You, ladies, you whose gentle hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
Then know that I, as Snug the joiner, am
A lion fell, nor else no lion’s dam.
For if I should as lion come in strife
Into this place, ’twere pity on my life.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1. The Mechanicals’ farsical performance of the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe continues with Snug entering playing the role of Lion. He addresses the ladies in the audience, concerned that they may tremble and shake at the sight and roar of a wild lion since they fear the smallest mouse. So he reassures them that he’s not really a lion, but is Snug the carpenter. He doesn’t appear to grasp the nature of theatre and that the audience will be able to distinguish between a pretend lion and a real one. There is also irony in his comment about the ladies being so fearful, as his female audience includes Hippolyta, the Amazon warrior queen.