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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 5Scene 1
Back to the Play
"die" and "ace"
Humor
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 300-305

An explanation of Theseus’ wordplay on “die” and “ace” in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Bottom (as Pyramus)

Now die, die, die, die, die.
[He dies]

Demetrius

No die but an ace for him, for he is but one.

Lysander

Less than an ace man, for he is dead; he is
nothing.

Theseus

With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover
and prove an ass.

Theseus adds to the humorous wordplay Lysander and Demetrius engaged in in the previous lines. If Pyramus could only be saved from “die-ing” by a surgeon, you could still call him an “ass.” (Back then, the words “ace” and “ass” were pronounced the same.)