Puck: If we shadows have offended

At a glance

• Character: Puck — A spirit, traditionally presented as male.
• Useful for: Beginners, teens and adults.
• Rehearsal challenge: A useful first verse speech.
• Text: The complete uninterrupted speech identified below, extracted from the public-domain source edition. It is one speech within a longer play.

Timing is an estimate, not an audition guarantee. Time your own delivery with pauses and reactions. The character description explains the play; actors of any gender may explore the role in practice, subject to the requirements of a particular production or audition.

What happens immediately before this speech?

The lovers' night in the forest has ended, the marriages have been celebrated, and Oberon's fairies have blessed the house. Puck now steps outside the action to address the theatre audience directly. The apology is also a request: accept the play as a dream, forgive anything that displeased you, and applaud.

Speaking to: The audience in front of you. Unlike many soliloquies, this epilogue openly acknowledges them.

What the character wants: Win the audience's goodwill and leave with a sign that the relationship is repaired.

A change to explore: An explanation becomes a promise, then a direct request for the audience's hands.

The complete speech

Puck · A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1 in MIT’s Complete Works of Shakespeare. The spoken wording follows that edition; stage directions are omitted. Verse line breaks are retained. Prose is displayed as a paragraph. Other editions may differ in spelling, punctuation or line division.

The thought in plain English

If the performance offended you, imagine that you were asleep and dreaming. Be generous with us and we will do better. If we escape your disapproval tonight, we will make amends; give us your applause if we part as friends.

This CueRoom paraphrase is a study aid. The rehearsal demo uses Shakespeare’s wording above.

Words and phrases to understand

shadows

The performers or imagined figures of the play.

reprehend

Blame or criticize.

the serpent's tongue

A hissing response of disapproval from the audience.

Give me your hands

An invitation to applaud, as well as a gesture of friendship.

Acting questions

• What response from this particular audience makes an apology necessary?
• Where does charm give way to a real need for forgiveness?
• Does calling yourself an honest Puck feel like a promise, a joke or both?
• What changes when you finally ask for their hands?

A rehearsal experiment

Give each of the four recorded beats a different task: reassure, ask, promise and invite. Speak once to a friendly audience and once to a doubtful one. Keep the words the same while changing how much work the invitation needs to do.

Keep the scene playable

The short lines can tempt you into a singsong rhythm. Let the request carry the verse, and allow the audience a moment to receive the final invitation. Short length makes this manageable to learn; sustaining a direct relationship with an audience remains a useful challenge.

Rehearse Puck’s monologue free in CueRoom

The real rehearsal app opens with this exact speech divided into 4 thought beats. Choose Practice my lines to recall each beat, or Listen to the recording to hear the prepared reading. Prompt plays the current beat; bookmarks help you return to a difficult transition.

How to memorize this speech

Learn the rhyming pairs together, then recall the first word of each new thought without looking. Rhyme can remind you of an ending, but check the middle of each line instead of guessing your way to the next rhyme.

Try recalling a beat before revealing it, check the exact wording, and then connect it to the following beat. Once the sequence holds, run the whole speech with a listener and intention. Use the monologue preparation plan for a short deadline or the line-learning guide for a longer rehearsal routine.

Choosing it for an audition or class

An epilogue addresses an audience openly. Check whether your audition permits an epilogue or requires a character speaking within a scene.

Read the surrounding scene and check the audition’s period, duration and edition requirements. Make any permitted cut before learning it. This public demo always uses the complete selected speech shown above.

Related Shakespeare monologues

• Beatrice: What fire is in mine ears? — After overhearing a conversation arranged for her benefit, Beatrice decides to put aside scorn and return Benedick's supposed love.
• Olivia: What is your parentage? — After Cesario leaves, Olivia replays their conversation and discovers how quickly attraction has disrupted her self-control.
• Jaques: All the world's a stage — Jaques answers the Duke's image of the world as a theatre by describing a human life as seven roles.

Compare all 12 Shakespeare speeches → · Explore the whole monologue library →

Text and rehearsal-note credits

Speech by William Shakespeare. MIT states that its HTML Shakespeare texts are placed in the public domain. Selection, context, plain-English explanation and rehearsal exercises on this page are prepared for CueRoom. The Shakespeare text is not an original CueRoom monologue or a modern copyrighted edition.

Working to a short time limit? Compare this piece with the one-minute monologue selection, then time your own delivery with pauses. The full text and prerecorded demo stay the same.