The trickster is definitely one of my favorite archetypal characters, and I find myself connecting to manifestations of the trickster whenever he appears in a book. The trickster’s pranks can often lead a person into a dangerous situation. It is important to point out that the trickster, although sometimes playful, is also something to be feared. Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn. Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,Īnd neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier: I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round, When Puck encounters the troupe of unskilled actors gathered in the woods, he decides to use his shape-shifting ability to taunt the actors. One of the powers of the trickster is the ability to change form. Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,Īnd ‘tailor’ cries, and falls into a cough Īnd then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,Īnd waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, You do their work, and they shall have good luck:Īnd when she drinks, against her lips I bob Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm? Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quernĪnd bootless make the breathless housewife churn Īnd sometime make the drink to bear no barm That frights the maidens of the villagery Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite When Puck (also known as Robin Goodfellow) first appears in Act II, one of the fairies immediately recognizes him as the trickster.Įither I mistake your shape and making quite, Tricksters “…violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis.” The Trickster crosses both physical and often breaks societal rules. Lewis Hyde describes the Trickster as a “boundary-crosser”. Tricksters are archetypal characters who appear in the myths of many different cultures. Anyway, I figured for this post I would take a look at Puck as a manifestation of the trickster archetype. And reading it again this time was no exception. I’ve read this play several times and have seen it performed more times than I can recount, but I still enjoy it every time.
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