all types of
theatrical drawbacks. In act v, scene ii, the players who are Lion, Moon, and
Wall give literal interpretations by saying, “Snout by name, present a wall,
/The lanthron doth the horned moon present, /Snug the joiner am, a lion-fell,
nor else no lion’s dam” according to the suggestion of Bottom.
2. What explanations can be
represented from the previous discussion?
2.1.
Shakespeare’s exposure of the futility of literal production on the stage:
In Shakespeare’s groundbreaking play Hamlet, the titular character Hamlet
arranges the play-within-the-play The
Murder of Duke Gonzago which is also renamed as The Mousetrap. This play-within-the play device works as a trap so
that Hamlet can catch the conscience of Claudius and leads to the climax.
On the other hand, The most
lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe is a palpable
gross play for which the rude mechanicals are preparing themselves in order to
act perfectly in front of their aristocratic audience. The group of the
artisans thinks to be literal thoroughly to make their performance successful
because they do not know the level of erudition of the upper-class people as
they hardly have any interaction with the aristocratic people. Here,
Shakespeare has brought the concepts of dramatic illusion, willing suspension
of disbelief, and the three unities.
2.2.
What are the three unities and how Shakespeare has punctured their importance?
The three unities refer to rules for a dramatic
action set by the neo-classical critics in the 18th century. These
three unities are:
# Unity of Action
# Unity of Place, and
# Unity of Time
Unity
of Action:
The Unity of Action implies that the
characterization must be consistent or uniform throughout the play. An honest
character cannot be transformed into a dishonest figure without enough
convincing dramatic logic.
Unity
of Place:
This Unity of Place refers that the whole dramatic
action should start and finish within the geographical space that is coverable
within the given time of the dramatic action, usually three hours.
Unity
of Time:
The duration of the play can never be beyond three
hours.
In the past, it was thought that Greek philosopher
Aristotle had given the idea of the three unities, but later studies show that Aristotle
just emphasized on the unity of action or the consistency of the character. The two other unities were added by the neo-classical critics in the 18th
century, Samuel Johnson is a neo-classical critic and he was originally a
devout follower of the unities. However, he was editing Shakespeare’s plays in
the mid-eighteenth century and found that Shakespeare was never much adhered to
the rules. So, Johnson was in a dilemma which forced him to compose his
masterpiece article “Preface to Shakespeare.”
In this Preface, Johnson defends Shakespeare by
explaining that Shakespeare has done the right thing by not following the rules
because they are only artificial and unworkable. According to Johnson, when an
audience enters into the theatre, he knows very well that he is going to watch
a performance of the Trojan warfare, for example. He never forgets that the stage is not the
battlefield of Troy but an illusion of it. He neither forgets the fact that the
actors on the stage are not real characters of the story but are the
impersonations of them. If he can imagine this much, then he can surely stretch
and condense time and lengthen or shorten geographical distance in his
mind. Therefore, the action does not
need to be literally produced. This interpretation of the three unities is
known as the theory of dramatic illusion.
Shakespeare strengthens his position in this regard through the character
Fabian in Twelfth Night. Fabian says,
“If you put this conscience into a play or a story, you’d never get away with
it.”
3.
Why
is Bottom ignorant about the level of erudition of the aristocratic people?
If we dissect the social context of England at the
time prior to and post Shakespeare, we will be able to understand that
properties and privileges were not equally distributed at that time. In 1066, William
the Conqueror ascended the throne of England defeating the then Anglo-Saxon
king Harold Godwinson. He was known as William I after his ascension. William I
established the system of feudalism and this system lasted till the outbreak of
the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
3.1.
What is feudalism?
There are four stairs in this system and the whole
system is consisted of four different groups of people- the king, the barons,
the knights, and the peasants. The peasants are in the lowest stair of the
system and their responsibility is to serve their immediate lord that is the
knights. The knights have to provide security to the barons. The barons have to
provide knights to the king for any military movement. The king distributes
lands to the barons, the barons to the knights, and the knights to the
peasants. Though all the subservient tenants have their immediate lords in this
system, the king is the ultimate power.
3.2.
What is Peasants’ Revolt and its effects?
This revolt was initiated by the peasants against
their torturous lords in 1381 under the leadership of Wat Tyler and John Ball.
Wat Tyler was the social leader of the peasants and John Ball was the religious
leader. The Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death were the two predominant
causes for the outburst of this rage. A huge amount of money was spent during the war.
As a result, many different types of taxes were imposed on the poor people. The
main reasons behind this revolt are:
·
The Hundred Years’ War
·
The Black Death
·
Difference in wages
·
The Poll Tax
·
The Statue of Free labourers
The
Poll Tax:
This tax was imposed on the poor people to retrieve
the money spent in the war. It was determined that everyone above 14 would pay
this tax. In the beginning, the tax cost 4 pence. It became 12 pence later
which was equal to two weeks’ wages of the common people.
Difference
in wages:
Two types of labourers were available at that time.
è Free
labourers (paid)
è Serfs/
villains/ slaves (unpaid)
The free labourers were paid and their wages were
increased because the landlords had to retain them for a long time to do all
the chores as there was shortage of workers due to the Black Death. However,
the serfs were not paid at all. They had to work on the lands of their
landlords for three days in a week. Besides, they also had to pay fines to
their lords.
The
Statue of Free labourers:
The hypocrite landlords did not want to increase the
wages of the free labourers. That’s why, the ‘Statue of Free labourers’ was
enacted. The conditions of this law were:
è No
free labourer would claim extra wages for their work.
è The
free labourers could not leave the manors under which they were working.
The peasants could not tolerate this situation
anymore. They wanted to be paid like the free labourers and also wanted the end
of feudalism. This revolt put an end to feudalism.
The
lofty preachings of John Ball which motivated the peasants highly:
1) “They
were clothed in velvet and rich stuffs while we are forced to wear poor
clothing. They have handsome manors while we must brave wind and rain in the
field.”
2) “We
are the men formed in Christ’s likeness, they treat us as beasts.”
3) “When
Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentlemen?”
So, from the discussion of the Peasant’s Revolt, we
can assume that the aristocratic society and the lower-class people had no
bonding of brotherhood.
3.3.
Social structure during the time of Queen Elizabeth:
Elizabethan England had four main classes: the
Nobility, the Gentry, the Yeomanry, and the Poor.
·
The
Nobility: A nobleman was rich and led a lavish lifestyle not
only in the time of Queen Elizabeth but also during the reigns of King Henry
VII and King Henry VIII. A person could be noble either by their birthright or
by the grant from the king or queen. The monarchs usually did not appoint
nobles because they considered nobles as a threat to their power and so the
number of nobles was always small. A nobleman could lose his title if he
committed any serious crime against the monarchy.
·
The
Gentry: Knights, squires, gentlemen, and gentlewomen
belonged to this group. They were fortunate enough since they did not have to
do any work with their own hands for living. The number of people in this group
grew rapidly and this class became the most famous class of that time. People
of this group could start as a knight and build wealth as well as elevate
position through generations and marriages. Many eminent figures of this time
emerged from this class.
·
The
Yeomanry: The yeomen or the middleclass people could live comfortably
with their little savings and by dint of their hard work. They always tried to
expand the amount of wealth by working hard instead of living a luxurious
lifestyle. They believed in simple living. Unfortunately, they could lose
everything in a famine or illness.
·
The
Poor: The poor people had barely any money, food, or
shelter. As their number was increasing, some laws were passed to assist them.
If a poor person committed a crime, he got the chance to rectify himself by
doing an honest job. But the person who refused the chance was sentenced to
death.
The border of
class-distinction was so thick in the Elizabethan era that the lifestyles of the
monarchs and the aristocrats were totally different from the life of the
middleclass and the poor people.
3.4.
The predominant indicators of status and wealth:
3.4.1.
Cloth:
Clothing was a significant indicator of status in
the Elizabethan era. In this age, clothes became much more colourful,
elaborate, and flamboyant. Heavy brocades, stockings, tight-fitting doublets,
long billowing dresses studded with pearls and jewels, knee-length trousers,
stiff linen collars or ruffs, and feathered hats were the mandatory elements of
the well-off. The commoners also attempted to dress up keeping pace with the
trend as much as they could using cheap materials. But they had to be aware of
the authorities so that the authorities could not fine them or confiscate the
offending items.
·
How
did the queen adorn herself?
Queen Elizabeth was a devout
follower of fashion. Since the queen was at the top of the social pyramid, she
dressed more magnificently than anybody else. Nobody was allowed to imitate the
queen’s appearance. One unfortunate maid of honour was highly reprimanded for
wearing a gown that was too sumptuous for her. The maids were meant to
complement the queen’s appearance but not to outshine her. The queen preferred
to wear simple gowns in private and reputedly wear the same gowns for two or three
days in public. Queen Elizabeth had dresses of all colours, but she loved to
choose dresses of black and white colour all the time since these two colours
symbolized virginity and purity. Her gowns had been embellished with all sorts
of colourful threads and all the jewels like diamond, ruby, sapphire etcetera.
A book named Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe
Unlocked records some of the jewels which fell off from the queen’s gown
when she wore them.
Like the other aristocratic women,
the queen also wore a chemise, a corset stiffened with wood or iron, a
petticoat, a fathingale, stockings, sleeves, a neck ruff, and wrist ruffs.
Ruffs became even more elaborate after the discovery of starch.
The queen wore accessories such as
a fan, a pomander to ward off bad smells which was thought infection, and a lot
of jewelries including earrings, finger rings, brooches, and necklaces of
diamond or pearl. Elizabeth was particularly sentimental about the jewels given
as a gift and specially cherished a pearl necklace given to her by Robert Dudley,
the Earl of Leicester as well as a diamond ring which contained a miniature
enameled portrait of her mother Anne Boleyn along with a portrait of herself.
The ring was on her finger when she died.
A miniature prayer book was attached
to her girdle sometimes. She also wore a watch encased in a bracelet sometimes.
This watch was gifted to her by her trustworthy advisor, inamorata, and
long-term companion Robert Dudley and is the first known wrist watch in
England.
The queen used to wear rich velvet
cloaks on the gown, gloves of cloth or leather while going out. In warm
weather, she wore a hat to protect her face from the sun. For riding or
hunting, she had special riding outfit which made her movements comfortable and
easier. She also had knee-high boots.
The queen’s appearance could not
touch the height of dignity if she did not put on make-up on her face. In her
childhood, she wore a little make-up. However, she started putting tons of
make-up on her face to hide the scars occurred because of the attack of
smallpox in 1562. Moreover, she painted her face with white lead and vinegar,
put rouge on her lips, and painted her cheeks with red dye and the white
portion of egg. This kind of make-up was absolutely detrimental to one’s skin,
especially the white lead, as it slowly poisoned the body. The condition of the
dental treatment was not hopeful at all in Elizabeth’s time. As a result,
people struggled a lot to maintain their dental health properly. Elizabeth had
to remove some of her teeth as she grew older. To prevent the appearance of her
hollow cheeks, she stuffed rags in her mouth. Wearing a wig was an inevitable
part of fashion and Elizabeth did not overlook this matter. She started wearing
wig from her young age.
The queen had a compact influence
on the fashion of her time without any doubt and she encouraged her courtiers
to bear the sense of fashion with elegance.
·
How
did the aristocratic men dress up?
The most common upper garment for
men was the doublet, a short, stiff, tight-fitting jacket which was made of
wool, leather, or thick fabric. Minor changes were noticeable in the design of
doublet as a sign of fashion as the lower hem of the doublet which started off
straight but then developed into a deep V-form pointing downwards at the front.
Extra padding was also a new addition in the design of some doublets over the
abdomen to imitate armour. However, this kind of design ended up making the
wearer look as if he had been strutting like a peacock. This type of padding
was known as “bombast” and was made of wool, cotton, or horsehair and was also
used in the other areas of the body in order to create a fashionable shape to
the outer clothing. Detachable cuffs and collars were highly fashionable too
and were made from stiffened linen or lace. Ruffs became even more outlandish
and required wire supports.
The hands of the doublet could be
separated. They could be closed too with hooks, laces, or buttons. The
shoulders of the doublet could have wings as well as decorative tabs hanging at
the waist known as “pickadills.” During the winter season, a man could wear a
jerkin waistcoat which could be of any cut, length, or material. Cloaks and
semi-circular capes were also worn. Trousers and upper garments were often
slashed vertically in places so that the underclothing could bulge through the
gaps in a decorative way.
When it was the matter of making
belts, gloves, hats, and shoes, leather was given much priority as the chief
element. Leather was made more decorative by tooling it. The shape of men’s
shoes was generally square-toed without noticeable heel. Earlier types of
footwear were slip-on, but laces and buckle came into fashion at the end of
Elizabethan era. Courtiers often wore fancy slippers made from silk or velvet.
Leather boots were needed while riding.
Colour was often contrasted in the
same outfit. The most common colours for the aristocracy were red, blue,
yellow, green, gray, and brown. All the colours came from the natural dyes
which tended to fade soon. As a result, wearing the brightest colours clearly
showed that one had worn the brand new clothes. Some of the dyes, for example,
scarlet and black were too costly. So, these colours were another indication of
status and wealth. Similarly, buttons which were small in size but large in
number were also an indication of wealth. Buttons could be either made cheapest
using wood, bone, or horn or more dazzling using gold, silver, or pewter.
Garment could be closed by tying a ribbon instead of buttons. The ribbons were
known as “points” and their ends could be decorated with pieces of metal. Both
men and women wore girdles or belts in the absence of pockets from which
purses, daggers, and rapiers for men and mirrors, grooming kits, and fans for
women were hung.
For men, linen underclothes, shirts
and long shorts were often embroidered and given lace decoration. Trousers
often featured a codpiece which was padded covering of the crotch. The codpiece
could be untied when required. But it was replaced by buttons by the end of the
century.
·
The
“outfit ballad” of the upper-class ladies:
Aristocratic women used to wear
long dresses. The kirtle dress was fitted and so long that the feet of the
wearer could not be seen. Though skirts were free-flowing in the early
Elizabethan reign, the rigid skirts were given the shape of bell or cylinder to
make them more fashionable. The form of bell or cylinder was created by a
series of hoops under the skirt or inside the undergarment. This new pattern of
skirt was known as “wheeled farthingale” and it had a padded roll around the
waistline to push the exterior garment outwards so that the material of the
dress could fall perpendicular.
If the upper-class ladies did not
want to wear kirtle, a series of light skirts (petticoats) combined with bodice
(a stiff garment made from wool and emphasized a narrow waistline) could be
chosen as an alternative. Bodices even constricted the upper body. They were
given rigidity by attaching thin pieces of whalebone, wood, or metal. Finer
bodices were closed with buttons or hooks and could be fastened at the front,
side, or back. Sometimes, a reinforcing piece of wood called “busk” was
inserted at the front of the bodice and held in position with the help of
ribbon in the centre of the breast. The neckline of women’s bodices varied in
cut. In the mid-16th century the cut was low, then rose overtime,
and finally became low again by the end of the century. Aristocratic ladies
could attach sleeves to their bodice if it was worn as an outer dress.
A third alternative was also
available to the high-born ladies which was gown. A gown was essentially a
skirt and a bodice attached together and worn over undergarments. This outfit
of women was the most expensive and extravagant in the whole Elizabethan era.
The gown was usually worn with false sleeves and decorated with pearls, jewels,
and gold brocades.
The children of the wealthy people
also dressed like the elder and looked like miniature adults. Moreover, boys up
to the age of five or six were dressed as the girls with plenty of frilly laces
and brocades.
·
What
did the commoners choose to wear?
The common people wore similar
clothes like the aristocrats, but the materials were quite cheaper. Workers had
to wear durable outfits in their work instead of wearing anything restrictive
or grand. Materials, such as cheaper linen, linen canvas, hemp canvas, and
lockram from coarse hemp, were used for regular wear. For this reason, hemps
were made of more durable materials to bear the extra stress. Aprons of thick
fabric or leather were worn to protect clothes. Commoners could arrange a
special outfit for them with affordable luxurious satin which was ten times
cheaper than damask. As dyes were expensive, grey and brown shades were the
most common colours in the clothing of the lower-class people.
Hoses remained popular with
working-class people although aristocrat men preferred to wear trunkhose.
Lower-class women sometimes wore sleeveless bodices and fastened them with
laces, but the upper-class women did not do this. A wool or linen cap or flat
hat was commonly worn, even indoors. Hats for the rich people were made of
leather or fur whereas the commoners had to choose straw hats. Source of the whole discussion on outfit: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xf71zTZRfJb2ba4ucWzpZid15hJ1eaLJ/view?usp=drivesdk)
·
Laws
and regulations on fashion:
Queen Elizabeth was the only
monarch who imposed sumptuary laws in order to curb profligacy on clothing and
ensure that only the elite class would hold the possession of finest clothes.
Some middle-class young people wasted money and outspent their inheritances in
order to keep pace with the trend of fashion set by the rich people. Moreover,
restrictions became inevitable so that the religious values of Protestantism
which called for more austere clothing could not be hurt and plainer home
production could not run at loss due to the imported dazzling clothes.
The established rules were:
è Only
the members of the royal family could wear purple.
è The
earls were able to wear gold clothes.
è The
peers and their family could were woolen clothes imported from abroad.
è The
commoners were banned from wearing furry clothes and stockings made from
material costing more than a certain price per yard.
If anyone broke the
laws, they had to pay fine and the cloth was seized. However, many Elizabethans
of all classes were willing to put on sophisticated wearing at the cost of
fines.
3.4.2.
Food habit:
Dishes
of delicacy versus dishes of simplicity:
The items which the
rich people usually ate are:
·
Mutton with claret
·
Servile orange juice
·
Spinach tart
·
Cheese cake
·
Custard
·
Creamy meringues
·
Wine
On the other hand, diet
for the poorer people was much simpler and more monotonous. They used to eat
·
Dark bread and cheese with a little
occasional meat
·
Vegetables were for those who could not
afford anything
·
Potatoes
·
Barley (for the labourers)
·
Beer instead of wine (for the
middle-class)
Sugar was fantastically
a common love for all the classes. Many dishes were coated with sticky sweet glazes.
Besides, it was generously added to wine, fish, meat, egg, and also other
dishes. Excess amount of sugar blackened people’s teeth. (Source of information: Book: Shakespeare, Writer: Bill Bryson, Page:
53)
3.4.3.
Status and wealth:
The
noblemen and the gentry:
These people had the
following:
·
They had multiple storied houses with
lots of glasses in the windows.
·
Orchards and kitchen gardens were also
in their possession which allowed them to relish different types of fruits.
·
The Elizabethan noblemen and gentry
gained their wealth from their land. Though they were very small in number,
perhaps 2%, over half of the land in England was occupied by them. They always tried to build and extend their
homes with a view to reflecting their status.
·
Since they were the owners of large
estates, they did not have to work. That’s why, they could enjoy their leisure
pursuits such as hunting.
·
These people also had high political
power. They acted as Justice of the Peace and helped the monarchs maintain laws
in the provinces. Some of them were the Members of the Parliament and helped
the queen govern the country.
The
“middling sort”:
·
The houses of the yeomen were much
bigger than the labourers who worked for them. The chimneys, glasses in the
windows, rooms including two stories denoted their status.
·
In the town, the “middling sort” group
was formed by tradesmen and craftsmen who ran their own businesses. In the
countryside, the term “middling sort” referred to yeomen and husbandmen who
farmed some lands of their own. Their condition was not as luxurious as the
nobility or the gentry. Nevertheless, they did not lead a miserable life like
the labouring poor.
The
labouring poor:
·
These unfortunate people consisted half
of the population of England. Their houses were quite simple and one-storied.
Chimneys or glasses in the windows were not available in the houses. A labourer had very few possessions, perhaps
a bed, a chair, and a table.
·
Most of the poor people worked in the
countryside on the farms of the yeomen and husbandmen. Apart from this job, some
people also chose to be weaver,
Few labourers worked on the same
farm throughout the year and others went from farm to farm looking for work.
The landowners needed lots of workers during the harvest time. However, the
labourers had nothing to do in the rest of the time. So, they faced much
difficulty in arranging money for food and fuel.
·
Some labourers were fortunate enough to
have an acre of land and they could graze their animals on the lands in
accordance with the common rights. Two-thirds of the labourers had only their
cottages and gardens. Though some poor labourers built houses on waste lands,
an act of the Parliament stopped this stating that all the houses had to have
at least four acres of land.
· In 1594, rough weather caused terrible harvests and grains. As a result, the price of harvest soared up. This led to hardship for countless poor people. The condition of harvests in 1596 and 1598 was even worse for which many labourers and their families starved to death. Source of information about status and wealth: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xtcSgwKSkw7n_bpUaisInqT6YhFFgY7R/view?usp=drivesdk)
3.5.
Bottom’s psychology:
The character Bottom is constantly trying to be
bossy or domineering in his group. He is behaving in such a manner as if he
were the ultimate decision-maker of the troupe. Bottom is, in fact, deriving pleasure by
doing all these things. A high-level of dopamine is released in his body when
he experiences pleasure.
If we analyze Bottom’s psychology from Freudian
perspective, then we can say that Bottom is actually indulged by the pleasure
principle. The pleasure-unpleasure principle or the pleasure principle is the
process to strive pleasure every time. It is the driving force of the id that
seeks immediate satisfaction of all the needs such as hunger, anger, greed, sex
etcetera. In the childhood, children want to satisfy their needs as early as
possible since the pleasure principle remains highly active at that phase of
life. However, ego develops around the age 5 or 6 and controls the destructive
urges of the id to keep pace with the reality.
The dopamine hormone is released in our body and
helps us float in the sea of pleasure. So, we love to secure all the comfort
for ourselves. When the level of dopamine release is increased and the amount
is high in our body, we love to possess everything pleasurable and lavish in
our life. It is known to all that money can buy all the luxury for us. As a result, we crave for instant and intense
pleasure with the help of money if we do not have any superior or spiritual
goal. Craving for cocaine or sex are responsible for the excess amount of
dopamine. When it becomes compulsive, we call it addiction.
·
Why
does Bottom seek pleasure/ is desiring to be the ultimate decision-maker?
If we desire something, we are more
or less greedy for that particular thing. Though the word greed has a negative
connotation, there is both good greed and bad greed. Good greed is
self-improvement in a healthy way by showing respect to others’ success,
attitude of learning from the failure, and social cohesion. On the other hand,
bad greed includes manipulation, deception, exploitation, and self-aggrandizement.
One can use others as a mere tool to reach the peak of success being pushed by
their id.
According to Plato, there are two
worlds- world of materialism and the world of Idea/Form. He believes that the
objects we see or the way we perceive the world with our senses are deceptive.
The objects what we see are the imperfect shadows of the real things which
exist in the world of Idea. The pure knowledge of anything can be gained
through the study of ideas and ideas can be achieved through reason. Plato
believes that human beings are divided into two parts- body and soul. On one
hand, our body possesses the senses. On the other hand, our soul possesses the
reasons and logic which help us connect to the realm of Ideas. This great Greek
philosopher concludes that since our soul is immortal and spiritual, it must
have existed in the world of Idea before our birth and will go back there after
our death. So, the concepts of various objects remain innate among us and we
can recollect those concepts when we see them in front of our eyes. In the
portrait of The School of Athens,
Plato points towards the sky. He, in fact, emphasizes on the notion that rules,
regulations, properties create discrimination among people and human beings
give higher priority to the fulfillment of their physical instincts in this mundane
world which obstruct them to establish a deep connection to the world of Idea and
attain the knowledge of reason as well as logic in an equal manner. That’s why,
the dream of the formation of a Utopian society shatters there. (Source: The Little Book of Philosophy)
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xvdd6exXPbtwFBzxRiakkUTg9nIKVLoA/view?usp=drivesdk)
A metaphor can be used to explain
this world of materialism, indiscrimination, and disparity.
In the Star Wars monopoly game, one
can play either on the Rebel or on the Empire side. One’s only mission is to
conquer the planets and build bases so that one can dominate the universe. When
other players land on a particular player’s planet, they owe rent to that
particular player. The vice versa situation can also take place. Powerful Force
cards can change a player’s destiny, but there can be only one winner. When all
the planets are owned by a specific player and if the Force is with him, then
he will be the ultimate winner,
This game definitely reflects the
social condition to some extent. It portrays the truth that the more a person
conquers the world with force, the more powerful he becomes and craves for
more. This tendency sets a distance with others which is not positive all the
time.
The famous Austrian psychoanalyst
and the founder of modern psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud has introduced us with
three psychic apparatuses of human mind. The apparatuses are- the id, the ego,
and the superego.
The id is consisted of the
primitive instincts (all the vices like jealousy, anger, hunger, retaliation,
greed etcetera), sex instincts, Eros (that contains the libido), and Thanatos
(the death instinct).
The ego represents reasons, logics,
and considerations and it creates a balance between the id and the superego.
The ego represents the reality principle.
Lastly, the superego or the ego
ideal is the upholder of the moral standards and rectitude. Its function is to
control the id’s impulses especially those which are forbidden by the society
such as unrestrained sex and aggression. It also persuades the ego to turn towards
the moralistic goals rather than simply the realistic ones. The superego
consists of two systems-the conscience and the ideal self. The conscience makes
the ego feel guilty if the ego fails to control the urges of the id. The ideal
self is an imaginary picture of how we ought to be, treat others, and behave as
the responsible members of the society.
.png)
Fig: 02. The Iceberg Metaphor
Freud represents the iceberg
metaphor of mind which implies the idea that only a fragment of our ideas or
feelings are visible to us while a big bulk of our mind is unconscious or
invisible to us. The superego and the id reside in the unconscious level and
the ego’s residence is in the preconscious section. The unconscious state of
our mind or the UCs is comprised of repressed feelings, for example, traumatic
event, violence, unacceptable sexual desires, irrational wishes, immoral urges,
shameful experiences, and selfish needs.
An emotion, feeling, or psychic act
goes through two stages between which a kind of censorship is interposed. In
the first phase, the act or emotion is unconscious and belongs to the UCs
system. If the act is inspected detrimental by the censorship, it cannot reach
the conscious stage. Then this act or emotion is known as repressed.
Repression is one of the most
famous defense mechanisms which Freud discovered first. This defense mechanism
refers to the unconscious domination of bitter or unacceptable feelings and
memories. Sometimes, repression is confused with suppression, but it should be
kept in mind that repression is the control of feelings in an unconscious way
whereas suppression is totally deliberate. There are two types of repression.
These are- primary and secondary.
The primary repression is the first
phase of repression where unacceptable desires are identified and prevented
from becoming conscious. The actual repression is the second phase of
repression, a follow-up process of the primary stage. (Source: Books: Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Other
Writings and The Unconscious, Writer:
Sigmund Freud)
A repressed feeling can meet three
kinds of destiny. Either the feeling remains wholly (or in part) or it is
transformed into a qualitatively different emotional charge, usually anxiety or
it is totally repressed or suppressed and prevented from developing at all. If
it is repressed or suppressed, then it comes in our dreams.
In the book The Interpretations of Dreams Freud wrote that dreams are
“disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes.” He also has described two
different components of dream. The components are- manifest content (actual
images) and latent content (hidden meaning).
Bottom is a low-bred person and
deprived of the luxury of life. He has a repressed desire to live his life like
the aristocrats in his unconscious state of mind. However, he cannot become
rich overnight. Still, he cherishes that wish. Pretending like the leader of
the troupe and the act of self-aggrandizement make him feel pleasure and
oxytocin is released in his body. The efferent and afferent neurons are the two
types of motor neurons which also contribute to the control of the feelings of
heat, cold, pleasure and pain. Bottom’s afferent neurons carry out signals from
the sensory stimuli influenced by the outside world to the brain. The efferent
neurons bring the signal from the brain to the muscle and he acts accordingly.
When Bottom returns to the real
world in the play, he heartily wants to discuss about his experience. Though he
remains bombastic all the time, he cannot utter even a single word about his
“most rare vision” because it “hath no bottom.” So, he wants Quince to write a
ballad on his dream entitled ‘Bottom’s Dream’. Bottom has complete faith that
poetic language will be able to capture his visionary experience. If we analyze
Bottom’s dream from the Freudian perspective, we will be able to scrutinize the
latent content of the dream.
The supporting points to analyze
the latent content of the dream are:
è Social perspective: Bottom thinks that his dream has the rarest vision and it has no bottom. The social disparity drew a thick border of status between the rich people and the poor people in the era of Queen Elizabeth. The working-class people or the labourers hardly had any connection with the superiors. As a result, it is quite hard for Bottom to believe that he has spent time with the queen of the fairies and the queen has expressed her utmost love for him.
Fig: 03. Bottom Is in the
Fairy Land
è The author’s psychology: Shakespeare
had been insulted time and again when he arrived at London in the beginning
years as he did not have any degree either from Cambridge or from Oxford. He
was neither a member of the University wit. Playwright and pamphleteer Robert
Greene was deeply resented with Shakespeare’s success. In a pamphlet Greene’s Groats-Worth of Wit Bought with a
Million of Repentance, he refers to Shakespeare as “Shake-scene” and makes
a bitter attack on him by saying, “There is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger’s
heart wrapped in a Player’s hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a
blank verse as the best of you: an being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in
his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.” Ben Jonson famously told
that Shakespeare had “small Latin and less Greek” to mean that Shakespeare was
not a scholarly figure at all. All these demeaning remarks disheartened Great
Bard. So, he always had a latent and repressed desire to be a part of the group of
the erudite people. Shakespeare has fulfilled this wish successfully through
his timeless compositions.
è To unmask the reality of the
sophisticated class:
Actually, Shakespeare has tried to
unmask the real picture of the aristocratic people’s psychology through
Bottom’s attitude. He actually slaps his blue-blooded characters like Macbeth,
Gertrude etcetera. Though Macbeth is a high-ranking thane, his inordinate
aspiration leads him to assassinate Duncan to become king. In Hamlet, Gertrude’s marriage with Claudius is absolutely asymmetric
because she “cannot call it love for at her age.” According to Hamlet, Gertrude
has failed to use her “reasoning sense” like Bottom says, “Reason and love keep
little company.”
Negative
aspect of Bottom’s over-confidence:
Bottom has been overly confident
about his capability throughout the rehearsal. This over-confidence has pushed
him to place the proposal of displaying the moon, the wall, the candle
everything in their literal forms. This kind of proposal is surely a
demonstration of his poor decision because the literal demonstration of the
non-living things engenders agitation among the high-bred audience. An
experiment has been conducted by a team of scientists from the Monash
University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in
Leipzig about the connection between over-confidence and poor decision. The
team has published a study in the journal Social,
Cognitive, Affective Neuroscience which provides a deep insight regarding
this matter.
The authors include Professor Tania
Singer, head of the Department of Social Neuroscience, the Max Planck
Institute, in collaboration with Dr. Pascal Molenberghs from the Monash
University, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein, Dr. Anne Bockler. Dr. Philipp Kanske from the
Max Planck Institute.
The scientists analyzed data from
the ReSource Project which is a unique, large-scale study on Eastern and
Western methods of mental training performed at the Max Planck Institute. In
the context of a social cognition task performed in the brain scanner, the
volunteers watched a video of a person telling a story and then had to answer a
difficult question on what the person said.
People indicated how confident they
felt about the accuracy of their answers. Then the researchers measured how
good people were in evaluating the correctness of their answers through the
process of metacognition.
According to Dr. Molenberghs, the
more confident people were about their performances, the brain area striatum associated with reward processing gets more activated. However, too much
confidence was associated with lower metacognitive ability.
(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y3wLSTwfEOpzmaNN5iDMByY_7wQtVha0/view?usp=drivesdk)
N.B.
The
term metacognitive ability refers to the skill allows an individual to
organize, control, and evaluate his thought process related to learning,
decision-making, and problem-solving.
The character Bottom
might seem fathead, imbecile, bland, and unsophisticated apparently. But if we dig the inner layers
of this character, then we will be able to understand that maestro Shakespeare
has used this character as a lens to some grave themes which are worthy of
digging deeper in order to achieve a substantial understanding of human
psychology and the existing disparity in the Elizabethan era in every aspect of
life.
Comments
Post a Comment