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Tragedy and Comedy in

Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Twelfth Night
The Merchant of Venice
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The Structure of Tragedy

• The play begins harmoniously,
although the audience are often
warned of impending disaster
• The sense of happiness increases
until it reaches the climax
• This moment of extreme happiness
is quickly followed by a moment of
crisis when everything starts to
change
• The situation declines until it
reaches the final catastrophe which
often involves death and isolation
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The Tragic Hero

• The hero / heroine comes from the
upper echelons of society
• Hostile destiny seems to be controlling
his / her life
• He / She has a fatal character flaw
which precipitates the downfall
• He / She is psychologically complex,
multi-faceted
• Monologue and soliloquy are used to
reveal feelings and depth of character
• His / her speeches use heightened and
figurative language
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Romeo and Juliet 1

• We know the play will be a
tragedy because the Prologue
tells us this clearly

• This device raises the level of

tension from the beginning of the
play and is only relieved by
intermittent episodes of comedy

• The Nurse is the principal comic

character in the play, but Romeo’s
friends also provide comic relief,
although one of them will be
killed
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Romeo and Juliet 2

• Romeo and Juliet are from two
opposing families, who hate each
other with a passion

• They fall in love with each at first

sight, thus setting the scene for the
tragedy that will unfold

• The play progresses through a series

of secret meetings, the fear of being
discovered, to the marriage of Romeo
and Juliet by a Friar, the only person
who knows what is going on
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Romeo and Juliet 3

• The marriage is the high point
of happiness for the couple, but
the audience knows that they
are doomed
• A series of misunderstandings
and undelivered letters lead to
the climax of the play
• The actor who reads the
Prologue also reads the final
speech, closing the circle round
the tragic couple
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Hamlet: A Revenge Tragedy

• Hamlet is a special kind of tragedy

referred to as a ‘revenge tragedy’
• In revenge tragedy, a ghost or spirit
often provides the motive for revenge
• Disguise and deception play an
important role
• Madness and feigned madness also
feature
• The hero must carry out the revenge but
he delays and hesitates
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1

• Hamlet is one of the most complex characters in

Shakespearean tragedy

• We are never sure if he is pretending

to be mad, or is in fact mad, in order
to take revenge for his father’s murder

• The audience knows that his father, the king, has

been murdered because his father’s ghost tells
Hamlet

• There is therefore an element of the supernatural in

the play
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 2

• The powerful themes of revenge,
love and hate are present
throughout the play

• There is one brief comic scene to

lighten the tension, but it is set in
a graveyard, so could be called
black comedy

• The character of Polonius,

Ophelia’s father, is to some degree
amusing, but he will be among the
many victims of the plot
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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 3

• The play contains one of the most
famous monologues in English
literature:
To be or not to be: that is the
question…..

It has been interpreted in many different

ways and is the turning point of the play,
when Hamlet knows what he must do

The action proceeds irrevocably to its

tragic, even cataclysmic, end, with all the
major characters dead
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Hamlet – The Final Scene

• King Claudius plots with Laertes, brother of
Ophelia, who has gone mad after Hamlet
kills her father Polonius and drowned herself

• Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel: Laertes’

rapier has poison on it, but in case it goes
wrong, Claudius has prepared a cup of
poisoned wine for Hamlet

• It ends with Claudius, Queen Gertrude,

Laertes and Hamlet dead: Hamlet is
revenged on Claudius but at a terrible cost
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The Structure and Characters

of Comedy
• In the introduction the audience
shares the problems and
misfortunes of the characters
• As the play develops, complications
are added until the situation seems
impossible to solve
• In the closing scenes, the problems
begin to unravel until the
denouement, when all is sorted
• There is a happy ending, often with
more than one marriage and songs
• The characters are often ‘flat’ –
types or caricatures
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Types of Humour
Comedies make use of
different types of humour
Verbal humour (puns, paradox,
melodrama, hyperbole, … in the
characters’ words)
Behavioural humour (humour
in the characters’ behaviour)
Situational humour (humour
which arises from incredible or
improbable situations on stage)
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Twelfth Night 1
• “Twelfth Night” contains comic
elements that appeal both to
modern and sixteenth-century
audiences

• Mistaken identity, cross-dressing,

riotous drunken behaviour and
satire go hand in hand with grief
and unrequited love

• The elements of grief and

unrequited love are resolved
happily for those concerned
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Twelfth Night 2
• During Shakespeare’s time, women were not allowed to
act

• Viola would therefore have been played by a boy, which

makes the transformation of Viola into Cesario even
more farcical

• The Lady Olivia falls in love with Cesario, which leads to

many problems

• It has been said that Shakespeare was making fun of the

prohibition against women actors
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Twelfth Night 3
• A sub-plot interweaves with the main plot
and concerns Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch
and his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek

• Olivia’s steward Malvolio is angry with

them for being drunk and Maria, Olivia’s
maid, takes revenge on him for being
arrogant and humourless

• Malvolio is not a sympathetic character,

but does not deserve being humiliated,
and he leaves the stage in anger
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The Merchant of Venice 1

• The play contains
elements of comedy
but also of tragedy
• Shylock is
psychologically
complex and delivers a
powerful monologue
worthy of a tragic hero
• While in one of the
most comic scenes, the
wealthy Portia is
courted by princes. She
thinks they are
ridiculous and makes
fun of them
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The Merchant of Venice 1

• Bassanio needs money to court
Portia but his friend Antonio has
no ready money available to lend
him
• Antonio borrows money from the
Merchant Shylock but the latter
also demands ‘insurance’ on his
loan – a pound of Antonio’s flesh
if he is not repaid
• Antonio agrees, sure of his
finances but then discovers he is
ruined
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The Merchant of Venice 2

• When Antonio is confronted with the
possibility he may have to lose a pound of his
flesh, the mood darkens

• Portia cross-dresses as a male lawyer and

saves Antonio

• The comedy in the tense scene at court rests

on Portia’s interpretation of ‘a pound of
flesh’, and on the fact that her own husband,
Bassanio, does not recognise her

• Portia takes advantage of this to test her

husband: she is one of Shakespeare’s
strongest women
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The Merchant of Venice 3

. In the ending of “The Merchant of Venice” , Shylock is forced to become a Christian

. There was a great deal of anti-semitism in Europe at the time Shakespeare was writing

. Shakespeare gives Shylock speeches which speak out against the mistreatment of Jews