Diffrent types of english plays
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—Manpreet Singh (Lodhi Colony)≈–Types of Drama / Plays: Comedy
"Komos" -- Greek -- revelry at end of comedies based on some deviation from normality in action, character, thought, or speech "in fun" (tho' can still have serious purpose) Henri Bergson (1917) "On Laughter." -- "anesthesia of the heart" --audiences view objectively -- the banana peel fall is funny, as long as it is not us and if not hurt (cartoons). Aristotle's book of comedy, if there was one ever, is not extant. In tragedy, people are better than they really are; in comedy, people are worse that they really are. Often: if a happy ending, therefore a comedy. A kind of catharsis through laughter and amusement -- helps remind us of our frailties and helps keep us sane. Wilson, p. 200 -- Characteristics of comedy -- a way of looking at the world in which basic values are asserted but natural laws suspended -- to underscore human follies and foolishness -- sometimes wry, rueful, hilarious. • suspension of natural laws • contrast between social order and individual • comic premise: the idea or concept that turns the accepted notion of things upside down and makes it the basis of the play -- provides structural and thematic unity and can be a springboard for comic dialog, characters, and situations. involves exaggeration and incongruity and contradictions-- Incongruity -- illogical, out of place surprise. {Top of Page}
Comic techniques verbal humor puns malapropisms--LINK to malaprop page or here --misusing wrong words in such a way that they sound similar but usually are strikingly different from the word intended. The Rugrats, for example, use a number of malapropisms: Angelica said once that there was a "whole world to deplore" out there (the best are like this--the word sounds similar but means something strikingly different). Justin Wilson, the "cajun cook," was famous for his malapropisms: he called himself "a half-bleed cajun" who "granulated high school."
(Wilson, pp. 204-205, has some nice examples). epigrams (or go here) Characterizations incongruity between the way characters see themselves or pretend to be, as opposed to the way they really are lot complications -- especially in farce coincidences -- mistaken identities -- Comedy of Errors, The School for Scandal
Shakespeare -- uses comedy in tragedy and tragedy in comedy and different kinds of comedies --difficult to categorize.{Top of Page}
Kinds of Comedy: "High" and "Low" 1. Farce: often considered a separate form (Plautus, Charley's Aunt). often considered to be "low comedy" (versus "high comedy"). physical comedy : "slapstick" -- physical action provokes the thought. Very high incongruity (surprise, something out of place or unexpected). Comedy of situation, but extreme incongruity -- buffoonery, accidents, mistaken identities, ludicrous situations. [H., P., &L: "the average human being as an undeserving, universal victim of circumstance..."] Often stylized: "aside" "take" `"mugging" 2. Burlesques-- lampooning other works of art, including theatre pieces. 3. Satire -- ridicule of public institutions and figures. 4. Domestic Comedy --home and hearth. 5. Comedy of Manners / Wit: similar to character and situation aristocratic and witty characters . 6. Comedy of Ideas Additional forms not mentioned in Wilson: a. Comedy of situation: character and ideas are minor hidden identities, discoveries, reversals, etc. similar to farce, but less unrealistic b. Comedy of character: eccentricities of the protagonist (Moliere) c. Romantic comedy struggles of love, sympathetic characters, ludicrous devices lovers use (Sh. Midsummer, 12th Night) Restoration Drama (School for Scandal) Concept or thought is essential. Shaw (prostitution, English class system), Aristophanes (Birds, Lysistrata) {Top of Page} Ladder of Comedy: "Pure Comedy" --"High Comedy" Satire -- biting humor -- criticism of life [Sporre, 100] highly complex, embracing a wide range of approaches--from intellectual wit to slapstick Incongruity -- surprise, out of place
Verbal Wit
"Low Comedy" Plot devices -- misunderstandings, mistaken identities comedy that depends on action and situation, usually involving trivial theme [Sporre, 100] in all farce inopportune arrivals
embarrassing occurrences
Lightness of touch -- elements of story can be serious, but most is funny, or humor plays a significant part.
Types of Drama / Plays: Tragedy Resource: Wilson/Goldfarb, Chapter 7 The Six Elements of a Tragedy / Play present in all plays, but some standard forms can be discerned. Verisimilitude -- the "illusion of truth" -- the method of achieving it changes. Form: the shape given to something so it may serve a useful purpose. For our purposes: form / genre / types are intended to be categories that are not firm--there are endless sub-categories, and many plays will fit into a number of different categories simultaneously. It can become dangerous to evaluate a play as one form, when it might not indeed fit that form. Genre--(135) -- French for "category" or "type" -- sharing a particular point of view/ forming a group. Genre criticism --can show how a play does or does not fit into a particularly category, but can also be useful as a way of examining the plays and discovering more about them -- as a learning tool. Such categories as "dramedy," "tragic farce," etc. have been used to show the merging of "types." Shakespeare's Polonius in Hamlet ridiculed categorical obsessions: "tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastorical-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral." (Act II, scene ii). Tragedy (136-142) Aristotle's definition of Tragedy (See My web page HERE or HERE [these require RealPlayer, and you MAY have to click on the image and / or the "play" button to see the image and hear the sound] ), and Poetics web page) Characteristics of "Action" -- (Brockett on Aristotle) 1. Origins ofTragedy: • "tragos" + "oide" -- goat song usually involves a calamity (death, etc.), but attention is focused on what reactions are to that calamity by the characters and what those reactions can tell us about life. • The "dithyramb" -- hymns sung and danced in honor of Dionysus (367, 193). • Usually about the struggles of the "protagonist", moral issues, the effects of suffering. • Struggle is ethical, spiritual -- protagonist's integrity is tested. • Tragedy raises questions about the meaning of human existence, moral nature, and social / psychological relationships. • Aristotle suggested a "certain magnitude." • Evil often shown along with good, which does not always win. • Some tragedies (Greek) like Oedipus, suggest that the protagonist has violated some moral order which must be vindicated and reestablished. • Often seems inevitable and predetermined (we can look and decide for ourselves later). Magnitude: characters have high stature -- ethically superior but sufficiently imperfect modern tragedies -- more common characteristics (Willy LOMAN). High seriousness: Tries to arouse (effect) proper purgation of pity and fear -- [some have asked if the purgation is to be in the audience or in the characters??] "Catharsis" -- a purification -- the compassion accompanying shared grief -- a humanizing force-- we return to a state of equilibrium after release of tensions (366). (141) -- Contradictory reactions -- pessimistic, yet not willing to surrender individuality. a form of victory.. The Tragic Hero (protagonist) has a flaw in character or makes an error in judgment -- "tragic flaw" (140, 371) -- hamartia" -- literally "missing the mark" (368). "hubris" -- a characteristic -- overweening pride or self-confidence (368). Aristotle suggests that the best plays (Oedipus) have the hubris being too much of a good thing (what makes Oedipus strong is his self-confidence and pride) Universality -- Universal human values -- When a play touches something that is human in all of us and has lasting value through time
Types of Drama / Plays: Comedy
"Komos" -- Greek -- revelry at end of comedies based on some deviation from normality in action, character, thought, or speech "in fun" (tho' can still have serious purpose) Henri Bergson (1917) "On Laughter." -- "anesthesia of the heart" --audiences view objectively -- the banana peel fall is funny, as long as it is not us and if not hurt (cartoons). Aristotle's book of comedy, if there was one ever, is not extant. In tragedy, people are better than they really are; in comedy, people are worse that they really are. Often: if a happy ending, therefore a comedy. A kind of catharsis through laughter and amusement -- helps remind us of our frailties and helps keep us sane. Wilson, p. 200 -- Characteristics of comedy -- a way of looking at the world in which basic values are asserted but natural laws suspended -- to underscore human follies and foolishness -- sometimes wry, rueful, hilarious. • suspension of natural laws • contrast between social order and individual • comic premise: the idea or concept that turns the accepted notion of things upside down and makes it the basis of the play -- provides structural and thematic unity and can be a springboard for comic dialog, characters, and situations. involves exaggeration and incongruity and contradictions-- Incongruity -- illogical, out of place surprise. {Top of Page}
Comic techniques verbal humor puns malapropisms--LINK to malaprop page or here --misusing wrong words in such a way that they sound similar but usually are strikingly different from the word intended. The Rugrats, for example, use a number of malapropisms: Angelica said once that there was a "whole world to deplore" out there (the best are like this--the word sounds similar but means something strikingly different). Justin Wilson, the "cajun cook," was famous for his malapropisms: he called himself "a half-bleed cajun" who "granulated high school."
(Wilson, pp. 204-205, has some nice examples). epigrams (or go here) Characterizations incongruity between the way characters see themselves or pretend to be, as opposed to the way they really are lot complications -- especially in farce coincidences -- mistaken identities -- Comedy of Errors, The School for Scandal
Shakespeare -- uses comedy in tragedy and tragedy in comedy and different kinds of comedies --difficult to categorize.{Top of Page}
Kinds of Comedy: "High" and "Low" 1. Farce: often considered a separate form (Plautus, Charley's Aunt). often considered to be "low comedy" (versus "high comedy"). physical comedy : "slapstick" -- physical action provokes the thought. Very high incongruity (surprise, something out of place or unexpected). Comedy of situation, but extreme incongruity -- buffoonery, accidents, mistaken identities, ludicrous situations. [H., P., &L: "the average human being as an undeserving, universal victim of circumstance..."] Often stylized: "aside" "take" `"mugging" 2. Burlesques-- lampooning other works of art, including theatre pieces. 3. Satire -- ridicule of public institutions and figures. 4. Domestic Comedy --home and hearth. 5. Comedy of Manners / Wit: similar to character and situation aristocratic and witty characters . 6. Comedy of Ideas Additional forms not mentioned in Wilson: a. Comedy of situation: character and ideas are minor hidden identities, discoveries, reversals, etc. similar to farce, but less unrealistic b. Comedy of character: eccentricities of the protagonist (Moliere) c. Romantic comedy struggles of love, sympathetic characters, ludicrous devices lovers use (Sh. Midsummer, 12th Night) Restoration Drama (School for Scandal) Concept or thought is essential. Shaw (prostitution, English class system), Aristophanes (Birds, Lysistrata) {Top of Page} Ladder of Comedy: "Pure Comedy" --"High Comedy" Satire -- biting humor -- criticism of life [Sporre, 100] highly complex, embracing a wide range of approaches--from intellectual wit to slapstick Incongruity -- surprise, out of place
Verbal Wit
"Low Comedy" Plot devices -- misunderstandings, mistaken identities comedy that depends on action and situation, usually involving trivial theme [Sporre, 100] in all farce inopportune arrivals
embarrassing occurrences
Lightness of touch -- elements of story can be serious, but most is funny, or humor plays a significant part.
