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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 1Scene 2
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"Mary" and "merry"
Wordplay
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 8-15

An explanation of the wordplay on “Mary” and “merry” in Act 1, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bottom

First, good Peter Quince, say what the play treats on,
then read the names of the actors, and so grow to a
point.

Quince

Mary, our play is The Most Lamentable Comedy and
Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Bottom

A very good piece of work, I assure you, and a
merry. Now, good Peter Quince, call forth your actors
by the scroll. Masters, spread yourselves.

Quince started his sentence with the interjection "Mary", (short for the Virgin Mary) which is similar to someone starting a sentence with "Well,". But Bottom thinks that Quince is saying that the play is “merry” (funny), and he assures his companions that this is indeed the case even though he hasn’t a clue what the play is about.