In Act 4, Scene 1 in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the audience is treated to the hilarious spectacle of Bottom (still with his donkey's head) living large with Titania and her attendant fairies. In general, Bottom conducts himself with a great deal of pomposity and self-importance, ordering the fairies to serve him (which, among other things, involves mandating that Cobweb must scratch his head) and generally enjoying the devoted attention of both Titania and her helpers. The joke is, of course, on him, as he has an absurd donkey's head and is hardly attractive, but the dim-witted Bottom is completely unaware of the reality of his situation and insists on acting like a king. It would seem, therefore, that Bottom does confirm Puck's assertion that the bumbling "mechanical" is "the shallowest thickskin," as all of Bottom's actions suggest he is incapable of thinking critically about himself. Instead, Bottom chooses to shallowly bask in his absurd vanity, which at least makes for good comedy.
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