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Trickster

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Trickster
Plays a major role in some figures represented in this course.
Midsummer Night's Dream & Hotel Emibago. What is the Trickster? What image does Shakespeare give him?

Shakespears "A Midsummer Night's Dream", was written at a highly liminal moment in European History, the end of the Renaissance and the unfolding of the Reformation. Shakespeare attributes a power to images through which humans can be incited to act, in particular fall in love, and assigns a decisive role in the manipulation of such images to the trickster figure of folk tales and myths. Throughout this essay I will be discussing the figure of the Trickster, what he is and the image which Shakespeare portrays to us.

The Trickster is traditionally known as a person who cheats or decieves people. Typically makes up for physical weakness with a cunning and subversive humour. In relation MSND, Puck, AKA Robin Goodfellow, AKA The Trickster, is a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. He is the closest thing to a protagonist and is responsible for many of the complications throughout the play. EG. The 2 lovers and Bottoms head. In the tricksters jokes there is always something out of place. This is because the Tricksters entertainment is never "good clear fun": someone always pays for it. The jokes are too strong, rude and even cruel: they make fun of already frail people and those undergoing tasks. The one thing he cannot stand is genuine involvement and enthusiasm. He looks down on and despises any human effort. He is ready to lie and mislead others on purpose to result in chaos and confusion. HOWEVER, it is important to understand that he does not hate them, merely does not care for them. (Hatred is a costly emotion); he simply fails to take them seriously and likes to experiment with them at their own expense. "Up and down, up and down/ I

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