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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 5Scene 1
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"Cephalus and Procris
Mythological Reference
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 192-199

An explanation of Bottom and Flute’s mythological reference to Cephalus and Procris in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bottom (as Pyramus)

I see a voice. Now will I to the chink
To spy an I can hear my Thisbe's face.
Thisbe?

Flute (as Thisbe)

               My love — thou art my love, I think.

Bottom (as Pyramus)

Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace,
And like Lemander am I trusty still.

Flute (as Thisbe)

And I, like Helen, till the fates me kill.

Bottom (as Pyramus)

Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Flute (as Thisbe)

As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Either Quince or Bottom has again gotten the names wrong. The mythological characters to whom the Pyramus character is referring are named Cephalus and Procris, not Shafalus and Procrus. According to the myth, Procris suspected that her husband, Cephalus, was having an affair. The next time he went hunting, she followed in order to spy on him. Hearing a rustling in the bushes, Cephalus thought it was a wild boar and threw his spear, accidentally killing his wife. So once again Quince has chosen unfaithful characters as a symbol of faithfulness.

 

(Cephalus and Procris by Paolo Veronese, circa 1580)