巴顿在《仲夏夜之梦》中提供了很多喜剧，事实上，他的名字似乎是为了取悦观众。今天尤其如此，正如约翰·萨瑟兰（John Sutherland）和塞德里克·瓦茨（Cedric Watts）所证实的，在伊丽莎白时代的英国，“底部”一词有着更为具体的含义：

[The name] obviously suggests "buttocks" to modern audiences. Holland, p. 147, says that there is no proof that "bottom" had that meaning when Shakespeare was writing. I think it would be unwise to underestimate Shakespeare's associative talents, particularly where the human body is concerned. "Bottom," at that time, could certainly refer to the base of anything and to the capacious curvature of a ship, so an association with "buttocks" seems natural enough. -Sutherland and Watts, Henry V, War Criminal? and Other Shakespeare Puzzles. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, 213-14.

他是典型的喜剧傻瓜：观众嘲笑他可笑的角色，而不是和他一起笑。他自命不凡，相信自己可以扮演机械师角色中的任何角色：

Bottom That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure. To the rest: yet my chief humour is for a tyrant: I could play Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates; And Phibbus' car Shall shine from far And make and mar The foolish Fates. This was lofty! Now name the rest of the players. This is Ercles' vein, a tyrant's vein; a lover is more condoling.

不幸的是，这出戏太差劲了，以至于很好，贵族们都嘲笑它，觉得表演很可笑，因此很有趣，而不是把它当作一部戏剧来欣赏。

当泰坦妮亚爱上他时，他不敢相信自己的运气，但当她要求她的仙女们照顾他时，他很快就扮演了国王的角色：

Bottom I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good Master Cobweb: if I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you. Your name, honest gentleman? Peaseblossom Peaseblossom. Bottom I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father. Good Master Peaseblossom, I shall desire you of more acquaintance too. Your name, I beseech you, sir? Mustardseed Mustardseed. Bottom Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well: that same cowardly, giant-like ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house: I promise you your kindred had made my eyes water ere now. I desire your more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed. (Act 3 Scene 1)

尽管有缺点，波顿还是很自信，在某些方面，这是一种令人钦佩的品质。我们都知道人们喜欢巴顿，这增加了我们对他的性格的享受。

巴顿缺乏自我意识，这让他成为了一个可爱的喜剧角色，他也无法抑制，即使在他的戏结束后，他仍会继续娱乐：

Bottom Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is, that the duke hath dined. Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; every man look o'er his part; for the short and the long is, our play is preferred. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen; and let not him that plays the lion pair his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words: away! go, away! (Act 4, Scene 2)