Comedy

From the earliest times drama has been divided into two kinds, tragedy and comedy. Comedy deals with
the light side of life. Comedy aims at evoking our laughter. In comedy, though fortune may be unkind for
a while but all comes right in the end. Comedy, in Greek drama, deals with the life of less importance.
The comic actor put on a light shoe called the sock to show his lower degree. . The fall of a king or the
ruin of a great family is bound to be more impressive to the spectator than the fate of nonentity. In later
literature, there were many tragedies of lowly life and comedies of high society.

Comic atmosphere:

The atmosphere of comedy is mirthful and light. Comedy moves us to laughter whether it is thoughtful
laughter or unalloyed mirth. in pure comedy, there is no element of comedy mingled with the tragedy. .
In English literature, both are frequently found intermingled. Shakespeare’s comedy begins unhappily
and ends happily.

Aim:

Comedy aims at giving pleasure. For the Greeks, the purpose of comedy was to correct manners.
Comedy refined the conduct and corrected its social failings. Comedy shows the common errors of life.
Moral is conveyed at the end of the play by one of the characters. Tragedy and comedy used verse as a
medium. Shakespeare’s comedies are written in blank verse. Comedy confined itself to prose. The
general change of medium has necessarily meant a heavy loss in splendor of language.

Types of comedy:

Tragedy can be classified into classical and romantic. Classical form was attended by Ben Jonson and the
restoration playwrights and the romantic by Shakespeare and the University Wits like Lyly, Greene and
Nashe.

Divisions of comedy:

The Humour comedy of Ben Jonson satirizes eccentricity, due to an excess of one of the four “humours”
or natural fluids of the body, blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy or black bile. The restoration
comedy of Intrigue specializes in situations of love and marriage. In the comedy of manners, of the
restoration period, language and behavior were highly stylized and artificial. The Genteel comedy of
Colley Cibber ridicules the affectations. The sentimental comedy presents in place of laughter, tears,
intrigue, melodramatic, distressing situations, rogues, gallants, damsels ,pathetic heroines, serious
lovers and honest servants.

Another basis of classification:

If the plot unfolds through dialogue or narration, the result is a comedy of dialogue. If the plot is through
action and the dialogue plays a secondary part, the result is a comedy of Incident.
English drama:

English drama became famous when T.W.Robertson’s caste showed the merits of natural speech and
subjects. English drama had a setback when the plays of fashionable society ,artificial issues and
emotions held the stage. It had a vigorous revival when great changes in the structure and outlook of
English social life.