Comedy

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" (Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii)

PASSAGE / LANGUAGE COMPARISON ANALYSIS

TITANIA:
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee…
-A Midsummer Night’s Dream, II.ii.137-141

LUCENTIO:
O Tranio, till I found it to be true,
I never thought it possible or likely;
But see, while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness:
And now in plainness do confess to thee,
That art to me as secret and as dear
As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl.
-The Taming of the Shrew, I.i.148-156

MIRANDA:
I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble…
FERDINAND:
Most sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me here: my prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?
-The Tempest, I.ii.413-415, 419-425

In all of these passages, the characters discuss the effects of love at first sight. Titania’s magically-induced love makes her thrilled with everything about Bottom- even his donkey head. Lucentio says that, after seeing Bianca only once and never even speaking to her, he will die if he does not have her for his own. And Ferdinand asks Miranda if she’s really human because he’s stunned by her beauty. All of these characters, without knowing the other person at all, seem to know that they are meant to be together. Personally, I believe the whole concept of love at first sight does not exist in real life, but having it exist in these books aids in having the comedic effects of love without writing a nine-hour play.

COMMENTARY ON THE GENRE

As a whole, I really enjoyed the comedies. They were light-hearted and funny, and you didn’t need any background to be able to understand and enjoy them. I particularly liked the use/misuse of the juice of the “love-in-idleness” (pansy) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s amazing that the juice of one little flower can cause so much havoc- Titania and Bottom, Helena and Demetrius and Lysander and Hermia. However, the blocking figures were, I believe, the most amusing. While reading, you kind of knew that the blockers- Hermia’s dad in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, and Prospero in The Tempest- were going to be defeated, that they were only putting off the inevitable for a short while. But while they were there, preventing what would eventually happen, it was very funny.

PERSONAL REFLECTION

My favorite play in this genre was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I love the fantastical aspects of it. I really did not like The Taming of the Shrew, partly because of the misogynistic themes and partly because I found it harder to get through than the other two. I also really liked The Tempest, but the elements of fantasy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream pushed it over the edge for me.