In A Shakespeare Companion, F.E. Halliday says that Shakespeare wrote fourteen plays which appear in the Comedy section of the First Folio (1623). Since then, scholars have divided them into four sections. Those written between 1593-97 include:
From the 'First Folio.'
The Comedy of Errors
The Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentemen of Verona
Love's Labour's Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
1598-1600
Much Ado About Nothing
The Merry Wives of Windsor
As You Like it
Twelfth Night
1602-1604
All's Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
1608-1611
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest
(Note: 'Cymbeline' is listed as a tragedy and 'Pericles' isn't listed at all.)
And they all lived happily ever after - the Kenneth Branagh film of "Much Ado About Nothing," 1993.
In addition to the above chronological breakdown, the comedies may also be divided up into Early Comedies, (Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew etc.) Romantic Comedies Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It etc), Problem Comedies (Measure for measure, All's Well That Ends Well) and the Dark Comedies.
Comedy in Shakespeare does not usually mean side-splitting hearty laughter jokes or Laurel and Hardy style pranks. As Sir John Davies writes, Shakespearean comedy is not that of 'loud laughing' but of 'soft smiling.' It is also more likely to be the final situation where order has been restored to a romantic couple or a family or two after they have been through a tough time. This may have been the result of mistaken identities and disguises, (the shipwrecked Viola falling in love with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria in Twelfth Night) lovers' quarrels, (Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing) or separation and unification (separation of the twins in The Comedy of Errors).
A case of mistaken identity - Titania and Bottom in
"A Midsummer Night's Dream."
The classical solution to the aforementioned and other unhappy situations is the ultimate discovery of the truth by the main characters often resulting in one or more marriages in the final scene. This means that plays which include some very grim scenes such as The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure are usually categorised as Comedies. In the first play, Lorenzo and Jessica are given the "special deed of gift" forced from Shylock, while in Measure for Measure, Claudio marries Juliet and Duke Vincentio sues for the hand of Isabella.
Sometimes the solution to the lovers' problems may be brought about by an outside source, such as a clever priest or a clown who is in fact wiser than the people he works for. In Much Ado About Nothing, it takes Friar Francis to bring about the reconcilliation of Claudio and his now estranged and reportedly dead fiancee, Hero. Similarly, WS also uses this same 'clever friar' device in Romeo and Juliet to bring the young lovers together, but unfortunately this does not lead to the same happy conclusion.
One of the most important aspects of WS comedy is that it often pokes its head into the middle of his Tragedies as well.
It is as if WS realised that his audiences needed to see some comic relief to lighten up the tragic stage. Many of his Tragedies contain comic scenes which apart from adding yet another layer to the plays also inform the audience of another important part of the plot. There is the country bumpkin who breaks up the tension in Antony and Cleopatra; the comments made by the ribald nurse in Romeo and Juliet and of course, the well known examples from Macbeth and Hamlet.
The drunk Porter in Polansky's film of "Macbeth," 1971
In Macbeth this comic relief comes after Macbeth has killed King Duncan. It is in the middle of the night and the drunken Porter gives a long soliloquy about the affect of strong drink. After being asked by Macduff:
What three things does drink especially provoke?
The garralous Porter replies:
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep and urine.
Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes;
It provokes the desire but it takes away the performance.
From here, the Porter continues with his humorous speech about the power of drink until he is stopped by Macduff who asks him whether he can speak to Macbeth.
Laurence Olivier in his own 1948 production, contemplating on the skull of Yorick.
Another classic example of comic relief occurs towards the end of Hamlet. In the last scene of Act IV, when Gertrude gives a
graphic description of how Hamlet's girlfriend, Ophelia, "the poor wretch," who has been found drowned. In the next scene the action jumps immediately to a churchyard where two clowns, i.e.grave-diggers, are philosophising about Ophelia's death and the affects of water and death. They also exchange grim riddles, such as:
Clown 1: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason,
the shipwright. or the carpenter?
Clown 2: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand
tenants.
This dark humour continues when Hamlet and Horatio come and after further word play and puns with the gravediggers, Hamlet finds the king's jester's skull and begins the speech,
"Alas, poor Yorrick! I knew him well..." From the gravediggers' witty exchange, Hamlet then talks about death and that all men, great or small, including Alexander [the Great] and 'Imperious Caesar' in the end are transformed to dust and clay.
Thus Shakespeare finds humour, even black humour, in all situations; the romantic, the politic and even in where it is least expected - in death.
Next time: Curses.
See also: dly-books.weebly.com
The Comedy of Errors
The Taming of the Shrew
Two Gentemen of Verona
Love's Labour's Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
1598-1600
Much Ado About Nothing
The Merry Wives of Windsor
As You Like it
Twelfth Night
1602-1604
All's Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
1608-1611
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest
(Note: 'Cymbeline' is listed as a tragedy and 'Pericles' isn't listed at all.)
In addition to the above chronological breakdown, the comedies may also be divided up into Early Comedies, (Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew etc.) Romantic Comedies Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It etc), Problem Comedies (Measure for measure, All's Well That Ends Well) and the Dark Comedies.
Comedy in Shakespeare does not usually mean side-splitting hearty laughter jokes or Laurel and Hardy style pranks. As Sir John Davies writes, Shakespearean comedy is not that of 'loud laughing' but of 'soft smiling.' It is also more likely to be the final situation where order has been restored to a romantic couple or a family or two after they have been through a tough time. This may have been the result of mistaken identities and disguises, (the shipwrecked Viola falling in love with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria in Twelfth Night) lovers' quarrels, (Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing) or separation and unification (separation of the twins in The Comedy of Errors).
"A Midsummer Night's Dream."
The classical solution to the aforementioned and other unhappy situations is the ultimate discovery of the truth by the main characters often resulting in one or more marriages in the final scene. This means that plays which include some very grim scenes such as The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure are usually categorised as Comedies. In the first play, Lorenzo and Jessica are given the "special deed of gift" forced from Shylock, while in Measure for Measure, Claudio marries Juliet and Duke Vincentio sues for the hand of Isabella.
Sometimes the solution to the lovers' problems may be brought about by an outside source, such as a clever priest or a clown who is in fact wiser than the people he works for. In Much Ado About Nothing, it takes Friar Francis to bring about the reconcilliation of Claudio and his now estranged and reportedly dead fiancee, Hero. Similarly, WS also uses this same 'clever friar' device in Romeo and Juliet to bring the young lovers together, but unfortunately this does not lead to the same happy conclusion.
One of the most important aspects of WS comedy is that it often pokes its head into the middle of his Tragedies as well.
It is as if WS realised that his audiences needed to see some comic relief to lighten up the tragic stage. Many of his Tragedies contain comic scenes which apart from adding yet another layer to the plays also inform the audience of another important part of the plot. There is the country bumpkin who breaks up the tension in Antony and Cleopatra; the comments made by the ribald nurse in Romeo and Juliet and of course, the well known examples from Macbeth and Hamlet.
In Macbeth this comic relief comes after Macbeth has killed King Duncan. It is in the middle of the night and the drunken Porter gives a long soliloquy about the affect of strong drink. After being asked by Macduff:
What three things does drink especially provoke?
The garralous Porter replies:
Marry, sir, nose-painting, sleep and urine.
Lechery, sir, it provokes and unprovokes;
It provokes the desire but it takes away the performance.
From here, the Porter continues with his humorous speech about the power of drink until he is stopped by Macduff who asks him whether he can speak to Macbeth.
Another classic example of comic relief occurs towards the end of Hamlet. In the last scene of Act IV, when Gertrude gives a
graphic description of how Hamlet's girlfriend, Ophelia, "the poor wretch," who has been found drowned. In the next scene the action jumps immediately to a churchyard where two clowns, i.e.grave-diggers, are philosophising about Ophelia's death and the affects of water and death. They also exchange grim riddles, such as:
Clown 1: What is he that builds stronger than either the mason,
the shipwright. or the carpenter?
Clown 2: The gallows maker, for that frame outlives a thousand
tenants.
This dark humour continues when Hamlet and Horatio come and after further word play and puns with the gravediggers, Hamlet finds the king's jester's skull and begins the speech,
"Alas, poor Yorrick! I knew him well..." From the gravediggers' witty exchange, Hamlet then talks about death and that all men, great or small, including Alexander [the Great] and 'Imperious Caesar' in the end are transformed to dust and clay.
Next time: Curses.
See also: dly-books.weebly.com
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