Le Tartuffe A Comedy Analysis

Spotlighting on the Dark Comic Comedy during Shakespeare’s time was a little different from the comedy that we know today. The comedy in Shakespeare’s time was more of a story that had a happy ending. It also emphasizes on the current situation than the life of a character.

William Shakespeare writes Twelfth Night a play known for its numerous humorous parts, satire, love, uncertainty and foolishness lurk the pages, creating a comedic value. The sub plot present in this piece opposes the traits listed above. Malvolio, the character that makes up Shakespeare’s sub plot, is known for his pompous personality. A series of events in Malvolio’s life, relating to women’s and acquaintances, lead those around him to plan a number of tricks to fool him. The debate surrounding Malvolio’s role in the comedy, has been up for debate for quite some time.

Even their dressing style is almost the same. So, there are a lot of similarities between Oscar Wilde’s works ,especially in The Importance of Being Earnest and his life. At the same time , people can laugh, be entertained and think and it is the necessity of comedy. If there is no message for the society, the play may not face this affection, but entertaining people by the writer’s wit is more important than saying thing directly without any aesthetic way. Wilde uses “absurdity many times in this work and believe or not, absurdity has a faultless logic.

Sir Phillip Sydney defines comedy in the case of ‘Twelfth Night’ as “an imitation of the common errors of our life, which Malvolio representeth in the most ridiculous and scornful sort that may be so as it is impossible that any beholder can content to be such a one.” There is no denying that ‘Twelfth Night’ is a comedic play directed at Malvolio’s flaws, made clear through his gulling, mockery and imprisonment with the intent of exposing his “precisely identified moral failings” (Butler 3). It is these moral failings and his refusal to acknowledge them or grow that ultimately justifies his treatment and exclusion from the happy ending. Despite his austere manner, Elizabethan spectators viewed Malvolio as a comedic construct, purely created for the purpose of ridicule.

“Fair is foul, foul is fair...”(1,1,11) this well-known line in Shakespeare 's Macbeth challenges appearances versus reality and it remains a theme throughout the play. Shakespeare is notorious for using the theme appearances versus reality as seen in many of his plays such as Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare uses the faults of the human perception to discover the Truth for this he is regarded as one of the most influential playwrights of all time. He exploits appearance and reality to advance the plot, but it also comments on greater issues.

Sophocles was a famous tragedian playwright, who influenced the development of drama, during the time of birth of ancient Greek tragedy. During this time, there were many debates in relation to fate and free will, which deeply affected the ancient Greek society. In his play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles encourages the argument by portraying the situation through his characters. Throughout the play, we are often met with Oedipus’s trial to escape his fate as he tries to leads the city of Thebes out of despairing times. Oedipus has many achieving qualities, to which the ancient Greek were fond of, and he made himself to be a good ruler.

The image of the Jester in the reinterpretation represents both Feste and the house of merriment. His constant mocking of his "betters" further reinforces the idea of upsetting social order. Feste is able to transcend the traditional structure of aristocrats and plebeians to lead them on as he sees fit. This in itself makes Feste significant as a character. Masked by his humour Feste often offers others good advice.

By adding some dramatic aspects like love’s difficulty or the pressure of the society, the playwright can make the audience think about the aspects too as they are laughing. This play’s main theme is love’s difficulty and ends with the suicides of Pyramus and Thisbe (or Thisby). Its title is an imitation of sixteenth century play titles and also

Dramatic irony is based on the fact that the audience knows something that character does not. In this text, the audience knows the fate of Oedipus before he knows himself. Sophocles uses it very effectively to make the audience feel part of the play which forces them to watch in suspense and makes them eager to see how Oedipus reacts. By using this dramatic irony, Sophocles ensures that his plays will be interesting to an audience that already knows the story. Sophocles creates a most prominent character flaw for Oedipus in that he possesses excessive arrogance.

Neil King’s definition of a comedy, “a work which is primarily designed to amuse and entertain, and where, despite alarms along the way, all’s well that ends well for the characters” (King 55) is undoubtedly affirmed by Shakespeare’s use of comedic features such as dramatic irony. Despite the creation of exuberant comedy within the play, principal sub-plots in ‘Twelfth Night’ such as the gulling and confinement of Malvolio, prove that when looked at in more depth, to some extent, the play’s comedy cloaks themes of cruelty and suffering. The very title of the play, ‘Twelfth Night’, directly links to the twelve days of festivity that traditionally took place during the Elizabethan period. During this time, not only were ordinary rules subverted, but the Lord of Misrule reigned supreme and events such as plays and processions took place.

Many of the puns in the play are put in frequently for humor, with one main goal of making the audience laugh. In the opening scene of Act One, two capulet servants named Gregory and Sampson, boast about what they will do if they run into a Montague. Sampson:

Peculiar Love What would William Shakespeare, or anyone’s scripts, be like without comedy? Comedy is used throughout literature to add an intriguing element to the content. Shakespeare uses multiple types of comedy including mistaken identities, intertwining plots, suspension of natural laws, turning things upside down, the element of marriage, and language. Shakespeare used his imagination and various types of comedy to keep an audience entertained, especially turning things upside down in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare uses turning things upside down to add new and twisting elements of plot to the literature, and assisting readers in deepening their understanding of the theme, plot, and characters of the play .