Comedy and tragedy are two totally opposing genres but both have been very successful during the Elizabethan period. Several plays were written to help people to be instructed in a general way and to purge their emotions through the laughing in comedy or the crying in the tragedy. Among the writers of tragic plays, there was Shakespeare with one of his most famous play The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Regarding comedy, John Lyly takes the myth of Endymion in his courtly comedy Endymion, the Man in the Moon. Starting from these two plays this essay will look at the boundaries that allow defining and distinguishing between tragedy and comedy as well as their importance at the time. Tragedy and comedy stand out mainly by the fact that one of these genres makes people cry and the other makes them laugh. The boundary between the two is not always easy to distinguish, since a play can be considered as a comedy without being funny, simply because it has a happy ending. The issue here is to contrast these two genres to better draw the border between them.
The comedy featured ordinary characters and thus allowed people to laugh at their pains and ironic situations. Unlike comedy, tragedy had as protagonists, people of high social level. The characters of the tragedy are usually caught in a fate that they cannot escape. It is rare that the tragedy gives a solution or it is in most cases death. To summarise, comedy was designed to make people laugh and show that a happy ending is possible, it often ends with marriages, while the tragedy shows that even very important persons can find themselves in situations that are beyond them and that lead them to their downfall.
By writing The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Den...
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• Deats, Sara. (Nov., 1975). The Disarming of the Knight: Comic Parody in Lyly's "Endymion" South Atlantic Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 4. pp. 67-75
• Houppert, Joseph W. (1975). John Lyly. Twayne Publishers, Boston.
o Chapter 2. Non-Dramatic Fiction. I Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit. pp. 22-52
o Chapter 7. Lyly’s Reputation and Influence. I Lyly the Stylist. pp. 147-150
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• Lyly, J., Bevington, D. M. (1996). Endymion. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
• Neufeld, M. Christine. Lyly’s Chimerical Vision: Witchcraft in Endymion.
By definition the comedy and tragedy are opposite ends of the spectrum of human emotion. Comedy being associated with the positive aspects, happiness, laughter, joy; while tragedy is associated with the negative aspects, revenge, hatred, sadness etc. It is here that the author makes his first error in his article. Rather than discussing the basis of these emotions he simply glosses over them, stating that an acceptable theory is yet to be provided that can succinctly answer why we laugh and why we cry. Furthermore he offers that those that would like to further their understanding, to visit...
Hamlet Compare and contrast between Hamlet and Laertes William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is known as the best tragedy play of all times. Each one of the characters has their own unique personality, but some of them are very alike. Hamlet, the main character, and Laertes, one of the other leading roles, are very much alike but at the same time slightly different. Their experiences collide and they both make some decisions, which change their lives forever. Hamlet and Laertes both display impulsive reactions when angered.
Something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. The king was dead of a murder most foul, a betrayal from his own brother, young Hamlet was thrown out of the frying pan, which was his father's passing, and into the fire of revenge. On would think that an act of revenge such as this, retribution from an enraged son over the unjust murder of his father, would come so quickly, wildly, and brutally, driven by anger and rage. This simply was not the case in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. As the young prince Hamlet carefully thought out his plans for revenge over a rather large amount of time due to his own apparent weakness, inaction. "The smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention"(Stokes 90). Hamlet was full of grand ideas and intentions on how to kill the King, but he failed to act and to carry out the deed that was his revenge, the destruction of Claudius. Why did Hamlet choose and it was his choice, not to take revenge on Claudius quickly and decisively? Hamlet had his own reasons for inaction; the strategy that he felt best suited his revenge.
Ecclesiastes 7: 17 said “Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time?” Suicide is an important part in the bible. It is one of the things that is considered a sin in Christianity. The bible has lessons and commandments for Christians to follow and those lessons are represented in books. In the early 1600’s religion was an important part of people’s lives and writers incorporated it into their writings. William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in the early 1600’s and he wrote about religion while he was writing about a prince’s revenge on his uncle. His uncle killed his father and he was prepared to take revenge. Hamlet and Christianity are both about the good, the bad and the afterlife which makes Hamlet a Christian play.
Many people question the psychological condition of the character Hamlet in the sixteenth century play Hamlet written by William Shakespeare. One of the reasons that the mental health of hamlet is in question by many people is the result of hamlet's actions as well as his reactions to events that occur during the play. Some people argue that the character Hamlet is insane, while others may argue that his insanity can be justified by several means such as his need for justice of his father's murder. However, Hamlet's need for justice or revenge does not necessarily justify Hamlet's behavior in the play. In addition, Hamlet's behavior falls into several categories of insanity such as shizophrenia. Therefore, there are many ways in which it can be proven that hamlet may truly be insane.
William Shakespeare composed the play Hamlet, around 1600-1601. This play, named after his only son, in my opinion is one of Shakespeare’s best works. The play shows the literal as well as the realistic sides of people during this culture as well as those generations to come. During the play, Hamlet’s character went through several different transitions. In the beginning he was shown as a child, by his actions and curiosity, but towards the end of play his manhood begins surface and he begins to be aggressive at getting what he wants.
William Shakespeare is seen to many as one of the great writers in history. More specifically, the characters in his plays are reviewed and criticized and have been so for nearly four centuries. The character that many have revered Shakespeare for is perhaps the greatest such character ever in literature, Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The commentary and response to this legend of literature is of wide array and opinion, though most, such as Pennington, believe him to be a truly magnificent character: "Hamlet is perhaps the cleverest hero ever written, the subject of the first European tragedy, a form of genius. A type Shakespeare despaired of writing thereafter, having perceived that the heroes of tragedies must be sublime idiots" (185). However, despite his clear gifts and aura, Hamlet was a doomed character from the beginning: Hamlet is dominated by an emotion that is inexpressible. It is thus a feeling he cannot understand, he cannot objectify it, and it therefore remains open to poison life and to obstruct action" (Eliot 25). Thus, Hamlet, while possessing the traits of no other men of his time, a true Renaissance man, was doomed from the beginning of the play partly by forces he could not control, and also partly by his own character. It leads to a slow but definite ending to one of literature's great characters, one that he could not control. In the end, Hamlet was out of place in his environment, he was simply not meant to be.
Why do people crave power, fortune, and lust when all it leads to is corruption, greed, and/or death? In the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, one character's greed for power and fortune leads to tragedy. First, Claudius murders King Hamlet and attempts to kill prince Hamlet inorder to keep the crown to rule Denmark. Secondly, Claudius sets up a plan that involves putting a poisonous pearl in the winner's victory cup that eventually Gertrude drinks. He also puts poision on the tip of the sword that eventually kills Laertes in the duel. Lastly, Claudius sends Rosencranz & Guildenstern to escort Hamlet to England to secretly be killed so that he can keep the crown. One may object that Polonius' death was not the fault of Claudius' greed because Hamlet killed Polonius. However, Hamlet was obsessed with killing Claudius because he wanted to seek revenge for his father. Claudius' Greed for power is to blame for all the tragedies in the play Hamlet.
The use of humor in a tragic story helps to give the reader a break from the monotony of a depressing story line. “If a story were completely filled with depressing and tragic events, the readers' interest would most definitely be lost”( Bloom 91). William Shakespeare's, Hamlet is based on the tragedy of a murder of the king of Denmark, whose son must revenge his murderer. Therefore it is classified as a tragedy and if humor weren't present in the play it would be very depressing. Shakespeare ironically uses Hamlet; the main character to add the comedy bit of the play when he is the one the tragedy affects most. This humor is evident throughout the play by Hamlet. When Hamlet is upset at someone like Claudius or Polonius he will mock them in their presence without either one of them really catching on too quickly.
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.
In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main character, Hamlet, is often perceived by the other characters in the play as being mentally unbalanced because he acts in ways that drive them to think he is mad. Hamlet may very well be psychotic; however, there are times when he “feigns insanity” in order to unearth the truth surrounding his father's death. This plan seems to be going well until Hamlet's mental state slowly begins to deteriorate. What began as an act of insanity or antic disposition transitions from an act to a tragic reality. After studying Hamlet's actions, one will notice that as the play progresses, his feigned insanity becomes less and less intentional and devolves into true mental illness.
In a comparison of comedy and tragedy, I will begin by looking at narrative. The narration in a comedy often involves union and togetherness as we see in the marriage scene at the end of Midsummer's Night Dream. William Hazlitt tells us that one can also expect incongruities, misunderstandings, and contradictions. I am reminded of the play The Importance of Being Ernest and the humor by way of mistaken identity. Sigmund Freud tells us to expect excess and exaggeration in comedy. Chekhov's Marriage Proposal displays this excess both in language and in movements. Charles Darwin insists that in a comedy "circumstances must not be of a momentous nature;" whereas, Northop Frye identifies comedy as having a happy ending and using repetition that goes nowhere.
Many critics of Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' have argued that it is not a true comedy but rather a mix of tragedy, comedy, and satire. Many have also claimed that it follows the traditional beast-fable that can be found in the tales of Aesop. Although Volpone takes on some characteristics of tragedy, it seems to follow closer to the conventions of comedy. But it is not the traditional form of comedy. It is a play that takes on the form of a comical satire as well as a morality play. It also adapts the features of a fable in that it strives to teach a moral. Yet this play, even though it adopts these traditions, puts a different twist on what people would expect from a comedy or morality play. Jonson presents his audience with an unconventional way of approaching the subjects he is satirizing by creating a new form of comedy that embodies aspects of all three genres.
A tragedy is defined as beginning with a problem that affects everyone, i.e. the whole town or all the characters involved, the tragic hero must solve this problem and this results in his banishment or death [run-on sentence]. A comedy is defined as also beginning with a problem, but one of less significant importance. The characters try to solve the problem and the story ends with all the characters uniting in either a marriage of a party. Although these two genres are seen as being complete opposites of each other, through further analysis one can gather that though they are different certain similarities can also be seen.