Transcript Comedy

Comedy
» From Shakespeare: Script, Stage, Screen, pp. 7375
» Impossible to define
» Definite kinds, low to high
» Reformation of a (ridiculous) character
» Holiday spirit
» Ritual element (marriage)
» Comic diction
Plato
» Comedy offers malicious enjoyment
through the spectacle of those deficient
in self-knowledge (agnoia, Philebus 48c)
and the ridiculous consequences which
follow from exaggerated self-esteem.
» The “ridiculous” is the bad state of a mind
that does not “know itself” (the lesson of
the Oracle of Delphi)
Aristotle, cont.
» Crates was the first Athenian poet to drop
the Comedy of invective (iambicos
ideas) and frame stories of a general and
non-personal nature, in other words,
Fables (logous) or Plots (mythous).
» The point is that “comedy” is shaped
(poein > poetry) or framed, not
improvised.
Film v. Drama
» Film stresses opening; drama depends on how
the captive audience leaves the theater:
stunned in tragedy, uplifted by comedy.
» Film is static: the interpretation never changes,
no matter how many times we see the film; but
drama can change every night, as an actor
gives different emphasis. Even on the same
night, the same play may seem different,
depending on the angle and distance of the
spectator.
» Stage can insert different topical jokes every
night.
Aristotle
» “The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or
deformity [Lucas: ludicrous error, hamartema,
such as falling in a well or being confused by
identical twins] not productive or pain or harm to
others.” (1449a)
» [The “ridiculous” is the telos or end of comedy,
as pity and fear are of tragedy, according to
Lucas]
»
Lucas edited the Greek text of The Poetics.
Claudio
Don John
Don Pedro
Benedick
Conrad
Borachio
Balthasar
Leonato
Antonio
Hero Ursula
Margaret
Beatrice
Friar Francis
Sexton
Dogberry
Verges
Watchmen
Aristotle
» “The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or
deformity [Lucas: ludicrous error, hamartema,
such as falling in a well or being confused by
identical twins] not productive or pain or harm to
others.” (1449a)
» [The “ridiculous” is the telos or end of comedy,
as pity and fear are of tragedy, according to
Lucas]
»
Lucas edited the Greek text of The Poetics.
Theory of Comedy
Tragedy is about the break-up of civilization.
Comedy is about the establishment of social harmony.
Both are dramatic terms of art: thus “tragedy” is not the same
as “horrible” and comedies can be bittersweet as well as
funny.
Drama is not life, but ritual: thus Shakespeare ends comedies
in weddings as a sign, not a proof, of social stability: 3
weddings in MSND; 2 in Much Ado
What happens after, who knows? Cf. the marital problems of Benedick and
Beatrice: but you need hope.)
(
End of Monty Python and
the Meaning of Life
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Sense of moral uplift for vile humans
“Montage” of death
Dinner party as image of social communion
Outsider/scapegoat to remove evil
Hint of heaven
Rebirth after death
Music and harmony
Message: be kind to others
Music in Much Ado, to
reinforce sense of social
harmony
» Benedick asks Claudio “In what key shall a man
take you to go in the song?”
» Beatrice reacting to Hero’s impending marriage:
“the fault will be in time to the music: wooing,
wedding, and repenting” (2.1.73)
» Balthasar’s song is part of Don Pedro’s plot (2.3)
» Beatrice, appearing in love in 3.4, says she is “out
of tune”
» Benedick calls for a dance to end the play.
pun on “nothing” 2.3.48
BALTHASAR
Because you talk of wooing, I will sing;
Since many a wooer doth commence his suit
To her he thinks not worthy, yet he woos,
Yet will he swear he loves.
DON PEDRO
Now, pray thee, come;
Or, if thou wilt hold longer argument,
Do it in notes.
BALTHASAR
Note this before my notes;
There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting.
DON PEDRO
Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks;
Note, notes, forsooth, and nothing.
Sigh no more … men were
deceivers ever
» Sung just before men deceive Benedick
» Balthasar says the song is about how men
deceive women by wooing falsely.
» But Don Pedro wants the music (Note, notes)
and “nothing” of that meaning but rather, here,
a set-up for the “nothing = noting” by Benedick
of their feigned conversation about how
Beatrice loves him.
» So the play harmonizes or softens male
deception by turning it from a slander to a merry
plot, re-enacting origins of comedy as a form.
Much Ado About Nothing
» Why does the play have a double plot?
 To suggest contrast between physical attraction and
intellectual compatibility
» After all I have said about spectacle, what
argument can you make for reading the play?
 thinking about “Beatrice” as a name meaning
beatitude, for example, which reminds us of heaven,
harmony, uplift, role of comedy.
 Don Pedro (St. Peter?) especially is very thoughtful, a
master of ceremonies, a user of heightened language
that we need to ponder over at leisure; see 5.3.24-28,
as he announces the new dawn, new day, after
mourning ritual for “dead” Hero