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All Site ContentMidsummer Night's DreamAct 5Scene 1
Back to the Play
"the wall is down"
Humor
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 342-346

An explanation of Bottom’s humorous reference to the wall at the end of the play in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Theseus

Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

Demetrius

Ay, and Wall too.

Bottom

No, I assure you, the wall is down that parted
their fathers. Will it please you to see the epilogue, or to
hear a bergamask dance between two of our company?

When Theseus jokes that only Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead, Demetrius adds that the Wall is also left. But Bottom misses the joke and interprets Demetrius’ statement to mean that an actual wall has been left standing, so he points out that in the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe the wall is torn down after the tragic death of the two lovers.