Preview

Characteristics of a Comedy

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1213 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Characteristics of a Comedy
Characteristics of Comedy

There are many characteristics that make up a comedy. Characteristics such as mistaken identity, battle of the sexes, and jumping to conclusions are what set the comedic story apart from the tragedy. Within a comedy, no matter how much fault, and dismay may appear within the story, there always seems to be the classic ending of "…and they all lived happily ever after…" Comedies capture the viewer with a sense of compassion and love for the characters in the story. Each character has their own essence, to which they pertain a flaw of some sorts, which the audience can relate to. With the relation to characters there is defiantly a certain interest that is grabbed by the actors, which sucks the audience into the show.

Within the comedic play Much To Do About Nothing, Shakespeare portrays many of the characteristics of a comedy. One of these characteristics is mistaken identity. When it is thought that the lady Hero is dead, the offer for Claudio to marry Hero's cousin is presented, yet Hero is playing a fictional character of her cousin. Claudio had mistaken her identity for that of her cousins. The plan is not known at all until it all unwraps at the end of the play when the supposed cousin takes off her veil. In a modern comedy, mistaken identity is usually more settle, and less drastic then a wedding. Such as in the movie Clerks, when the employee running the store (Dante) steps away from the counter, and asks his friend to watch the store. Then the Dante's ex-girlfriend comes into the store and asks for him. Dante has been sweating her for so long and wants to get back together, and so does she. His friend (Randal) being ignorant tells her he went home to change or he's in the back. She goes into the back of the store not to return until a few scenes later. Then she comes out from the dark back bathroom fulfilled, and out of breath to find Dante standing there talking to Randal. When she asks Dante how he got

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What then, is the formula found in comedies such as Seinfeld, that makes it work so well? Is it it's ability to make us laugh? How and why does it make us laugh? Gracia is of the belief that one of the main reasons comedies work so well at making us laugh is that they demonstrate “The Significance of the Insignificant.”(Gracia, 2000, p.149.)…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    ‘Shakespeare wrote his play in accordance with the conventions of an easily identifiable genre – history, comedy or tragedy.’…

    • 1787 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cosi Louis Nowra Summary

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Some of the types of humour used includes vulgar humour e.g. “DOUG: poofter”, one-liners e.g. “JUSTIN: Where would the world be without social workers? DOUG: In tip top condition”, and running jokes e.g. “CHERRY: go burn a cat”. Using humour really helps the audience connect with the characters and draws them into the world of the play showing that mentally ill people are certainly not that different from the supposedly ‘normal’…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comic Fools To create humor in drama, one must either make witty wordplay, create an amusing situation, or use physical comedy. Often jokes may be incorporated into a play, or a comic situation may result in a series of complicated antics. The tradition for some of these comic devices has been carried over for hundreds of years, dating back to Shakespeare in the 1600's.…

    • 913 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benedick Foil

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Out of the 37 plays and 154 sonnets that Shakespeare wrote, “Much Ado About Nothing” has become one his most popular pieces. The comedy follows Don Pedro, Claudio, and Benedick after they return home from war. Upon meeting Hero, Claudio immediately falls in love with her, and with the help of Don Pedro, Hero agrees to marry him. As they prepare for the wedding, Don Pedro plans to get Beatrice and Benedick together while Don John plots to ruin Hero and Claudio’s relationship. Both succeed, as Beatrice and Benedick admit their love for each other, and Claudio shames Hero at their wedding, believing that she had cheated on him. By the next day, they discover that Don John had staged the scene, and Claudio and Hero still got married, and Benedick got engaged to Beatrice. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses character foils to emphasize the traits of his characters, and add to his story. In the play, “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Benedick and Claudio are foils of each other because of their personality traits, choices, and reaction.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the movie, the three main types of comedy I recognized were farce, parody, and satire. Farce is comedy designed to provoke the audience into simple, hearty laughter and often uses highly exaggerated or caricatured character types and puts them into improbable and ludicrous situations. It also makes use of broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Some examples of farce in the movie are:…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Both the “Miller’s Tale” and the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” in the Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, can be categorized as comedy. As defined in the Oxford dictionary, comedy is a form of professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh. However, it may be confusing for some audiences when they find another definition of the word comedy. Also as defined by the Oxford dictionary, comedy is a category of theater characterized by its humorous or satirical tone and its depiction of amusing people or incidents, in which the characters ultimately triumph over adversity. The first definition is broad and fails to characterize the complexity of the comedy found in the Canterbury Tales. The second…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Shakespearean comedy, Much Ado about Nothing encompasses themes such as the importance of honour, the ideal of social grace, nevertheless uses a plot which primarily revolves around the theme of deception re occurring in various forms. On one hand deception is used throughout Much Ado About Nothing in a malicious manner, however on the on the hand it can be portrayed in a benevolent and beneficial manner such as the fooling of Beatrice and Benedick and deceiving them into proclaiming their love for each other. The use of both forms of deception often makes it difficult to distinguish between the two, such as when Claudio announces his desire to woo Hero, however Don Pedro takes it upon himself to woo her for Claudio. However Shakespeare’s use of deception is neither completely a means of malice nor a mean of showing traits of kindness between characters, the use of deception aids the development of the plot and creates a path for other elements necessary in the play such as its comical elements.…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    * A great deal of humour comes in the play in the form of insults towards the directors. For example when Lewis defensively asserts Justin that “I am not a ward, I am director”. This creates a sense of humour because the educated audience would think that there is no…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mercutio Humor

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Humour has a very important role in Romeo and Juliet as it creates a vast array of emotions and prepares the audience/reader for more serious and less humorous events to come later on in the play. The most obvious form of humour that is evident in the play is the use of puns, jokes and ironic comments. These forms of humor are…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    this show is the cast. I have not seen a cast that relate to each other so well…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    EG: All the confusion of Hero supposedly being involved with another man when in fact she was seen with another woman in unusual clothing. Furthermore, the fact that Claudio is then willing (in the end) to marry someone different, despite being tricked into it and the woman actually being Hero, seems unlikely if he really did love Hero.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On The Crucible

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Some other comical factors is when reverend Parris has his tantrums but they aren’t even funny, because he is just lying to save his own reputation; ruining everyone else’s. Mrs. Putnam thinking Tituba had the power to allow her to communicate with her dead babies, could be considered funny. Other than she is dead serious, and assigns guilt ruthlessly. When mercy Lewis was caught dancing naked in the woods by Paris, would be funny except she lies compulsively and she condemned men and women to protect herself. There are a few comical moments in the book but over all this is a tragedy not a comedy.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Princess Bride

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This is evidently demonstrated by Buttercup and Westley, as they understand that being with the other person is their ultimate objective. With this comes many challenges which they must overcome including status, family, marriage and many more. Shakespearean comedy combines multiple genres to put together a masterpiece that keeps the audience wanting…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much Ado About Nothing

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The play Much Ado About Nothing created by William Shakespeare is humorous and entertaining. It is about two people who love eachother, when someone sabotages their relationship. In the end they get married and live a very happy life. Although this play is comedic, deception, god or bad, is present throughout it. Deception is found when Don John ruins Hero and Claudio’s wedding, it is also found when the other characters decieve Beatrice and Benvolio that they love eachother, and when Claudio thinks he is marrying Hero’s cousin.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics