Shakespearean Comedy

Shakespearean Comedy

Shakespeare wrote many plays during his lifetime. Some of his

plays have similar comedic characteristics and then other plays

are the exact opposite of comedy. Shakespeare wrote tragedies,

romance, history, comedy and problem plays all with great success.

During the performance of these plays there was no scenery so great

time was taken when developing the characters and the plot so the

plays would be entertaining. A Midsummers Night's Dream and Much

Ado About Nothing are just two of the comedies Shakespeare wrote.

These two plays have many things in common where as Measure for

Measure is a problem play with a totally different tone. Comparing

and contrasting these three plays will help us to understand what

Shakespeare thought comedy was in the 1600's and to see if our

views on comedy are the same today.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a festive comedy. The play takes

place in June and this is a bewitched time. In the spring the

custom is to celebrate the return of fertility to the earth.

During this time the young people spend the night in the woods to

celebrate. Shakespeare uses the greenworld pattern in this play.

The play begins in the city, moves out to the country and then back

to the city. Being in the country makes things better because

there is tranquility, freedom and people can become uncivilized

versus when they are in the city and have to follow customs and

laws and behave rationally.

Comedies contain blocking figures and in this play it is

Egeus. If he was not in the way, Hermia could marry Lysander.

Since he is causing problems in his daughters life by trying to

make her marry Demetrius, this begins the journey into the woods.

Egeus threatened Hermia with death if she were to marry Lysander so

she thinks the only way they can be together is to run away.

One strange element is why Egeus was so set on Hermia marrying

Demetrius. Lysander came from as good a family as Demetrius. Both

were well possessed with property and money so Egeus's power is

made to seem senseless.

The play moves into the woods which is haunted by fairies who

are there to bless the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta. The

quarreling between Oberon and Titania over the changeling boy leads

to the king wanting to embarrass Titania with the love juice by

making her fall in love with a monster. The first person she sees

is Bottom and she falls violently in love with him.

Oberon is making a spectacle of Titania and Bottom. It is

ridiculous that she is in love with him because he is from such a

lower class than her, he is human and she is a fairy, and he has

the head of an ass. She is also a queen and he is an uneducated

working man and a match like this would never happen. Bottom has

such a problem with language. He speaks in malapropisms. He tries

to say one word but always comes up with the wrong one. He is a

working man who tries to act more educated that he really is .

Through Bottom and Titania we see that love is blind. Also, while

Titania is under the influence of the love juice she releases the

changeling boy to Oberon so he did accomplish his goal.

The confusion between Lysander, Hermia, Helena, and Demetrius

because of the love juice is full of funny occurrences. When

Lysander wakes up and thinks he is in love with Helena, Hermia is

ignored and treated badly by Lysander. Then not only was Lysander

saying he loved Helena, Demetrius was also treating Hermia badly.

This left poor Hermia so upset but we as the audience know this is

a prank and soon the spell will be lifted.

The main characters in the play are all developed to a point

where the audience can identify with them. We learn things about

them individually so we can feel happy or sad when things happen in

their life. I felt sad for Hermia when she was jolted by Lysander

because their love for each other had seemed so strong and she was

so confused by his behavior. Even though the audience knows the

truth it is easy to feel sad for her.

As the play nears the end, Oberon lifts the spell and everyone

seems to believe they have had a rare vision and then their lives

go on just as if none of this had happened.

The play brings closure to the reader by having the

traditional ending of a comedy. They usually end in weddings and

a feast which is exactly what happens in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Lysander