<P> Godshalk further cites the work of George Steevens, who was able to find two vaguely parallel examples in seventeenth - century drama . In George Chapman's The Ball, Scutilla asks Lady Lucina,' have you devices / To jeer the rest?' Lucina answers,' All the regiment of' em, or I'll break my bow - strings' (II. ii. 127 - 9). Godshalk argues that the context implied by' regiment' is important, as it implies that the breaking (or cutting) of bowstrings should be seen in terms of military rather than civilian archery . Steeven's other example is from Anthony Brewer's The Covntrie Girle: A Comedie:' Fidler, strike . / I strike you else;--and cut your begging bowstrings' . Godshalk writes that "the first' strike' means' to play upon' the fiddle; the second' strike' may again suggest a military context for the cutting of bowstrings, though any reference to military archery is comic since the' bow' in this case is the fiddler's bow ." </P> <P> Godshalk argues that, just as these examples indicate a military context, this must also be done with Bottom's "hold or cut bow - strings ." He further cites Jean Froissart's account of the Battle of Crecy, which supports the military origin of Bottom's line: "When the Genoese felt the arrows piercing through their heads, arms, and breasts, many of them cast down their crossbows, and cut their strings, and resumed discomfited ." Archers would cut their bowstrings, thus destroying their weapons, in the midst of a retreat so that the enemy could not use their own instruments against them . It is the equivalent of striking artillery, rendering the equipment useless . With this understanding, Bottom's phrase can be interpreted as a military expression for "hold your position, or give up and retreat ." In the context of the play, Bottom is being comically pretentious, saying: "Be present at the rehearsal, or quit the troupe ." </P> <P> Actors who have played the role on film include Paul Rogers, James Cagney and Kevin Kline . In the BBC Television Shakespeare version he is played by Brian Glover . </P> <P> Bottom has been the subject of several paintings . German composer Hans Werner Henze has used Bottom twice as an inspiration: in the second sonata which comprises his Royal Winter Music and in his Eighth Symphony . </P>

Who does bottom play in a midsummer night's dream
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