Chapter 6
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
--Horace Walpole, Author (1717-1797)

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What are the differences between tragedy and comedy?
What are some of the devices playwrights use to make people laugh?
What are the types of comedy?
What dramatic styles have influenced the theater in the twentieth century?

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Complete vocabulary on page 269
DUE TODAY!!!!

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The two most recognized varieties of drama are tragedy and comedy
Tragedies are serious and end in catastrophe
Comedies are usually lighthearted, with clever dialogue and amusing characters who are in amusing situations, end happily
Tragicomedies: plays that have both qualities
Dramas: are not tragedies, but are serious in nature
Literary/Dramatic Styles (sub-class): romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism, expressionism
Historical Eras (sub-class): Greek theater,
Commedia dell’arte, Restoration period

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Considered humanity’s highest literary achievement
Sober and thoughtful, based on profound human emotions and conflicts that do not change with time or place
Focus is the protagonist who is engaged in a struggle but ultimately fails and is overcome by opposing forces
External forces set in motion by a choice or error the character makes

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Tragic character has no control over internal/external forces once the choice has been made or action has begun
Inevitability: Outcome appears predestined – audience sees that there is nothing the character can do to avoid it.
◦ E.g. Prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls characters
“star-crossed lovers” and shows their fate is sealed.
Protagonist’s struggle elicits audience’s pity and compassion (Pathos)

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By the end of the tragedy, pathos is purged and audience feels a sense of relief (catharsis)
The type of protagonist has changed over time (from kings to commoners)
Regardless of how common they seem, protagonists have something that sets them apart or elevates them above other people.

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They have a flaw or make an error that has serious consequences
They make no apology for their actions
They set goals based on unyielding beliefs
They know that almost everything worth having demands some sacrifice
They are willing to make the sacrifice themselves, never asking another to make sacrifices for them

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According to Aristotle’s
◦ Tragic protagonist is average or better person who is brought from happiness to misery in a play
◦ Through this suffering, the protagonist gains a sense of awareness (self-truth, or truth of others)
◦ Protagonist becomes alienated/isolated from society
◦ Hamartia (character weakness or error in judgment) causes the action/inaction that brings protagonist’s difficulties
◦ Most common form of hamartia is hubris (excessive pride)

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Audience reactions (pity and fear) brought about by:
◦ Spectacle (visible part of the play)
◦ Plot (“the soul of the tragedy”)
Pity is for the protagonist, fear is for the audience
When a person of stature, struggling against dynamic forces falls, resulting effect is purging (catharsis)

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Tragedy includes scenes of recognition and reversal
Recognition
◦ Protagonist achieves inner awareness
◦ Protagonist identifies a loved one, relative, or friend from birthmark or scar or by some other means
Reversal
◦ Ironic twist in which an action produces an effect opposite to what would at first seem likely

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From Jean Anouilh’s
:
◦ Tragedy is clean, it is firm, it is flawless. It has nothing to do with melodrama.
◦ In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone’s destiny is known.
◦ Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope , that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn’t any hope. You’re trapped. The whole sky has fallen on you, and all you can do about it is to shout.
◦ And you don’t say these things because it will do any good to say them: you know better than that.
You say them for their own sake; you say them because you learn a lot from them.
◦ But in tragedy, where there is no temptation to try to escape, argument is gratuitous: it’s kingly.

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Arthur Miller’s modern tragedy
◦ While watching the film, take notes regarding:
 What forces is the protagonist struggling against?
 What is his main weakness?
 Explain how the play communicates a sense of inevitability?
◦ There will be an essay due about this tragedy on
Monday (April 15)

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1.
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3.
Examine
the framework of a “tragedy”.
as it fits into
Examine Willy Loman using the “5
Characteristics of Tragic Characters”
Examine
using
Aristotle’s philosophy of tragedy from
2-4 Pages, Typed, Double-Spaced, 12pt
Font

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Greek:
= lit. “revel song”
Societal & conciliatory: all characters come together at the end of the play – even the villains rejoin the group!
Often depends on a specific time and place
BUT greatest/longest-lasting comedies have situations that most audiences can easily identify with.
Many types
Doesn’t always make you laugh out loud

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Protagonist overcomes opposing forces, achieves desired goals, or both.
Protagonist often less-than-average person
Like all drama, comedy is built around character, situations and dialogue
Comic situations consist of predicaments that seem insurmountable or improbable
◦ Mistaken identities, rash promises, or a series of events in which everything seems to go wrong are typical comic situations

Tragedy
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Inevitable – no way to change the outcome
Universal theme & appeal
Emotional
Protagonist fails
Protagonist alienated from society
Protagonist average or better
Protagonist falls from leadership/power
Comedy
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Predictably unpredictable
Time and place oriented
Intellectual, mental
Protagonist achieves
Protagonist becomes leader of new society
Protagonist less than average
Protagonist achieves success
(often because of mistakes/shortcomings)

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It is difficult to determine what makes people laugh
Comic plays are more difficult to perform than serious dramas because of the unpredictability
Senses of humor change over time and in different places

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Likely the most noticeable characteristic of comedy
Comes in various forms: overstatement or understatement
May include physical characteristics – bulbous nose/large teeth/mannerisms
Or mental characteristics – almost-toobrilliant child prodigy or incredibly dense person
Exaggeration of “humors” from Shakespeare’s time – personality determiners

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Anything that seems out of place, time, or character
Comes in many forms:
◦ Unnatural Action – treating a poor person like he’s rich
◦ Unnatural sound or pronunciation
◦ A twist or turn of events that changes logical completion of a pattern
◦ Reversal – tables turned and weak overthrow strong
◦ Dialogue about irrelevant when something critical is at stake

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Looking forward to a potential laugh
E.g. “banana peel on the sidewalk”
Gets laughs before the punch line
Also occurs in mistaken identity
◦ The reversal of roles and anticipation that truth with come out is the source of laughter
Created by a “plant” – idea, line, or action emphasized early (foreshadowing) – 3 exposures needed
◦ Plant, establish, clinch (combination = running gag)

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Incompletion: a line or bit of action started but never finished
◦ Completed with the audience’s laughter
Anticlimax (letdown): excitement about something is built up to great proportions, and there is nothing (like bursting a bubble)
◦ A flat line is always good for a laugh. It follows a build-up to the punch line, but the follow-through is never equal to the preparation. Instead of maintaining the momentum of the joke or the gage, the line is delivered with either a drop in pitch or with little or no expression in the voice.

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Double meaning – the heart of many humorous lines
Puns and word play
Depend on audience recognizing the possible interpretations and selecting the least likely one
Can be in dialogue or names of characters

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Discovering hidden or obscure meanings
Audience is often amused to recognize the difference between a character’s inner motivation and the apparent motivation.
Also amused to discover what is going to happen just before it actually does

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One of the most important elements of comedy
Cruel, violent, grotesque, abusive actions and events cause laughter because the audience is protected by knowing they are not really happening or not as damaging as they seem.
◦ Think Wiley Coyote/Road Runner

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Good comedy builds up pressure and releases it
Relief of pressure is humorous when pent-up emotions are allowed to explode in a laugh
◦ E.g. A comic character lights the fuse on a powder keg and places it in the path of an adversary (the plant). Fuse goes out at the last moment and the adversary passes unharmed (anticlimax/letdown).
Character approaches powder keg to see what went wrong (anticipation). Powder keg blows up in character’s face (incongruity). Comic character emerges ragged and soot-covered, but unharmed
(protection and relief).

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Three main classifications of comedy come from study in ancient Greece:
◦ Old Comedy: scathing satirical attack on political events and figures
◦ Middle Comedy: evolved to focus more on social occurrences, incorporated everyday speech
◦ New Comedy: (originated by Menander) presents a sentimental view of life and tries to appeal to audiences’ intellect rather than base sense of humor
These classifications ONLY used for comedies of ancient Greece
Comedies after categorized as LOW or HIGH

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Focuses on physical antics (
Characters are usually outlandish, and play is exaggerated in style and performance
Utilizes various comic techniques to get the laugh…

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Based on improbable characters and implausible coincidences and events
Practical jokes, clowning, physical indignities (ear pulling, shin kicking, pie throwing)
Achieved sometimes through screen scenes and asides
Used more since end of WW2 to enhance serious works
Latin word farcire means “to stuff” – when first used in theater, farce referred to any sort of impromptu addition “stuffed” into a play (esp. jokes or gags)

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Relies on physical comedy and exaggeration
Less coherent than farces
Mockery of a broad topic, such as a style, societal view, or literary form
Audience should have previous knowledge of the play’s subject or will not enjoy its humor
In the US, burlesque evolved into the bawdy variety show

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Mockery of a certain person or work, incorporating a caricature (exaggerated feature) of the subject
Requires prior knowledge of the subject being ridiculed (Tina Fey/Sarah Palin)
Relies less on physical than farce or burlesque
E.g. Space Balls

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Intellectual humor
Essential to pay attention to the dialogue, because high comedy almost exclusively relies on witty dialogue, not physical action
Like parody and burlesque, ridicules a particular subject, but presents the subject in a different way…

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“Drawing Room Comedy” – the main action takes place in the drawing rooms of upperclass citizens
Usually mocks pretenses of the upper classes
Built on clever use of language – wit includes puns, paradoxes, epigrams, and ironies
Dialogue often attacks socially-accepted standards of the day
Extremely popular in the Restoration Period

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Ridicules human folly, societal views, or individuals
The satirist usually has the goal of changing something for the better by ridiculing it
Intellectual in its attack – mocks using language rather than physical antics
Has been around since the Old Comedy of
Aristophanes

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◦ Classic 1974 Satire Comedy from Mel Brooks
While viewing, consider:
◦ Is Blazing Saddles comedy?
an example of “low” or “high”
◦ What elements of comedy do you observe?
◦ What conventions of satire are present?

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You may use technology to search the internet for additional info.
Research & Teach a style:
Textbook page 288. Choose a style with a partner and create an informational “poster” to teach the class about your style. Include:
◦ An image that conveys the style
◦ Production examples
◦ Definition
◦ Conventions
Style Choices
*Romanticism
*Realism & Naturalism
*Theater of the Absurd
*Theater of Involvement
*Total Theater
*Constructivism
*Symbolism
*Expressionism
*Epic Theater
Theatricalism