Claudio and Hero share a conventionality, and compliant behaviour which contrasts sharply with Benedick's/Beatrice’s independent spirit, jaded opinions about the opposite sex, and their shared eccentric wit. Standard comedic pieces are utilised to address rigid social conventions and present often taboo concepts, that otherwise wouldn’t have been tolerated but within this instance are accepted as a form of social release as they make light of aspects of the society they inhabit. Within this comedic instance Benedick/Beatrice reprise the role of ‘Jesters’(with their self-proclaimed abstinence to marriage “I would not marry”) characters allowed to override social convention and converse with liberty despite their lack of nobility or title as their words are masked by comic delivery. ‘Jester’ is reference to the source of amusement within the king’s court and often the unlikely source of guidance and counsel as he unlike any other can speak freely without trepidation of persecution as because of his station he is not taken seriously. Such as the case with Benedick/Beatrice as their obscene outbursts and not only tolerate but applauded as the audience can because of the context of the piece easily
“Nothing is funnier than unhappiness” To what extent does this view of comedy apply to The Importance of Being Earnest People have always found humour in others misfortune, since the first comedy’s in ancient Greece, although in the twentieth century theatre a more became more serious production than in the past, throughout the importance of being earnest, I believe the characters troubles which they often cause for themselves are central to the comedic drama of the play. Jack and Algernon’s unhappiness with their lives leads to them both to come up with personas to escape the harsh constricts of Victorian life and expectations. They see their separate identity’s as normal Algernon says that “A man who marries without knowing Bunbury has a very tedious time of it.” This suggests that Algernon believes that all husbands in Victorian society lead double lives it also continues the long-running marriage gag, which makes a joke out of the Victorian notion of “married bliss”. The use of the false identity is the main cause of all the issues within the play. Lady Bracknell is arrogant, conservative, ruthless, and proper; she represents the Victorian upper-class and therefore is the key to the satire comedy seen within the play.
She has a quick eye to see what is weak or ridiculous in man or woman. “Has Signior Mountanto returned from the wars or no?” This is how we are introduced to this fascinating woman who at first seems spiteful and full of scorn. It is perhaps not a coincidence that her very first dialogue in the play betrays her passion Benedick, although it is masked by sarcasm. Benedick and Beatrice’s lengthened relationship is made known to us over the course of the play. They have always had “a skirmish of wits” between them.
Another feature of comedy is Love. This is usually where we are presented with sets of lovers who overcome certain obstacles in order to be together. In the case of Much Ado About nothing we are shown this in the relationships of both Beatrice and Benedick, and Claudio and Hero. There are also cases of mistaken identity which usually causes problems for characters in the plays, for example in much ado about nothing there is a case of this when Claudio thinks that Margret in Hero. During the Elizabethan era, women were looked upon as possessions.
The Importance of Being Earnest Paper The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde that is comical and absurd in its plot and its characters. Much of the humor in Wilde’s play covertly makes fun of the social establishments and institutions of the time. This downplayed humor adds to the plot and makes it more surreal yet entertaining. One of the topics made fun of in Wilde’s play is girls’ treatment of each other during his time. The scene in which this is expressed represents women of the late 19th century in a proper but ridiculous manner.
The opening scene reveals a situation of conflict; Viola’s reaction denotes strength and emotional stability which are not characteristic of females. Viola forms the foil to Olivia and Orsinio who are saturated in an excessive display of emotion. However the difficulty of Viola’s abandonment of her gender is discussed in a passage from Nancy Taylor’s book, Women Direct Shakespeare in America, As a woman impersonating a boy, an action that both protects her from detection and excites erotic energies that are sometimes misdirected, she can deconstruct the concept that either gender is fixed or innate while also exposing the personal and societal difficulties of moving between the poles of male and female (Taylor 165). Viola is able to appropriate her sexuality though a newly established gender identity to a certain extent with concern to the fact that limitations exist in order to maintain deception. Viola therefore becomes marginal and sexless in the mode of disguise which only allows her to connect to others in a superficial way.
As far as the comedy plot is concerned, there is the common trait that it connotes the comic poet’s view of the society but not like the tragedies, which were ultimately based on legend and myth. Thematic Content of the Comedy Aristophanes comedy was significantly characterized by comic fantasy. Ideally the plays presented problems in the society and ultimately offered plausible solutions in the most comical way
The Fool is one of the most alluring characters in Shakespeare’s King Lear. He is a choric commentator whose lines reveal thematic motifs within the play, as well as a character that strategically uses humorous language as comic relief to Lear, but does not diminish the intensity of Lear’s misery. As he alleviates the intensity through humor, he equivocates because he says metaphors that speak the truth like the three witches in Macbeth, but the opposite. The Fool’s role is essential because he is aligned with Cordelia. Like Cordelia, the Fool is honest, but his comical language masks his honesty.
As a character, Algernon is not too dissimilar to Oscar Wilde himself thus it could be said that Wilde expresses himself through the character of Algernon. This may be why Wilde’s comedy through Algernon is much more light-hearted, if he took his comedy to extreme lengths with Algernon, Wilde would have been essentially criticising himself. This is highlighted by the critic Stanton Thacker – “Ultimately, Wilde is subtly arguing his case for the “dandy way of life”, which for his characters seems the only way to liberate themselves from the chains society has placed on them.” Here Thacker depicts the idea that in Victorian society, individuals were bound to
This is significant because Rita’s lively and irreverent speech is a source of humour in the play. For instance, when Rita animatedly refers to a painting, using words such as “erotic” and “tits” she is clearly comfortable talking in this manner to her lecturer, this makes conservative Frank feel uncomfortable and as a consequence he replies to her with brief answers. Just this conversation alone has comedic value as it shows how very different these two characters are, they have opposing lifestyles, behaviour and seem to be moving in opposing directions. In the first encounter between Rita and Frank, their dialect and everyday speech confuses them both as Rita speaks in a colloquial language and Frank in Standard English. Her understanding of a simple question ‘And you are?’ asked by a well-educated person confuses her and she fails to understand what is really being asked.