How do you suppose the threat of being hanged if they scare the ladies will affect the artisans' interpretation of the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisby?

The rude mechanicals’ fear that they will be hanged for making Pyramus and Thisby too realistic results in a hilariously artificial performance. One of the actors swears that he fears the lion. Bottom is horrified at the idea of a lion in the presence of the aristocrats, and women, no less: “Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: to bring in—God shield us!—a lion among ladies, is a most dreadful thing.”

Bottom admits that hanging would be a just punishment for this behavior, but he says that, as the lion, “I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale.” Somehow, he plans to create a lion that is both compelling and entirely un-frightening.

The lion remains a great concern for the artisans, so Bottom and Snout insist that a prologue clarify that this is an actor and not a lion. In fact, the actor should announce his name. The lion, played by Snug rather than Bottom, dutifully delivers his prologue, assuring the “fearful” women that he is no lion. An amused Theseus comments that he is “A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.”

These actors succeed in putting on a play that is neither realistic nor remotely frightening. The only verisimilitude in the portrayal of the lion might be the actor’s sharp nails, if Snug followed Bottom’s advice to shape them into lion’s claws.