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Compare and contrast between tragedy and comedy
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William Shakespeare was a jack of all trades. He could do it all – histories, tragedies, comedies, romances. While some people may say that Shakespeare’s tragedies are the most popular, his comedies are as popular as the tragedies, if not more. However, comedies of Shakespeare’s time are not what people of the twentieth century perceive to be “comedy.” Some of the elements of Shakespearean comedy are similar to today’s comedy, such as physical comedy. People of Shakespeare’s time found the fall Kate took from her horse in Taming of the Shrew, and surely people of our time would find that amusing as well. A large part of Shakespeare’s comedy was disguises. The use of disguise was a key part of Shakespearean comedy; his plays Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night all use the element of disguise as part of their plot, some more than others.
Much Ado About Nothing, one of Shakespeare’s “festive” comedies, centers around two couples. One, Claudio and Hero, fall in love at first sight. The other, Benedick and Beatrice, have a verbal war almost every time they meet. Disguise is not an integral part of this play, but they are used during the masque that takes place. During the masque, Beatrice talks with a masked Benedick; she also talks degradingly about him. A question that always comes up in discussion of this play is whether or not Beatrice knows that she is actually speaking to Benedick, and that is why she calls him “t...
The characters, Beatrice and Benedick have a very complicated relationship. They are always exchanging words and calling each other names. They call each other names from the very beginning of the play to the very end. In act 1, Benedick says “ If Signior Leonato be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all of Messina, as like him as she is ” (1.1.111-113). Beatrice follows by saying, “ I wonder that you will be talking, Signior Benedick, nobody marks you ” (1.1.114-115). These quotes show that they have always had a complicated relationship because they insult each other without them expecting it.
Beatrice is gifted with wit, humor, and strength uncommon in Shakespeare’s time. One can tell Beatrice’s drollness is at its best when speaking about or to Benedick. When Benedick greets her as “Lady Disdain” (I.i.109), she snaps, “Is it possible that disdain should die, while she hath such meat to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence” (I.i.110-113). Instead of taking offense, she welcomes the name and essentially tells Benedick that she acts contemptuously only because she’s talking to him.
Set in the sixteenth century, Much Ado About Nothing is revolved around the thought of love and marriage. Primarily, this is prevalent in the two main characters, Beatrice and Benedick. They have once been courted which suggests more maturity than the majority of couples in Shakespeare’s various plays. In the duration of the play, the violent language between Benedick and Beatrice is most evident through their ridicule. Both characters always speak critically regardless of whether they are talking to each other or out loud about one another. This is highlighted when Beatrice exclaims, “What should I do with him—dress him in my apparel / and make him my waiting gentlewoman? He that hath a / beard is more than / a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a/ man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a/ man, I am not for him...
In the play, the characters of Beatrice and Benedict are able to see reality for what it is once they obtain self-knowledge. Like most of the characters in the Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedict do not possess self-knowledge, causing them to misperceive actuality. This is relevant based upon the two’s interactions with each other. Their witty banter between one another is an effect of this, masking their true feelings for each other by seeing themselves as enemies to their opposer.... ...
...e one of the main issues raised is that there is not enough equality and that women do not have enough of a voice. The way that the character Beatrice is represented in this play the way that doesn’t conform, whereas Hero is the idealistic women, wife, daughter of Shakespeare’s time. Whilst Much Ado About Nothing was written 400 years ago the relevance of Shakespeare’s issues of Love and Deception are still universal. The theme of love transcend, Beatrice and Benedick relationship is an archetypal for unconditional and unwavering love. Deception is still a common occurrence in our modern world. Don John is still the most deceptive character in the play even though Don Pedro, his brother deceives; his deception is used for good instead of bad. This play is still popular today as the themes of love and deception are still relevant in daily life and in this society.
In I Henry IV and II Henry IV, William Shakespeare brings together drama and comedy to create two of the most compelling history plays ever written. Many of Shakespeare's other works are nearly absolute in their adherence to either the comic or tragic traditions, but in the two Henry IV plays Shakespeare combines comedy and drama in ways that seem to bring a certain realism to his characters, and thus the plays. The present essay is an examination of the various and significant effects that Shakespeare's comedic scenes have on I Henry IV and II Henry IV. The Diversity of Society
Much Ado About Nothing is one of William Shakespeare’s best comedies and love stories. What is not to like about a play that is hilarious, romantic, and has a happy ending? In this play the foremost and most intriguing character is Benedick, a man who is a devout bachelor and who does not believe he will ever find the perfect woman; --because perfect is exactly what he must have. This may seem to be a harsh and pessimistic outlook on life, but the way Shakespeare brings this character to life portrays Benedick as a funny and caring man who really is not that certain about what he wants for the future. Benedick’s counterpart in the play is Beatrice who is an independent woman with a quick tongue. Benedick and Beatrice despise and cannot stand each other because it is seemingly impossible for them to have a conversation without arguing and angering each other. The two of them provide some of the more amusing scenes of the play with their word play and mocking of each other. In reality though, they have much in common that they have yet to realize. Both of them despise marriage, are witty, and are each their own persons. These however are not the reasons why they come together. They are brought together by their respective companions who conspire to tell each of them that the one loves the other as the two misdirected lovers listen in. In his speech directly after this, Benedick is swayed to a life that he previously would have avoided at all costs. In hearing of Beatrice’s supposed affection he immediately changes his entire outlook on perpetual bachelorhood and pronounces a love that is not real or his own, but comes secondhand from trickery.
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.
Though its primary function is usually plot driven--as a source of humor and a means to effect changes in characters through disguise and deception—cross dressing is also a sociological motif involving gendered play. My earlier essay on the use of the motif in Shakespeare's plays pointed out that cross dressing has been discussed as a symptom of "a radical discontinuity in the meaning of the family" (Belsey 178), as cul-tural anxiety over the destabilization of the social hierarchy (Baker, Howard, Garber), as the means for a woman to be assertive without arousing hostility (Claiborne Park), and as homoerotic arousal (Jardine). This variety of interpretations suggests the multivoiced character of the motif, but before approaching the subject of this essay, three clarifica- tions are necessary at the outset.
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).
Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, eds. "Measure for Measure". William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1998.
Tragedy, irony and modernism are only a few interpretations of the valued play The Taming of the Shrew by the respected writer William Shakespeare. However, one of the most intriguing and popular of these analyses is comedy. Shakespeare is recognized for writing several plays with comedic genres, a few of which include Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. Comedy, being a complex genre, is composed of many different concepts. This particular play can be interpreted as a Shakespearian comedy, a screwball comedy, a farce, or slapstick.
Through comedy and tragedy Shakespeare reveals the vast expanses and profound depths of the character of life. For him they are not separate worlds of drama and romance, but poles of a continuum. The distinction between tragedy and comedy is called in question when we turn to Shakespeare. Though the characters differ in stature and power, and the events vary in weight and significance, the movements of life in all Shakespeare's plays are governed by the same universal principles which move events in our own lives. Through myriad images Shakespeare portrays not only the character of man and society but the character of life itself.
The function of wonder in art, and in Shakespeare’s reflections on his own dramatic art, is considered in general terms in “rules and types in drama” and more specifically in “disguising” (The Winter’s
Mistaken identity and disguise are important aspects of comedy in Twelfth Night that stand at the forefront of the play’s comedy. Not only are mistaken identities and disguise evident within the main plot of the play but also in various other situations. Sexual confusion amongst characters, subversion of gender roles and farcical elements through stagecraft all effectively contribute to the dramatic comedy genre. However, it can be suggested that certain elements of Twelfth Night are not interpreted to be purely comedic; Shakespeare has incorporated serious and controversial subjects such as the idea of genuine love, the patriarchy of the time and the cruel gulling of Malvolio. Therefore, disguise and mistaken identity are not solely for the purpose of comedy and it could be inferred that it even borders on the genre of tragedy.