Chapter 6 The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel. --Horace Walpole,...
Transcript of Chapter 6 The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel. --Horace Walpole,...
Varieties of DramaChapter 6
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.--Horace Walpole, Author (1717-1797)
What are the differences between tragedy and comedy?
What are some of the devices playwrights use to make people laugh?
What are the types of comedy? What dramatic styles have influenced the
theater in the twentieth century?
Focus Questions
The two most recognized varieties of drama are tragedy and comedy
Tragedies are serious and end in catastrophe Comedies are usually lighthearted, with clever
dialogue and amusing characters who are in amusing situations, end happily
Tragicomedies: plays that have both qualities Dramas: are not tragedies, but are serious in
nature Literary/Dramatic Styles (sub-class): romanticism,
realism, naturalism, symbolism, expressionism Historical Eras (sub-class): Greek theater,
Commedia dell’arte, Restoration period
Varieties of Drama - Overview
Considered humanity’s highest literary achievement
Sober and thoughtful, based on profound human emotions and conflicts that do not change with time or place
Focus is the protagonist who is engaged in a struggle but ultimately fails and is overcome by opposing forces
External forces set in motion by a choice or error the character makes
Tragedy
Tragic character has no control over internal/external forces once the choice has been made or action has begun
Inevitability: Outcome appears predestined – audience sees that there is nothing the character can do to avoid it.◦ E.g. Prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls characters
“star-crossed lovers” and shows their fate is sealed.
Protagonist’s struggle elicits audience’s pity and compassion (Pathos)
By the end of the tragedy, pathos is purged and audience feels a sense of relief (catharsis)
The type of protagonist has changed over time (from kings to commoners)
Regardless of how common they seem, protagonists have something that sets them apart or elevates them above other people.
They have a flaw or make an error that has serious consequences
They make no apology for their actions They set goals based on unyielding beliefs They know that almost everything worth
having demands some sacrifice They are willing to make the sacrifice
themselves, never asking another to make sacrifices for them
5 Characteristics of Tragic Characters
According to Aristotle’s Poetics:◦ Tragic protagonist is average or better person who
is brought from happiness to misery in a play◦ Through this suffering, the protagonist gains a
sense of awareness (self-truth, or truth of others)◦ Protagonist becomes alienated/isolated from
society◦ Hamartia (character weakness or error in
judgment) causes the action/inaction that brings protagonist’s difficulties
◦ Most common form of hamartia is hubris (excessive pride)
Aristotle and Tragedy
Audience reactions (pity and fear) brought about by:◦ Spectacle (visible part of the play)◦ Plot (“the soul of the tragedy”)
Pity is for the protagonist, fear is for the audience
When a person of stature, struggling against dynamic forces falls, resulting effect is purging (catharsis)
Tragedy includes scenes of recognition and reversal
Recognition◦ Protagonist achieves inner awareness◦ Protagonist identifies a loved one, relative, or
friend from birthmark or scar or by some other means
Reversal◦ Ironic twist in which an action produces an effect
opposite to what would at first seem likely
From Jean Anouilh’s Antigone:◦ Tragedy is clean, it is firm, it is flawless. It has nothing
to do with melodrama.◦ In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone’s
destiny is known. ◦ Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope, that
foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn’t any hope. You’re trapped. The whole sky has fallen on you, and all you can do about it is to shout.
◦ And you don’t say these things because it will do any good to say them: you know better than that. You say them for their own sake; you say them because you learn a lot from them.
◦ But in tragedy, where there is no temptation to try to escape, argument is gratuitous: it’s kingly.
Modern Tragedy
Arthur Miller’s modern tragedy Death of a Salesman◦ While watching the film, take notes regarding:
What forces is the protagonist struggling against? What is his main weakness? Explain how the play communicates a sense of
inevitability?◦ There will be an essay due about this tragedy on
Monday (April 15)
Viewing Activity
1. Examine Death of a Salesman as it fits into the framework of a “tragedy”.
2. Examine Willy Loman using the “5 Characteristics of Tragic Characters”
3. Examine Death of a Salesman using Aristotle’s philosophy of tragedy from Poetics
2-4 Pages, Typed, Double-Spaced, 12pt Font
Essay Topics
Greek: komos + ode = lit. “revel song” Societal & conciliatory: all characters come
together at the end of the play – even the villains rejoin the group!
Often depends on a specific time and place BUT greatest/longest-lasting comedies have
situations that most audiences can easily identify with.
Many types Doesn’t always make you laugh out loud
Comedy
Protagonist overcomes opposing forces, achieves desired goals, or both.
Protagonist often less-than-average person Like all drama, comedy is built around
character, situations and dialogue Comic situations consist of predicaments
that seem insurmountable or improbable◦ Mistaken identities, rash promises, or a series of
events in which everything seems to go wrong are typical comic situations
Conventions of Comedy
Tragedy Comedy
Inevitable – no way to change the outcome
Universal theme & appeal
Emotional Protagonist fails Protagonist alienated
from society Protagonist average or
better Protagonist falls from
leadership/power
Predictably unpredictable
Time and place oriented
Intellectual, mental Protagonist achieves Protagonist becomes
leader of new society Protagonist less than
average Protagonist achieves
success (often because of mistakes/shortcomings)
It is difficult to determine what makes people laugh
Comic plays are more difficult to perform than serious dramas because of the unpredictability
Senses of humor change over time and in different places
Problems with Comedy
Likely the most noticeable characteristic of comedy
Comes in various forms: overstatement or understatement
May include physical characteristics – bulbous nose/large teeth/mannerisms
Or mental characteristics – almost-too-brilliant child prodigy or incredibly dense person
Exaggeration of “humors” from Shakespeare’s time – personality determiners
Exaggeration
Anything that seems out of place, time, or character
Comes in many forms:◦ Unnatural Action – treating a poor person like he’s
rich◦ Unnatural sound or pronunciation◦ A twist or turn of events that changes logical
completion of a pattern◦ Reversal – tables turned and weak overthrow
strong◦ Dialogue about irrelevant when something critical
is at stake
Incongruity
Looking forward to a potential laugh E.g. “banana peel on the sidewalk” Gets laughs before the punch line Also occurs in mistaken identity
◦ The reversal of roles and anticipation that truth with come out is the source of laughter
Created by a “plant” – idea, line, or action emphasized early (foreshadowing) – 3 exposures needed◦ Plant, establish, clinch (combination = running
gag)
Anticipation
Incompletion: a line or bit of action started but never finished◦ Completed with the audience’s laughter
Anticlimax (letdown): excitement about something is built up to great proportions, and there is nothing (like bursting a bubble)◦ A flat line is always good for a laugh. It follows a
build-up to the punch line, but the follow-through is never equal to the preparation. Instead of maintaining the momentum of the joke or the gage, the line is delivered with either a drop in pitch or with little or no expression in the voice.
Causes of Anticipation, cont.
Double meaning – the heart of many humorous lines
Puns and word play Depend on audience recognizing the
possible interpretations and selecting the least likely one
Can be in dialogue or names of characters
Ambiguity
Discovering hidden or obscure meanings Audience is often amused to recognize the
difference between a character’s inner motivation and the apparent motivation.
Also amused to discover what is going to happen just before it actually does
Recognition
One of the most important elements of comedy
Cruel, violent, grotesque, abusive actions and events cause laughter because the audience is protected by knowing they are not really happening or not as damaging as they seem.◦ Think Wiley Coyote/Road Runner
Protection
Good comedy builds up pressure and releases it Relief of pressure is humorous when pent-up
emotions are allowed to explode in a laugh◦ E.g. A comic character lights the fuse on a powder keg
and places it in the path of an adversary (the plant). Fuse goes out at the last moment and the adversary passes unharmed (anticlimax/letdown). Character approaches powder keg to see what went wrong (anticipation). Powder keg blows up in character’s face (incongruity). Comic character emerges ragged and soot-covered, but unharmed (protection and relief).
Relief
Three main classifications of comedy come from study in ancient Greece:◦ Old Comedy: scathing satirical attack on political
events and figures◦ Middle Comedy: evolved to focus more on social
occurrences, incorporated everyday speech◦ New Comedy: (originated by Menander) presents a
sentimental view of life and tries to appeal to audiences’ intellect rather than base sense of humor
These classifications ONLY used for comedies of ancient Greece
Comedies after categorized as LOW or HIGH
Types of Comedy
Focuses on physical antics (The Three Stooges)
Characters are usually outlandish, and play is exaggerated in style and performance
Utilizes various comic techniques to get the laugh…
Low Comedy
Based on improbable characters and implausible coincidences and events
Practical jokes, clowning, physical indignities (ear pulling, shin kicking, pie throwing)
Achieved sometimes through screen scenes and asides
Used more since end of WW2 to enhance serious works
Latin word farcire means “to stuff” – when first used in theater, farce referred to any sort of impromptu addition “stuffed” into a play (esp. jokes or gags)
Farce
Relies on physical comedy and exaggeration Less coherent than farces Mockery of a broad topic, such as a style,
societal view, or literary form Audience should have previous knowledge
of the play’s subject or will not enjoy its humor
In the US, burlesque evolved into the bawdy variety show
Burlesque
Mockery of a certain person or work, incorporating a caricature (exaggerated feature) of the subject
Requires prior knowledge of the subject being ridiculed (Tina Fey/Sarah Palin)
Relies less on physical than farce or burlesque
E.g. Space Balls
Parody
Intellectual humor Essential to pay attention to the dialogue,
because high comedy almost exclusively relies on witty dialogue, not physical action
Like parody and burlesque, ridicules a particular subject, but presents the subject in a different way…
High Comedy
“Drawing Room Comedy” – the main action takes place in the drawing rooms of upper-class citizens
Usually mocks pretenses of the upper classes
Built on clever use of language – wit includes puns, paradoxes, epigrams, and ironies
Dialogue often attacks socially-accepted standards of the day
Extremely popular in the Restoration Period
Comedy of Manners
Ridicules human folly, societal views, or individuals
The satirist usually has the goal of changing something for the better by ridiculing it
Intellectual in its attack – mocks using language rather than physical antics
Has been around since the Old Comedy of Aristophanes
Satire
Blazing Saddles◦ Classic 1974 Satire Comedy from Mel Brooks
While viewing, consider:◦ Is Blazing Saddles an example of “low” or “high”
comedy?◦ What elements of comedy do you observe?◦ What conventions of satire are present?
Viewing Activity
Research & Teach a style: Textbook page 288. Choose a style with a
partner and create an informational “poster” to teach the class about your style. Include:◦ An image that conveys the style◦ Production examples◦ Definition◦ Conventions
Styles of DramaYou may use technology to
search the internet for additional
info.
Style Choices*Romanticism*Constructivism*Realism & Naturalism *Symbolism*Theater of the Absurd *Expressionism*Theater of Involvement *Epic Theater*Total Theater Theatricalism