The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.2235  Thursday, 16 December 1999.

From:           Terence Hawkes <
 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 >
Date:           Thursday, 16 Dec 1999 06:40:56 -0500
Subject: Re: Mrs. Bottom
Comment:        SHK 10.2219 Re: Mrs. Bottom

Though for some years Mrs. Bottom has limited herself to cameo roles,
she remains a pivotal element in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Witness her
startling thematic links with that work's other crucial character,
Nedar, Helena's mother. The plangency of Nedar's lines, delicately
probed by presentist criticism, is of course only one element of the
play's overriding concern with the plight of older women. However, John
Ciccarelli should be aware that far more urgent questions currently
clamour for the attention of members of SHAKSPER. For instance, did Lady
Macbeth really faint?

Terence Hawkes