Fortunately they never detected them in this play. In Midsummer Night's Dream Pyramus and Thisbe were an established allegory for Jesus and the Church, and the Wall was an allegory for the partition between Earth and Heaven--as shown in research by Professor Patricia Parker.
Now John Hudson's work shows the identity of the remaining characters and what the overall plot means.
|
Bottom/Pyramus= Jesus |
Oberon=Yahweh
the Hebrew God |
|
Flute/Thisbe= the
Church |
Little ‘Indian’
boy= the real Hebrew messiah |
|
Titania=
Titus Caesar |
Mr Rocky Cornerstone-=
St Peter |
|
Puck/Robin=
the devil |
His Votress mother=
The Virgin Mary |
|
Peter
Quince- Petros Quoin |
Bees= the Maccabees,
Jewish rebels |
|
The Wall=
partition between earth and heaven |
The fantastic plot is a comic Jewish satire in which Yahweh takes revenge upon Titus-first deceiving 'Titania' with the Flower/Gospel into falling in love with Bottom/Jesus, then administering the poison used in the Crucifixion. After the death of Pyramus which is a comic lampoon of the Crucifixion, the Play concludes with Apocalypse, the end of Christianity and establishing a Jewish New Year.
Further Reading; John Hudson 'A Midsummer Night's Dream;An Experiment in Allegorical Stagecraft ' (2008) The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.
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