Do you think the presentation of the Mechanicals, and their play, is funny or patronising, or do you think Shakespeare intended us to take them seriously?

... Do you think the presentation of the Mechanicals, and their play, is funny or patronising, or do you think Shakespeare intended us to take them seriously? In the play I believe that the Mechanicals have no direct link to the lovers, I think that this highlights their role in the play as a source of comedy. Although one may be led to differ because of the Mechanical's performance at the end of the play I still believe this to be the case. The Mechanicals, who all have funny names, as a group represent simple, ordinary people. If not a little less intellectual and a little more clumsy than ordinary people. Their simplicity is reflected by the description of them as "Hard-handed men", this suggests that they are ordinary laborious people. Their preparations for an attempt to put on a play for Theseus and Hippolyta are ludicrous and hilarious but their honesty

want to read more? →