An I may hide my face, let me play Thisbe too, I’ll speak in a monstrous little voice: "Thisne, Thisne!" – "Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisbe dear, and lady dear!".
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1, Scene 2. As soon as director Quince starts assigning parts for the Mechanicals’ play, the silliness also begins and we see signs that these bungling amateurs are about to transform this Babylonian tragedy into a comedy. Bottom seems to want to take on every role in the play. Already assigned the character Pyramus, he also offers to play his tragic lover Thisbe. Arguing about his fitness for the female role, he maintains that he can make speak in a high-pitched tone – "a monstrous little voice," he says using an oxymoron. In Shakespeare’s time, women weren’t allowed perform on stage and so men had to play their parts.