Shakespeare and Comedy

Bevington, etal.Shakespeare: Script, Stage Screen

DefinitionWhile there is general agreement about what constitutes a tragedy, scholars and theorists have reached little accord on comedy.

Although all of Shakespeare’s comedies are set in foreign locales (except The Merry Wives of Windsor), each retains a distinctly Elizabethan quality, especially among the common characters

Types of comedyScholars and critics have typed Shakespeare’s works as

Romantic ComedyRomanceComedy of mannersFarce and slapstickBawdy comedyGrotesque comedySentimental comedy

Yet his works seem to defy simple classification

14 of 35 in First Folio were placed under the heading of “Comedies”TODAY, two of them THE TEMPEST and THE WINTER’S TALE are regarded as Romances

MEASURE FOR MEASURE and ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL are classified as Problem Plays

Effect of comedyShakespeare’s comedies extend beyond our normal assumption that it makes people laugh and ends happily

Tragedy is ennobling/Comedy is foolish

Comedy is fundamentally democratic

Stakes are not as high in comedy as in tragedy

Tragedy deals with the individual/Comedy with groups

Comic characters are at odds with the norms of society

Northrop Frye observes that Shakespeare’s comedies are initiated by “irrational law”

In “Taming of the Shrew,” a young woman cannot marry until her older sister is wed

Hermia is sentenced to death in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” if she does not marry the man her father prefers

In the first act of “As You Like It” Rosalind is banished from court because she is her father’s daughter

A death threat is at the heart of “Comedy of Errors”

The spirit of carnival pervades Shakespeare’s comedies Disguises and wearing masks Women dress as men Those women who do not cross-dress rail

against men as Beatrice and Katharina do

Treatment of women Marriages seem to be a

patriarchal right When women revolt against their

role, they need to be “reformed”

OTHER CRITICS SUGGEST Women are true subversives in

society They choose to enter into

marriages as equals

Other qualities in Shakespeare comedy

Shakespeare demonstrates ingenious wordplay Most comedies contain about 80 puns. Love’s

Labours Lost features almost 200 For Shakespeare, puns were not the lowest

form of comedy Malaprops are frequently in evidence (Peter

Quince and Nick Bottom; Dogberry; the twin Dromios)

Much of his humor is the product of a character using language, not wisely, but too much…verbosity is not a good quality in his comic characters (see example following)

Love’s Labour’s Lost (I.2.161-)

ADRIANO DE ARMADO I do affect the very ground, which is base, whereher shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, whichis basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, whichis a great argument of falsehood, if I love. Andhow can that be true love which is falselyattempted? Love is a familiar; Love is a devil:there is no evil angel but Love. Yet was Samson sotempted, and he had an excellent strength; yet wasSolomon so seduced, and he had a very good wit.Cupid's butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club;and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier.The first and second cause will not serve my turn;the passado he respects not, the duello he regardsnot: his disgrace is to be called boy; but hisglory is to subdue men. Adieu, valour! rust rapier!be still, drum! for your manager is in love; yea,he loveth. Assist me, some extemporal god of rhyme,for I am sure I shall turn sonnet. Devise, wit;write, pen; for I am for whole volumes in folio.

And to conclude…“the conflation of inventive plots, memorable characters, and well-crafted speeches encourages actors to use their comedic talents to make many scenes in Shakespeare’s comic plays laugh-out-loud funny.”

References Barber, C.L. Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy.

Princeton, 1959. Barton, Anne. The Names of Comedy. Toronto, 1990. Brown, John Russell. Shakespeare and his Comedies.

London, 1968. Dollimore, Johathan, and Alan Sinfield, eds. Political

Shakespeare. Manchester, England, 1985. Evans, Bertrand. Shakespeare’s Comedies. Oxford,

1960. Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, 1957.