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Comedy

With particular relevance to Shakespeare and 'As You Like It'.

Definitions

Romantic Comedy. Begins with wretchedness and the threat of danger but ends happily. Shakespeare, as most writers, influenced by this classical notion of comedy. Unlike tragedy, which deals with Kings and Princes, comedy deals with people low in the social scale, people of the streets, city and country. In Shakespearean comedy "Princes and Dukes, lords and ladies, jostle with merchants, weavers, joiners, country sluts, friendly rogues, schoolmasters, parsons and the village policemen, hardly one of whom is incapable of a generous impulse."

Satiric Comedy. Teaches by exposing the errors of people. Example: Jonson. "A harsh ethic in the plays yokes punishment with derision; foibles are persecuted and vices flayed; simpletons are savaged for being what they are." Coghill. There is very little of this in 'As You Like It' although 'Measure for Measure' has a good deal of this type of satire in it. Perhaps Touchstone is the victim of some satiric intentions in 'As You Like It'.

Aspects of comedy as a genre.

The role of comedy. Emphasises the ridiculous in life. We laugh at life's absurdity, not cry.

Comedy as the other side of the coin to tragedy. Comedy negates tragic feeling; it allows us to escape the seriousness of life.

Comedic dramatic dilemma. A comedy is a study in the reactions of the characters to the absurd situation in which they find themselves.

The happy ending. Problems are resolved in comedy. Groups of characters in relationships conclude with a scene which brings the various elements of the drama into some kind of stability.

The play begins with a non-comic situation; the action of the comedy overcomes that early block.

Intrigue. A notable aspect of Shakespearean comedy. The intrigues lead characters into comic dilemmas, in which (the intrigues and the characters) appear funny. Games that might, in other circumstances, be potentially tragic or fraught with difficulty allow the audience to experience a release from the seriousness of real life, hence the element of dream in Shakespearean comedy - 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'- and of being released from the implications of time - 'As You Like It'.

Artificiality. Note that comedy can be quite artificial but tragedy can not. As comedy involves a release fro reality it has often been seen appropriate by Shakespeare to set the comedies in unreal situations, involving a sequence of absurd events and dilemmas. Non-realistic traditions are often exploited too. Folk tale and fairy tale are heavily exploited. The artificiality of the settings, dilemmas and events reinforce dramatically the transcendence of historical reality.

Comedy is a form of consolation, as is tragedy. With comedy we are allowed to be released from the weight of significance of the events in our own actual lives. Events are reversible in their significance in comedy. The evil Duke is overthrown; our trials - rather than destroy us - can lead to good, etc.

Human folly is the subject of all comedy. "For comedy is the strategy of obtaining security from the threats of life. It does not stand up to death or catastrophic events, but eliminates them."

Folly is particularly important in 'As You Like It' and its presence should be noted in a range of characters, with Touchstone being of central importance.

A didactic element in comedy? "The function of comedy is to correct men's vices." Moliere.

The quest for identity. A standard theme in shakespearean comedy, perhaps all comedy. In 'As You Like It' an important theme.