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LITERATURA INGLESA I
Lesson 8:Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Class content:
Shakespearean comedies – types and structure.
Shakespearean comedies – characters and themes. 
Comedies - the process of creation of these comedies.
 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
COMEDY – FIRST NOTIONS
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Early Greek comedy was in sharp contrast to the dignity and seriousness of tragedy. Aristophanes, the towering giant of comedy, used every kind of humour from the slapstick through sexual jokes to satire and literary parody. Unlike tragedy, the plots didn’t originate in traditional myth and legend, but were the product of the writer’s creative imagination. The main theme was political and social satire. Over the centuries comedy moved away from those themes to focus on family matters, notably a concentration on relationships and the complications of love. Comedy was bound to survive and, indeed, it has travelled well, from Greece through Roman civilization and, with the Renaissance preoccupation with classical models, into Renaissance Europe, to England and the Elizabethans, and into the modern world of the twentieth and twenty first centuries, where we see Greek comedy alive. 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Comedy share its origin with its noble sister, the tragedy. In ancient Greece, during the Festival of Dionysus, audiences would sit and watch three tragedies in a row. How depressing is that? So, to expunge the seriousness of the viewing experience, the evening would conclude with a satyr play. Thousands of years before there was Jerry Lewis, Monty Pyton or any fun TV series, playwrighters of Ancient Greece were poking fun at the world around them. Very often, these comedies featured half-man / half-goat characters known as Satyrs. They were obnoxious, dim-witted, and usually drunk. Sometimes true perverts, the Satyr characters lusted after everyone on stage, and they delivered the most humorous lines, often at the expense of others. This eccentric beginning contributed to the weakening of comedy, making this a reprehensible form of artistic production 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Aristotle divides the object of imitation into superior action and inferior action. Within the dramatic genres, comedy imitates inferior action. The proper object of comic imitation is, however, not ‘every sort of fault,’ but ‘the ridiculous, which is a species of the ugly (49a33-34).
As comedy should pursue the ridiculous and the ridiculous is defined as a kind of ‘error,’ it follows that an ‘error’ plays a central role both in tragic and comic plots. Tragic poets, imitating a superior action, should create an error that is serious and with pathos. On the other hand, comic poets, being the imitators of inferior action, should create one that is not serious and without pathos. The absence of pathos is the characteristic that distinguishes the comic plot from the tragic.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
According to Aristotle (who speculates on the matter in his Poetics), ancient comedy originated with the komos, a curious and improbable spectacle in which a company of festive males apparently sang, danced, and cavorted rollickingly around the image of a large phallus.
 
Accurate or not, the linking of the origins of comedy to some sort of phallic ritual or festival of mirth seems both plausible and appropriate, since for most of its history comedy has involved a high-spirited celebration of human sexuality and the triumph of eros. As a rule, tragedies occur on the battlefield or in a palace's great hall; a more likely setting for comedy is the bedroom or bathroom.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
On the other hand, it's not true that a film or literary work must involve sexual humor or even be funny in order to qualify as a comedy. A happy ending is all that's required. In fact, since at least as far back as Aristotle, the basic formula for comedy has had more to do with conventions and expectations of plot and character than with a requirement for lewd jokes or cartoonish pratfalls. In essence: A comedy is a story of the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Aristotle suggests that comic figures are mainly "average to below average" in terms of moral character, perhaps having in mind the wily servant or witty knave who was already a stock character of ancient comedy. He also suggests that only low or ignoble figures can strike us as ridiculous. However, the most ridiculous characters are often those who, although well-born, are merely pompous or self-important instead of truly noble. Similarly, the most sympathetic comic figures are frequently plucky underdogs, young men or women from humble or disadvantaged backgrounds who prove their real worth--in effect their "natural nobility"--through various tests of character over the course of a story or play.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
 According to Aristotle, these elements define a tragedy: 
The major characters in a tragedy are not average. They are heroes, kings, and gods.
The conditions of a protagonist(s) life goes from good to bad.
A "tragic flaw" in the protagonist brings about his (or her) downfall.
The fate of many people is tied to the protagonist, so his or her downfall is a catastrophic event.
The purpose of a tragedy is catharsis, which cleans the soul of “fear and pity” that most people carry within themselves.
According to Aristotle, these elements define a comedy:
The major characters in a comedy are average people.
The conditions of a protagonist(s) life goes from bad to good.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
The comic hero
    Of course this definition doesn't mean that the main character in a comedy has to be a spotless hero in the classic sense. It only means that she (or he) must display at least the minimal level of personal charm or worth of character it takes to win the audience's basic approval and support. The rise of a completely worthless person or the triumph of an utter villain is not comical; it's the stuff of gothic fable or dark satire. On the other hand, judging from the qualities displayed by many of literature's most popular comic heroes (e.g., Falstaff, Huck Finn) audiences have no trouble at all pulling for a likeable rogue or fun-loving scamp.
   
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
 Ordinary People
    Traditionally, comedy has to do with the concerns and exploits of ordinary people. The characters of comedy therefore tend to be plain, everyday figures (e.g., lower or middle-income husbands and wives, students and teachers, children and parents, butchers, bakers, and candlestick-makers ) instead of the kings, queens, heroes, and heads of state who form the dramatis personae of tragedy. Comic plots, accordingly, tend to be about the kind of problems that ordinary people are typically involved with: winning a new boyfriend (or reclaiming an old one), succeeding at a job, passing an exam, getting the money needed to pay for a medical operation, or simply coping with a bad day. Again, the true hallmark of comedy isn't always laughter. More often, it's the simple satisfaction.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
SHAKESPEARE AND COMEDY
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
 Because of his humanist education, Shakespeare was familiar
with classical (Greek and Latin) comedy. Greek "old comedy“ was generally satirical and frequently political in nature. Greek "new comedy” involved sex and seduction and often showed youth outwitting old age. Shakespeare would have known his work through the Latin adaptations of the Roman poets. The Latin comedies of Terence, for example, and another Roman poet, Plautus (ca. 258?-184 B.C.), were much studied in Elizabethan schools. Due to his humanist grammar school education, Shakespeare also learned about characters such as Theseus and Hippolyta or Pyramus and Thisbe, whose story is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
From Terence and Plautus, Shakespeare learned how to organize a plot in a way modern editors may represent as a five-act structure. 
Loosely speaking, it moves from:
A situation with tensions or implicit conflict - Exposition
Implicit conflict is developed - Rising Action
Conflict reaches height; frequently an impasse - Turning Point
Things begin to clear up - Falling Action
Problem is resolved, knots untied - Conclusion
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Thus, the action of a comedy traces a movement from conflict to the resolution of conflict, from some sort of (generally figurative) bondage to freedom, despite obstacles, complications, reversals, and discoveries. It ends with celebration and unity. This stage often includes the expulsion or elimination of characters so lost or misguided that they cannot be accommodated or restored to society. Hence a touch of sadness or reality may impinge on the final celebration. This structure differentiates Shakespeare's comedies from earlier works that presented the seemingly random adventures of a hero in a relatively formless way 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
The major conventions of Shakespearean Comedy are:
 - The main action is about love.
 - The would-be lovers must overcome obstacles and misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union. The ending frequently involves a parade of couples to the altar and a festive mood or actual celebration (expressed in dance, song, feast, etc.) A Midsummer Night's Dream has four such couples (not counting Pyramus and Thisbe!); As You Like It has four; Twelfth Night has three; etc.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
- Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable coincidences, improbable scenes of recognition/lack of recognition, willful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying commoners, beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked repent), enchanted or idealized settings, supernatural beings (witches, fairies, Gods and Goddesses). The happy ending may be brought about through supernatural or divine intervention (comparable to the deus ex machina in classical comedy, where a God appears to resolve the conflict) or may merely involve improbable turns of events.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
- In the best of the mature comedies, there is frequently a philosophical aspect involving weightier issues and themes: personal identity; the importance of love in human existence; the power of language to help or hinder communication; the transforming power of poetry and art; the disjunction between appearance and reality; the power of dreams and illusions).
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Shakespeare’s Comedy Plays
All’s Well That Ends Well
The Comedy of Errors
As you Like It
Cymbeline
Love’s Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
COMEDY, in its Elizabethan usage, had a very different meaning from modern comedy. A Shakespearean comedy is one that has a happy ending, usually involving marriages between the unmarried characters, and a tone and style that is more light-hearted than Shakespeare's other plays. 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Shakespearean comedies tend to also include:
- A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it laughable)
- A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders
- Separation and re-unification
- Deception among characters (especially mistaken identity)
- A clever servant
- Disputes between characters, often within a family
- Multiple, intertwining plots
- Use of all styles of comedy (slapstick, puns, dry humour, earthy humour, witty banter, practical jokes)
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Pastoral element (courtly people living an idealized, rural life), originally an element of Pastoral Romance, exploited by Shakespeare for his comic plots and often parodied therein for humorous effects
Happy Ending, though this is a given, since by definition, anything without a happy ending can't be a comedy.
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedic play by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a very "merry war"; they are both very glib and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. By means of "noting" (which sounds the same as "nothing," and which is gossip, rumour, and overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar. However, Dogberry, a Constable who is a master of malapropisms, discovers the evil trickery of the villain, Don John. In the end, Don John runs away and everyone else joins in a dance celebrating the marriages of the two couples. 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
As the title of this play suggests, there’s a lot of fuss over nothing! Claudio and Hero fall in love and plan to get married, but the villainous Don John slanders Hero with false evidence. The wedding is ruined and Hero faints. Her family soon suspect slander and decide to pretend that Hero died from shock. Don John’s evil plan is soon revealed and Claudio mourns Hero’s death. Eventually, Hero is revealed to be alive and the marriage goes ahead as planned. In the play’s closing moments, it is reported that Don John has been captured for his crime. 
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
Themes and motifs
Opposite sex
Infidelity
Deception
Masks and mistaken identity
Noting
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Lesson 8 - Shakespearean Theater: Comedies
LITERATURA INGLESA I
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