If I had to choose one word used in A Midsummer Night's Dream to describe Puck, it would be "merry." Puck appropriately describes himself with that word, calling himself a "merry wanderer." He is both the spirit that can whizz around the earth in a rapid-fire 40 minutes, and also the merry sprite who wanders at a slower pace through the forest, thoroughly enjoying the mischief and hi-jinks caused by love gone awry.
Puck, also...
If I had to choose one word used in A Midsummer Night's Dream to describe Puck, it would be "merry." Puck appropriately describes himself with that word, calling himself a "merry wanderer." He is both the spirit that can whizz around the earth in a rapid-fire 40 minutes, and also the merry sprite who wanders at a slower pace through the forest, thoroughly enjoying the mischief and hi-jinks caused by love gone awry.
Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, would have been a familiar character to contemporary audiences. A mischievous figure from English folklore, he is as connected to Midsummer's Eve as Santa Claus is today to Christmas. Puck is the ultimate prankster who enjoys the tricks he plays. He is the embodiment of the idea that life doesn't always work out as we plan or, as Lysander puts it, that "the course of true love never did run smooth."
Merry Puck enjoys turning Bottom's head into an ass's head and finds merriment when Titania, a queen, falls in love with Bottom. Although he doesn't mean to put the love potion in the wrong person's eyes, the mistake makes him merry. As he says: "then will two at once woo one / that must needs be sport alone."
He laughs at taking love too seriously, saying one of the most famous lines in the play: "Lord, what fools these mortals be."
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