Shakespearean Comedy Lecture Review

Flashcards covering key concepts, historical context, characters, and plot elements of Shakespearean Comedy, including its ancient origins, the influence of 'New Comedy,' common tropes, and the portrayal of heroines, authority figures, and love.

From the Ancient Greeks, what was Comedy associated with?

Ancient myths of seasonal rebirth and renewal, festivities celebrating sexuality and fertility, loosened inhibitions, and overturned rules of acceptable conduct.

For Shakespeare, what festivities from his agrarian culture are often associated with Comedy?

May Day (fertility of Spring), Midsummer (Summer Solstice and abundance), and Twelfth Night (revelry between Christmas Eve and Epiphany).

What behaviors were often included during the Twelfth Night revelry?

Topsy-turvy behavior, role-playing and disguises, overindulgence in food and drink, and often a 'Lord of Misrule'.

In general terms, what kind of play was considered a Comedy during Shakespeare's time?

Any play that included a happy ending.

How did the number of Comedies compare to Tragedies and Histories on the Elizabethan and Jacobean stages?

Comedies far outnumbered Tragedies and Histories.

What was 'Old Comedy' an ancient Greek form of?

A form that satirized well-known living people and commented on current events.

From which classical Roman dramatists did 'New Comedy' derive, and what are its common characteristics?

Derived from Plautus and Terence, often written in Latin, involves stock characters, and follows a predictable pattern.

How did Shakespeare and his contemporaries use the 'New Comedy' models?

They used them for the format of many of their plays.

What surprising triumphs does 'New Comedy' portray?

The apparently weak over the apparently powerful, youth over age, love over property, wit over authority, and pleasure seekers over prudent calculators.

Despite its portrayal of rebellion, what does 'New Comedy' ultimately reinforce regarding the social status quo?

It ultimately reinforces, rather than overturns, the social status quo.

In 'New Comedy,' how is rebelliousness viewed, and what predictable cycle do human beings follow?

Rebelliousness marks a phase of life (not a precursor to social change), and human beings follow a predictable cycle where the younger generation replaces the old and carries on similar social traditions.

What specific 'New Comedy' elements does Shakespeare often employ in his plays?

Characters in disguise, separated family members reunited at the end, smart-mouthed servant characters, cowardly braggarts (sometimes soldiers), a drunkard, a coward, and a fool.

What plot element is absolutely essential to Shakespeare's comic drama?

'The Marriage Plot,' involving multiple courtships and weddings.

What is the role of 'Wise Fools' in many of Shakespeare's comedies?

They focus on the enjoyment of the 'here and now,' despite context or consequences.

What do the marriages at the end of Shakespeare's Comedies remind the audience about community?

That these marriages will result in future children to maintain and sustain a stable community.

What are common characteristics of Shakespeare's Comic Heroines?

They are often vocal and opinionated, smarter and wittier than their male counterparts, and demonstrate how easy it is to evade male restrictions, sometimes by disguising themselves as men.

How do Shakespeare's heroines often triumph over constraints placed upon them by men?

They triumph not in spite of, but because of, these constraints, finding them enabling.

How are Older Male Authority Figures often portrayed in Shakespeare's Comedies?

They are often mocked, rendered powerless or almost powerless, sometimes publicly humiliated (sometimes in mean-spirited and disturbing ways), and can become scapegoats.

How does love almost always start in Shakespeare's Comedies?

With multiple obstacles, as 'the course of true love never did run smooth' (MSND).

What are some key characteristics of love in Shakespeare's Comedies?

It is always in the eye of the 'beholder,' socially mandated standards of beauty usually mean nothing, it can appear highly idealized, can be criticized and mocked, and almost always works out in the end despite sometimes seemingly impossible circumstances.