No epilogue, I pray you, for your play needs no excuse. Never excuse, for when the players are all dead, there need none to be blamed.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1. Theseus says that no epilogue is necessary, as everybody is dead and no one needs to be blamed. This is a bit of irony, as Shakespeare does provide an epilogue to his play. It comes in the words of Puck’s final speech – "If we shadows have offended." He tells the audience that if they are offended by what they have seen to remember it as "but a dream."