Transcript Shakespeare Comedy - senior-calendar-07-08

Plato
 Comedy offers malicious enjoyment through
the spectacle of those deficient in selfknowledge (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)
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 Oberon and
Titania: but you need hope.)
Comedy
 Impossible to define
 Definite kinds, low to high
 Reformation of a (ridiculous) character
 Holiday spirit
 Ritual element (marriage)
 Comic diction
Elements of Comedy
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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
Comedy: For you to think about.
What elements of comedy do you find in
Much Ado About Nothing that makes it
“serious” art?
Does Branagh leave any out?
Does he add any?
Hint: Why does Hero seem to die and
then come back to life?
Endings
 Where film must start strongly, it is arguable that
drama must end strongly.
 What is the effect of the whirling camera at the end of
Branagh’s Much Ado?
 Perhaps this uplifting harmony is the comedic version
of Aristotle’s emphasis on the effect of drama on the
audience.
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.
“Nothing/Nothing” as the
Ridiculous?
 This is a play about “nothing,” scrutinizing for little
signs of truth, relying on fallible eyes, as when
Beatrice and Benedick ignore the other’s words and
look for signs that the other loves them.
 While B and B are examining minutia, Claudio is
deceived by the overly obvious impersonation of Hero
by Margaret. He is not at all interested in the signs of
love but in marrying an heiress with the sought after
qualities of beauty and meekness (neither one said to
belong to Beatrice, whose name, rather, suggests
beatitude, or cosmic happiness, while Benedick
means “blessed”)
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.
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.
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 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