TITANIA: On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM: Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that. And yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 1. When Titania swears her love to the ass-headed Bottom, he immediately recognizes the absurdity of the situation. Still unaware that he has the head of a donkey, he has enough self-awareness to realize that a royal personage like Titania has no reason to love a lowly weaver. He may be regarded the fool of the play, but Bottom makes one of its wisest observations: that love and logic are seldom found together these days. Here we see a reversal of roles. Bottom is the wise one, while love and Oberon’s charm have transformed Titania into a blind fool.