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humor in shakespeare plays
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Comic Techniques in Act 5 Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare This scene is the last of the play but by this time the actual plot is finished. This scene is an extra part added on to make the play more humorous. It is also the only scene with all the characters in it. They are all drawn together in one place. Shakespeare did this to make sure the ending is happy and humorous. It also shows the audience that everything turns out alright in the end. It would look strange on stage as Shakespeare is mimicking his own audience. It is a play within a play. This is how the theatre may have look: [IMAGE] The people in purple would have been the actors on the stage and the people in red would have been the audience. The 'rich People' would have been the people who paid extra to sit actually on the stage with the actors. In the play, this is The Lovers; Theseus and Hippolyta, Demetrius and Helena, and Lysander and Hermia. They would have been close to the actors (The Mechanicals), and they would have jeered, shouted and made witty comments to interrupt the play. In Shakespeare's time, this would have been normal as the audiences where allowed to shout things out to the actors. It would have been like out modern day pantomimes. This behaviour is imitated in the play. Shakespeare seems to be laughing and taking the micky out of plays that he has written. The play, Pyramus and Thisbe, is from a Greek myth, but it is also a mixed up, slapstick version of Romeo and Juliet. The storylines are similar and so is the prologue. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is also like Hermia and Lysander. They are a... ... middle of paper ... ...e dresses a man as a woman, again confusing reality and fantasy, but also making it humorous, like a pantomime dame. A modern director would have more opportunities than a director in Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare's theatre only had one entrance to the stage, limited props and scenery and the audience would have been right in the actor's faces, making it impossible to cover up mistakes. The director would have to make sure that the play went perfectly as the audience were not afraid to shout out if they didn't like something. A modern director also has the choice about what time period to set it in, whereas a Shakespearean director would not have this option. Shakespeare was deliberately mimicking his own audience but the modern audiences are not set out in the same way so it may not have the same effect.
Without Act 2 Scene 2 the whole play makes no sense. This is the scene
the opening scene of the play, as the readers later found out that he had
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. ” (Pg. 18). By creating a comedy using both dramatic and situational irony, Shakespeare was able to get the true meaning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream across to his audience: “love is blind”. When using situational irony, the readers were often tricked into believing in different outcomes to certain events in the story. With dramatic irony, on the other hand, it was used mainly for a comedic effect, rather than creating a plot twist for the audience. By creating a comedy using these two types of irony, Shakespeare was able to deliver his message of the true meaning of love.
Paul as well as those of Erasmus that bring to focus various dimensions that are aligned around Shakespeare’s perception of comic faith in the play. The characters of Bottom, Theseus and lovers give out an insight to epistle paradoxes on religious faith coupled with a slight touch of romantic faith which is set out in thee wholesome imaginative experience. Celebration of limitations sits as the precursor for comic happiness in the play; there is an epistemological appeal that focuses on the mannerisms of characters. Most obvious of all allusions of comic faith in the play is Pauline and sets out the central attention that is meant to be captures. Upon waking up from his dream, Bottom has a delightful monologue that sets out a clear difference between ridicule and the sublime of the play, “I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass of he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was – there is no man can tell what. Methought …I had – But man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was (Shakespeare and Foakes 203).” Herein we see Bottom considering himself as an ass and he fails to expound further on the meaning of his dream whole his hands
Scene 2 act 2 is one of the most important scenes in the play. This is
However, the act is never performed until the end of the play... quite some time
The conclusion of the play ends in Scene Nine, when the woman discovers the man attempting to steal away in the dark. She confronts him with their obvious desire for and need of each other, but the man persists in leaving. The woman hangs herself as soon as he is gone. Her death thwarts the man's love for her forever, ensuring that she herself will never have to surrender to a man only to be deserted by him. She is dead and does not see that the man does return to her, his love for her stronger than his fear of love.
this is important because it is a climax to the play so far and the
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.
"why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afeard."(3.1.99) This is a quote from the Shakespearean play "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In this quote, the speaker, Bottom, is wondering why everyone is afraid of him. He doesn't realize that as a practical joke, a trickster Puck, has put an ass head on his shoulders. This makes all of his companions afraid of him so that they run away. This is an example of the comedy involved in this play. This essay will show you that A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that is mainly composed of comedy.
In Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream he entices the reader using character development, imagery, and symbolism. These tools help make it a wonderful play for teens, teaching them what a well-written comedy looks like. As well as taking them into a story they won’t soon forget.
Audience activity was first noted in the 1960’s with Stuart Hall’s theory of encoding/ decoding. Before this theory, effects studies were carried out and ‘was dominated by a ‘hypodermic model of influence’ (Curran 1990: 506), thus audience activity emerged from this. Hall’s theory led to studies being created by the likes of Morley (1981) the nationwide audience and Ang (1983) which led to some of Hall’s findings being confirmed but there also being differences.
In Act 2 scene 5 the mood is very lighthearted and is full of theatrical comedy, we find Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and their friend Fabian hidden away as they await Malvolio to stumble upon the letter supposedly written by Olivia. Even though they are hidden the audience can still see their reactions and hear their comments, which adds to the melodramatic aspect of the scene. The audience is anxious to see what unravels next as they know Maria purposely wrote the letter in order to fool Malvolio.
The concept of contrast plays an important role throughout Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare provides many examples of contrast signifying it as a motif. He groups the ideas of contrast together into those of some of the most important roles in the play. Helena is portrayed as tall and Hermia is short. Titania is a beautiful fairy who falls in love with Bottom, who is portrayed as graceless. Moreover, the main sets of characters even have differences. Fairies are graceful and magical creatures, yet tradesmen are clumsy and mortal. Additionally, the tradesmen are always overjoyed while the lovers are always serious with their emotions. Contrast layers throughout the whole play, as examples are shown in nearly every scene. Contrast becomes a constant, important motif to Shakespeare’s playwrite.
Humor in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night In Twelfth Night we see different types of humour. There is the witty