In Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, the cast of characters are squeezed into some very typical kind of roles. Prospero is our noble hero, Miranda is the beautiful maiden, and Antonio is the “villain”. Shakespeare gave each of the characters a sense of humor, a tool that allows us to see the small details of their minds; a glimpse at the inner workings of each character’s personality. It is through the humor that Shakespeare is able to show the “roundness” in characters that could be otherwise be seen as “flat” characters. Shakespeare uses humor to give his characters a new life, to help them expand beyond the bounds of just normal characters and turn into real people. Miranda is a good example of a character whose humor enriches her personality. At the beginning of the play, it is explained to us, largely through Prospero’s actions, that Miranda is a perfect child. She’s compassionate, beautiful, well educated and obedient. She’s the apple of Prospero’s eye. Later on, however, she comes off as being too perfect. Perfect to the point of annoyance and perfect to the point of being sterile and despite her assets, she’s no more than a china doll. Throw Ferdinand into the equation, a handsome prince. She becomes much more interesting, gone is the high standard maiden, replaced by a googly eyed, puppy headed, hormone enraged teenager with love. She is so head over heels for Ferdinand that she refers to him as a ‘noble creature’. He is so perfect to Miranda. It’s a wonderfully amusing transformation, to watch Miranda, the model for women around the world, go bananas over a boy to the point where she is volunteering to carry gigantic wooden logs for him. This humor allows us to see the Miranda underneath the class act and obedient demean... ... middle of paper ... ...kered in by Prospero’s clothesline of gaudy robes. Trinculo and Stephano take their time pretending to be dukes and kings, even forcing Caliban to carry their luggage, in spite of Caliban’s warnings. Even though Trinculo and Stephano are silly creatures, their humor does a lot to reveal the kind of resentment they bear for their powerful masters. They are clearly frustrated by their years of unrewarding hard work, and it manifests itself in their wackiness. Shakespeare’s humor shows us that they are not just drunks, but angry, disgruntled drunks. Shakespeare uses his gift for humor and goofiness to reveal new sides of his characters. By making his characters laugh and be stupid, we get to see them as actual , complex people with thoughts and vulnerabilities and weird personalities. He uses humor as the tool necessary to make humans out of words, as opposed to roles.
Through the combination of the two different types of irony, Shakespeare wasn’t only able to deliver his message, but was also successful in creating a comedy out of it at the same time. By using situational irony, he was able to create plot twists for the audience and make things more interesting. While dramatic irony was used mainly to create a comedic effect for the play. When combined, Shakespeare was able to deliver his message while making a point out of it looking from his perspective. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. ” (Pg.
Kate is in a rage, and Petruchio is so clever-witted that he turns all her insults into sexual innuendos before finally having her forced into marrying him, but what makes this laughter thoughtful? From Kate’s lashes, you are able to truly see just how vulgar and unhappy she is. She is wild, but she is also quite clever in her quick responses. On the opposite end, Petruchio’s character is shown. He is quick-witted as well, yet more crude. He takes joy in dishing out his “attacks” whereas Katherine becomes even more enraged. He’s finally determined to make her his wife, no matter
Perhaps the first and most obvious effect of Shakespeare's use of comedy in the two Henry IV plays is the resulting diversity of characters. The plays can be seen to be divided into three general scenes or settings, the court, the tavern, and the rebel's camp, and it is largely the tavern scenes which introduce characters not found in the plays' historical bases. In doing so, Shakespeare of course draws in a more diverse audience, who can perhaps see something of themselves in the full variety of society's characters found in I Henry IV and II Henry IV. Shakespeare's mastery of language and dialect help to acheive this, for his characters' speech resounds with realism. The tavern crowd's lines, for example, are filled with colloquialisms and double-entendres:
Shakespeare is a writer who seems to so easily capture the true nature of people. Of course, never lacking humor as he portrays these characteristics. What might be harsh reality written by someone else, becomes that everyone can laugh at--even if that reality is about themselves.
Throughout history, from ancient Rome to the present day, comedy has always been used in all forms of entertainment to instill the audience with feelings of pleasure and joy. Shakespeare’s use of comedy in the play Hamlet, has been analyzed in many different ways. Some believe that comedic themes in Hamlet, such as him developing a cynical attitude towards other after the passing of his father, are the real meaning of the comedy in this play. Although people may interpret that theme, the true purpose of comedy is to deflate scenes of high tension following a serious moment in the story, its simply for the comic relief of the audience. Every tragic event that is occurring or upcoming, Shakespeare incorporates comicality to release the build
Snyder, Susan. "Beyond the Comedy: Othello" Modern Critical Interpretations, Othello Ed. Harold Bloom, Pub. Chelsea House New Haven CT 1987. (page 23-37)
Shakespeare’s works are some of the finest examples of Tragedy and Comedy from the English cannon of literature. The reason that his works are so poignant and reflective is his use of both emotions in order to progress the other. In his interpretation of Troilus and Cressida the traditional story of tragic love and loss are peppered with irony and satire in order to address topical issues of Gender roles, Government action/inaction, and hero worship through juxtaposition and humor.
Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house, and Andrew, Sir Toby’s companion, are character who suffer greatly in the play. A happy ending doesn’t happen for them because they’re self-centered person, mean, and obnoxious. The suffering of Malvolio and Andrew is justified as comical because the reader can’t feel sympathetic towards them, so it’s enjoyable to imagine their characters suffering. The suffering of some characters in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is justified as comical when the reader can’t relate to them based on how they’re presented in the story.
What is so interesting about Shakespeare's first play, The Comedy of Errors, are the elements it shares with his last plays. The romances of his final period (Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest) all borrowed from the romantic tradition, particularly the Plautine romances. So here, as in the later plays, we have reunions of lost children and parents, husbands and wives; we have adventures and wanderings, and the danger of death (which in this play is not as real to us as it is in the romances). Yet, for all these similarities, the plot of The Comedy of Errors is as simple as the plots of the later plays are complex. It is as though Shakespeare's odyssey through the human psyche in tragedy and comedy brought him back to his beginnings with a sharper sense of yearning, poignancy, and the feeling of loss. But to dismiss this play as merely a simplistic romp through a complicated set of maneuvers is to miss the pure theatrical feast it offers on the stage - the wit and humor of a master wordsmith, the improbability of a plot that sweeps...
The Tempest raises many questions regarding the formation of authority and power. Is hierarchy understood as natural or as constructed? Also, what are the consequences when authority is usurped? This paper will attempt to answer these questions in a succinct manner using textual references to solidify its arguments. As the play progresses, Prospero constructs the hierarchy in such a way as to return things to their "natural" state. Any type of usurpation, whether attempted or successful, will always end up with power back in its rightful place, and most of the time with a lesson learned.
Shakespeare to create a lot of contrasts and moods, as and when he wants to.
In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare creates humour through his characters by creating false realities (as demonstrated by Petruchio’s behaviour and attire in the scene of his wedding) and by the use of subterfuge and mistaken identity (shown in the final scenes with the transformation of Kate and Bianca’s respective personas). He also uses irony quite extensively, especially towards the end of the play (as can be seen in the final ‘wager’ scene).
William Shakespeare is a very talented playwright who was able to create humour and comedic effects through various characters that use puns and sarcasm in their exchange of dialogues, arguments, and conversations. Even in such a tragic play such as Romeo and Juliet, it is evident that through the use of various types of literary devices such as puns and sarcasm, Shakespeare was able to establish humour.
Humor in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night In Twelfth Night we see different types of humour. There is the witty
funny parts of the play by creating confusion within characters and lowering the intensity of the