Puck: Everyone's Favorite Fairy
             Throughout the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream we meet many characters. Some are funny, some are mean, and some we feel sorry for. However, no character is adored so much as Puck, the agent of the fairy king. Puck is a mischievous little fairy that does King Oberon's dirty work, and finds humor at the expense of others. Audiences and critics love the tiny sprite, and time after time he steals the show. With such classic lines as "Lord, what fools these mortals be", it is impossible to not see why.
             Stuart Tave, author of the book Lovers, Clowns, and Fairies, talks extensively of the fairies in Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream and especially about Puck. He refers to the fairy kingdom as the most remarkable characters in the play, with their names both naturally and romantically more than nature. He labels them to be both overwhelming and delicate, and not subject to morality, time, or space. It is Puck who is "swifter than arrow from Tarter's bow, can put a girdle on the earth in 40 minutes". He calls Puck the merry wander of the night. Tave also points out that Puck, along with the rest of Shakespeare's fairy kingdom, is invisible to the human's of the play. They can observe them and read their thoughts, and alter their thoughts to make them do what they so desire. Through this, the play becomes, what Tave refers to as, a funny foolish mortal show Puck is directing and watching. Tave calls Puck a trickster, who can do both mischief and unexpected helpful deeds to those who should be and need to be helped. He also, however, points out that Puck and the fairy's, like humans, do have some weaknesses. This is seen when Puck misunderstands Oberon's orders and puts the juice in the wrong man's eyes.
             Williams Hazlitt sees Puck in a similar light. He calls Puck the leader of the fairy band, a mad-capped sprite,...