BOTTOM, NICK

a weaver and the most important of the six mechanicals in Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. Bottomtogether with Peter Quince, a carpenter, Francis Flute, a bellows mender, Tom Snout, a tinker, Snug, a joiner, and Robin Starveling, a tailorinitiates a series of low-comedy antics that contrast with the machinations of the aristocratic lovers. Bottom and the other tradesmen present a performance of the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe. In both the planning and the execution, their enactment provides some of the most hilarious and memorable horseplay in all of Shakespeare's comedies.