How does Shakespeare successfully create comedy in Act 1 of Twelfth Night? Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night takes place during celebrations when the social hierarchy seems to be nearing towards non-existent and rankings seem to be overrun by excess partying. Tricking each other and speaking in puns was common at this time meaning Shakespeare could easily incorporate humour into the play. Through physical comedy, wit and wordplay and the use of dramatic irony, Shakespeare brings out the elements of comedy to the audience, keeping them entertained throughout. In Act 1 Scene 1 we are introduced to the Duke, Curio and Valentine.
Because people are making fun of his nose he is able to provide witty humor that makes the book become a comedy. Valvert says “Ah…your nose…hem!...Your nose is…rather large!” “Rather” “Oh well” “Is that all” “Well of course.”(35-36 Act 1) But Cyrano does not leave it like this he replies by insulting Valvert and ultimately making him angry by telling him all the better insults that he could have had. He threw it right back in his face by making it a joke. Throughout the story comedy like this occurs and that is why I believe it is a
When people act on impulse it leads to terrible endings and suffering to others. In the beginning of the play Romeo shows his tragic flaw when he goes to the Capulet party and falls in love with Juliet, completely forgetting about his first love Rosaline. When Romeo sees Juliet at the party he says, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (I.v.50-51) This shows his impulsiveness by not mentioning Rosaline at all and starting to fall in love with a girl he does not even know.
However, the first deception happens at the party when Don John, Don Pedro’s evil illegitimate half-brother, tells Claudio that Don Pedro is double crossing him. Claudio is quick to believe this and becomes angry until Don Pedro goes to him and gives him Hero as his betrothed. Beatrice and Benedick are constantly bickering with one another in a battle of wits stating that they hate each other. However, they are not very convincing of
The ghost takes him back to fezziwigs party, scrooge cried out in excitement ‘why it’s old fezziwig! Bless his heart, its old fezziwig alive again’. Scrooge starts to see you don’t need money to make you happy, because this party took place outside some closed party. Scrooge thinks his nephew has no right to be in love just because he’s poor ‘because you fell in love’, growled scrooge, ‘as if that were only one thing in the world more ridiculous than merry Christmas’. The ghost takes scrooge to belle and she feels as if she has been replaced my scrooges money, ‘to you, very little another idol has displaced me’.
‘Men were deceivers ever.’ To what extent can it be argued that Shakespeare’s presentation of men’s attitudes to women in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ allows for comedy? In Much Ado about Nothing, it can be equally argued that men’s attitudes towards women are actually used for comedy purposes, and it can be argued that their attitudes aren’t. For this argument, the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick at the start of the play can be seen as comical to the audience, as they both claim to dislike each other and take pleasure in making rude remarks to one another. On the other hand, the relationship between Hero and Claudio could be seen as quite dark to the audience, as there are accusations and trust issues between the two. The quote ‘men were deceivers ever’ comes from Act 2 Scene 3 of the play, from the song that Balthasar sings.
Early on in the play (Act 2 Scene 3) the audience enjoys the jovial atmosphere alongside the characters until Malvolio abruptly ruins the mood. “Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?” Malvolio seems to relish scolding Sir Toby and the others as he includes the simile “gabble like tinkers” which proves he has taken the time to select the right words to insult them with. The audience dislikes him for disrupting the fun of the scene whilst it provides a specific motive for the conspirators to plot his deception. Shakespeare uses one detail about Malvolio to instantly turn the audience against him: Malvolio is a puritan. At the time the play was written, puritans were not popular with the general public because of their miserable rules against most forms of entertaintment.
His comment comes across as sarcastic as he is mindful, and perhaps jealous, of the fact that his lover’s father wishes her to marry another man - Demetrius. This therefore makes the play a dramatic comedy as although the sarcasm may be amusing; the multiple love obstacles the characters must overcome make it dramatic. Next, Lysander’s insults accentuate the genre of the play, ‘upon this spotted and inconstant
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, two teenagers fall in love only to find out that their families are bitter enemies. Romeo, formerly in love with Rosaline, is now mesmerized by Juliet’s beauty and completely forgets about his former love. Romeo and Juliet is a story about the teen’s forbidden love and their struggle to be together. Sadly enough, Romeo and Juliet has a very tragic ending where Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves. While fate ultimately decides the outcomes in Romeo and Juliet, several characters contribute to the tragedy by the decisions they make.
I didn’t realize it until I saw the movie version of the play how big of an idiot he is. His character was meant to seem as if anyone could be a night watchman. The title in itself is ironic because Dogberry is just a drunken man who sleeps on his job. Nothing he says makes sense and he doesn’t even do his job correctly. You can tell that nobody takes them seriously, especially when Leonato shows no sign of gratefulness that he has captured two men by simply saying “go drink some wine” (Shakespeare 46) As we look into the theories of comedy for the play, it is clear that an option is Freud’s theory.