This conflict between them causes comedy as there are misunderstandings, which are amusing and the audience feel superiority over the characters who do not understand some of each other’s references. At the start of the play when Rita refers to a poem about “fightin’ death an’ disease”, Frank automatically assumes its “Dylan Thomas” as Thomas’s poem about death is a part of the literary canon. However Rita replies it’s “Roger McGough’s” poem that she’s describing. This misunderstanding conveys to the audience that these characters would not conventionally associate with each other. It could be amusing to the audience as it highlights the absurdity of the situation.
Chaucer is both apologizing and excusing himself in the excerpt (line 59-78) from what he is about to recount, this could be seen as a way to draw the reader forward to discover exactly what could make the tale into one of ‘ribaldry’ (crude stories) and that which should be taken as ‘game’ (humorous), or a manner of protecting himself from his readers that might indeed look down upon him for such crude stories. His defeated or helpless tone is illustrated as he says that he: ‘M’athynketh that [he] shal reherce it heere’ and goes further in excusing himself and painting himself as having no option in its retelling when he says he ‘moot reherce’ all tales, regardless of their decency. One could also see this as a way to make himself seem better and perhaps more upper class or ‘gentile’ in the readers eyes and as we know that he did have noble readers this is likely. Chaucer’s tone in this part drastically contrasts with the story he is about to tell, perhaps serving to further dramatize the tale and its crude nature. His audience is not specified in this excerpt though.
Agard uses humorous sarcasm, “excuse me, standing on one leg, I’m half-caste” and dialect, “explain yuself, wha yu mean” to express his opinion. The tone of this poem is quite outspoken and yet funny but makes clear that he feels that the term ‘half-caste’ is an outdated phrase and is offensive. Though this might be a light-hearted approach towards the subject of racism, the last six lines suddenly turns serious, making us pay attention. The way that it is presented to the reader, is that he feels very strongly about this subject, and it suggests that he is not the only person who feels this way about the offensive term that is ‘half-caste’. This poem uses a fast pace to reflect the passion and anger that Agard has on this particular subject.
Hamlet’s ‘madness’ shows through in this conversation in other ways also. Sudden topic change (‘Where’s your father?’), erratically differing the length of his utterances and Ophelia’s obvious surprise and misery at Hamlet’s state (‘O, help him, you sweet heavens!’) all help to build up a picture of an unbalanced mind. Also significant are Hamlet’s rambling loose metaphors ‘I have heard of your paintings too, well enough.’), tick-like repetition (‘well, well, well’) and change in politeness levels from line to line (‘I humbly thank you’ as opposed to ‘Ha, ha’). This adds a dramatic unpredictability to the scene and provides shows of emotion with which the audience should be easily able to attach to. This inconsistent way of speaking contrasts with the beautifully worded and formed soliloquy, as does the verse format contrast with the adjacency pairs written in prose form.
“The gulling of Malvolio is a joke that goes too far”. To what extent does Shakespeare blur the boundaries of comedy in his depiction of the gulling of Malvolio? The boundaries of comedy can sometimes be blurred as they range between light and dark comedy. Dark comedy is often used to dismember the potential discomfort an audience may feel should heavy moral subjects arise in pieces of art such as psychological impairment in Twelfth Night. Malvolio is used in Twelfth Night to personify the notion of Lent and order in the text and is the butt of the comedy in the sub-plot.
In the play ‘Educating Rita’ cruelty and cynicism feature a great deal. One of the main characters, Frank, is cynical. Frank’s personality portrays him as a miserable old man who cannot see the good in anybody, including Rita. For example, Frank thinks that Rita is only trying to change herself because it will look good to others when they meet her rather than seeing that she is really trying to change her life for the better, not for selfish reasons. When Frank is on the phone to Julia he refers to Rita as “some silly woman” and this portrays him to be cynical because even though he has never met Rita he is already making assumptions about her in a negative manner.
Racism within Heart of Darkness What is racism? How can someone be classified as a racist? According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, racism is classified as the poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race, or the belief that some races of people are better than others. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been considered a major turning point for authors and other works because his style of writing was different than most other pieces of literature in his time. Conrad’s use of ambiguity fascinated critics and readers as he used obscurity to dramatize Marlow’s perceptions of the horrors he encounters.
Chaucer uses the narrator to describe each of the pilgrim’s flaws either through physical description, or by describing the pilgrim’s actions, or ways of life. To describe each of the characters flaws Chaucer seems to use mostly metaphors and long methods of characterization so that the reader has to make inferences about what the narrator sees as a bad trait in the character. Although Chaucer mostly points out flaws, he still points out some of the good in the pilgrims as well. He admires something in every single character except for the Pardoner, for there is nothing positive about him. The metaphoric satire is best shown in the narrator’s descriptions of the Friar and Monk, two characters with revealed problems.
It is a common misconception to believe that comedy exists solely for humour; comedy is a necessary place where we can ‘go’ and relax in order for us to be able to return to our often draining existence. Comedy’s strengths and prowess are not always apparent; they have a fablesque and cathartic quality, from which we learn. Comedy also allows us to escape everyday life by delving deep into human concerns such as love and death. In Midsummer the issue of love is exemplified through Helena’s unrequited love for Demetrius, and the issue of death is illustrated by Egeus’ threat to invoke Athenian law on Hermia’s disobedience which comprises of either killing her or sending her to a convent to live out the rest of her days. The often unseen serious and impactful nature of comedy stems from certain facets of comedy: festivity, misrule and subversion.
Q How did the satire emerge in the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth century? How did Dryden contribute to the Satire? According to M.H. Abrams, a well known American writer and literary critic, “Satire is the literary art of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking towards it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn or indignation. It differs from the comic in that comedy evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself, while satire derides; that is, it uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt that exists outside the work itself.