key concepts and theories
Clowns and Fools
Clowns are ever-present thorough the history of comic drama, but they were especially important in Elizabethan comedies. Fools are divided into two groups-the licenced fool and the natural fool. The licenced fool is a professional fool whose job is to provide humour and mock the society around them as a source of laughter. The natural fools are from the lower classes and lack common sense and intelligence. They are providers of cruel laughter as a result of their timidity but also sympathetic laughter due to their innocence and child-like ignorance.
Comic Structure
Comic dramas often have a structure in which there is a movement from misfortune and chaos to fortune and harmony. During the comedy, chaos and misfortune may define the main body of the story, but there is still a movement towards reconciliation. The conclusion is often marked by a celebration or wedding, to emphasise the happy ending.
Green Worlds
A term first introduced by Northrop Frye in his book in 1957. The green world is a place where the unwritten rules of society do not exist and this makes it a place where problems can be solved. The comedy often starts in a real world, encompassing all the problems that come with it. There is a movement to a green world-often a wood or a forest but it doesn’t have to be- where problems are thought over and resolved. At the end, there must be a return to the ordinary world.
Inversion and Subversion
During different eras, drama has been considered morally wrong, politically dangerous and dubious, but comedy has always been considered even more so. The key roles of comedy are to mock the authoritative ones, to invert hierarchies, to transgress from social rules, and to challenge the political system. However, the fact that all problems and inversions are resolved at the end have led some critics to believe that, despite subversions, in the end, comedy really is a conservative genre.
The Lord Misrule
During the late medieval and early Tudor period, festivals where conducted by Lord of Misrule. He was given subversive freedom and was given permission to break rules and hence was a provider of entertainment. He also features in village carnivals and celebrations.
Mistaken Identity, Cross Dressing and Disguise
Mistaken identity is effective in comic dramas since it build up tension and anxiety but it also provokes laughter since we find the confusion among identities comical. Deliberate disguise was especially effective in stimulating comic action in the Shakespearean times where a woman would dress as a man. This raised question about the place of women in society, power and gender politics. Sometimes women would gain knowledge through their disguise; other times they would take the opportunity to claim power and be in control.
Theories of Laughter
There are three main explanations for why people laugh. Superiority theory suggests that we laugh since we are in a more superior position to another person. For example, if someone falls over, we laugh since they are inferior. The relief theory suggests that we laugh to relieve stress or to relieve tension in an awkward situation. It acts as a relief for built-up energy. The incongruity theory suggests that we laugh because two things are incompatible. We laugh at the mismatch of ideas. These theories help to explain why we laugh at comic drama.
Stereotypes and stock characters
Many of the stock characters that we see have originated from the Roman plays of Plautus. Some include the lustful old man, clowns, pairs of male slaves and tricksters. It hard to decide whether we laugh at these stereotypical characters because of the wide aspects of human nature or because literature and culture has given us expectations about what is funny.
Carnivalesque
C.L Barber interprets the subversion in Shakespeare’s plays in a way that links it to the festival during the Elizabethan days where just for a day, rules were suspended and normal hierarchies were inverted. He links this to the topsy-turvy nature of Shakespeare plays and believes that the customs at the time had influenced Shakespeare’s use of inversion for comic purposes.
Clowns are ever-present thorough the history of comic drama, but they were especially important in Elizabethan comedies. Fools are divided into two groups-the licenced fool and the natural fool. The licenced fool is a professional fool whose job is to provide humour and mock the society around them as a source of laughter. The natural fools are from the lower classes and lack common sense and intelligence. They are providers of cruel laughter as a result of their timidity but also sympathetic laughter due to their innocence and child-like ignorance.
Comic Structure
Comic dramas often have a structure in which there is a movement from misfortune and chaos to fortune and harmony. During the comedy, chaos and misfortune may define the main body of the story, but there is still a movement towards reconciliation. The conclusion is often marked by a celebration or wedding, to emphasise the happy ending.
Green Worlds
A term first introduced by Northrop Frye in his book in 1957. The green world is a place where the unwritten rules of society do not exist and this makes it a place where problems can be solved. The comedy often starts in a real world, encompassing all the problems that come with it. There is a movement to a green world-often a wood or a forest but it doesn’t have to be- where problems are thought over and resolved. At the end, there must be a return to the ordinary world.
Inversion and Subversion
During different eras, drama has been considered morally wrong, politically dangerous and dubious, but comedy has always been considered even more so. The key roles of comedy are to mock the authoritative ones, to invert hierarchies, to transgress from social rules, and to challenge the political system. However, the fact that all problems and inversions are resolved at the end have led some critics to believe that, despite subversions, in the end, comedy really is a conservative genre.
The Lord Misrule
During the late medieval and early Tudor period, festivals where conducted by Lord of Misrule. He was given subversive freedom and was given permission to break rules and hence was a provider of entertainment. He also features in village carnivals and celebrations.
Mistaken Identity, Cross Dressing and Disguise
Mistaken identity is effective in comic dramas since it build up tension and anxiety but it also provokes laughter since we find the confusion among identities comical. Deliberate disguise was especially effective in stimulating comic action in the Shakespearean times where a woman would dress as a man. This raised question about the place of women in society, power and gender politics. Sometimes women would gain knowledge through their disguise; other times they would take the opportunity to claim power and be in control.
Theories of Laughter
There are three main explanations for why people laugh. Superiority theory suggests that we laugh since we are in a more superior position to another person. For example, if someone falls over, we laugh since they are inferior. The relief theory suggests that we laugh to relieve stress or to relieve tension in an awkward situation. It acts as a relief for built-up energy. The incongruity theory suggests that we laugh because two things are incompatible. We laugh at the mismatch of ideas. These theories help to explain why we laugh at comic drama.
Stereotypes and stock characters
Many of the stock characters that we see have originated from the Roman plays of Plautus. Some include the lustful old man, clowns, pairs of male slaves and tricksters. It hard to decide whether we laugh at these stereotypical characters because of the wide aspects of human nature or because literature and culture has given us expectations about what is funny.
Carnivalesque
C.L Barber interprets the subversion in Shakespeare’s plays in a way that links it to the festival during the Elizabethan days where just for a day, rules were suspended and normal hierarchies were inverted. He links this to the topsy-turvy nature of Shakespeare plays and believes that the customs at the time had influenced Shakespeare’s use of inversion for comic purposes.