COMEDYCOMEDY

The word “comedy” comes from the Greek comodìa, probably meaning “Dionysiac feast song”, generally linked to village feasts celebrating the rite of fecundity.

Comedy has mantained some fixed features through the centuries:

It generally deals with ordinary characters set in everyday situations in an amusing way. It begins with misfortunes but does not end with the death of the protagonist.

The dramatist is generally the mouthpiece of the vices and follies of the society he belongs to.

Specific sets of comic characters are developed: they do not evolve in the course of the play and their names sometimes reveal their nature.

The plots are mainly based on love.

There are different kinds of comedy:

ROMANTIC COMEDY, mainly represented by Shakespeare. The themes of this kind of comedy are universal, the language is poetic and the setting is generally dreamlike.

SATIRIC COMEDY, created by Ben Jonson; this comedy has a moralizing purpose and the characters embody human vices. Poetry is used.

COMEDY OF MANNERS or RESTORATION COMEDY: its most important exponents were Congreve and Wycherley. This is a class comedy since its characters belong to the upper classes; it is addressed to a literate audience who are able to appreciate its formal and intellectual language. One of the most important dramatic techniques of Restoration comedy is “irony”, that is, saying the opposite of what is actually meant. It resides almost complitely in dialogue and it aims both at criticising the social institution of marriage during the Restoration and the sexual behaviour of the upper classes.

COMPARISON

Tragedy Comedy

Plot Serious play with a change in thehero's fortunes: from happiness tomisery

Comedy starts with an unhappycondition of the protagonist andends happily

Characters Kings, princes, warriors Ordinary people generallybelonging to the upper classes

Language Lofty, solemn, poetic Formal, witty, satirical, mainly inprose

Theme Universal Vices and follies of society

Audience Drawn from all social classes Literate upper classes

Silvia Regolin, IV A

26th, April 2009