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Comparative study between comedy and tragedy
Comedy and tragedy relationship
Comedy and tragedy relationship
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1. In her essay in The New Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare, Janette Dillon describes tragi-comedy as “the coming together, the collision even, of tragedy and comedy” (Cambridge: CUP, 2010, p. 169). Analyse The Winter’s Tale in the light of this statement, paying particular attention to Act 5, scene 3.
Throughout Shakespeare 's playwriting career he was regarded an architect of the combination of genre 's; tragedy and comic components into the plays. An example of this intertwined genre is The Winter 's Tale, one of Shakespeare 's later plays performed between years 1610-11. This play defies any specific genre such as tragedy or comedy, however is distinctly an amalgamation of both; 'tragi-comedy. ' Susan Snyder explains the attributes of Shakespeare 's genres as;
However Leonte 's as a character conveys genuine realism, and not an absolute tragedy like Othello. When comparing both jealousies of Leonte 's and Othello; Leonte 's comes off as more realistic in context, as his paranoia over Hermoine deepens - 'Of laughing with a sigh? a note infallible / Of breaking honesty, horsing foot on foot? / Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift? ' (1.2.342) It appears that Leonte 's ' jealousy seems to fathom completely inconspicuously and Shakespeare presents no specific reasoning behind Leonte 's jealousy. Leonte 's naive perception leads him to believe what he tells himself instead of the factual evidence, ultimately leading to his own demise, blinding himself to the real truth. Leonte 's mind is tangled, only fixating himself on Hermione 's ability to influence Polixenes, exclaiming; 'at my request he would not. Hermione, my dearest thou never spokest to better purpose ' (1.2.86) Leonte 's fixates on convincing himself of the affair. As the audience engages with Leonte 's jealousy, they refer to own personal circumstances, establishing realism through his
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
“Othello”, by William Shakespeare, is a story of jealousy’s potential to manipulate thoughts and eventually lead to ultimate demise. The key to extremely detrimental jealousy lies within one’s ability to recognize it or deny it. It seems that the important theme of “Othello” is that if jealousy is not recognized and immediately dealt with, it receives a head start to commence the process of rotting away all normal human reason. Othello’s speech in Act III scene iii beginning with line 178 is the first and most important indicator of the trouble ominously looming on Othello’s horizon. His immediate response to Iago’s accusations is that of total denial. By depriving himself of that initial venting process, Othello gives his jealousy the perfect culture on which his jealousy can turn cancerous and grow out of control. Othello does not spit out the seed that Iago has planted within himself soon enough and thus lets Iago water it with smooth speech until its roots spread and cannot be uprooted. The only way to appropriately illustrate this point is through an in depth analysis of specific text from the play.
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss. Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er. Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves” (3.3.163-168). In Shakespeare’s Othello, jealousy is the common theme that becomes Othello’s undoing. Through text in the play, the audience can notice Othello slowly begin to become crazed through his speech.
Mehl, Dieter. Shakespeare's Tragedies: An Introduction. Cambridge, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge U, 1986.
Shakespeare's Othello is not simply a play which embodies the conflict between insider and outsider. The paradigm of otherness presented in this play is more complicated than the conclusion, "Othello is different; therefore, he is bad." Othello's character is to be revered. He is a champion among warriors; an advisor among councilmen; a Moor among Venetians. Yes, Othello is a Moor, but within the initial configuration of the play, this fact is almost irrelevant. His difference is not constructed as “otherness.” Othello, by his nature, is not an “otherized” character. Besides being the dark-skinned Moor, Othello varies in no real way from the other characters in the play. Further, Othello and Iago can be seen as two sides of the same destructive coin. With Iago as a foil and subversive adversary, Othello is not faulted for the indiscretions he commits. It is the invention and projection of otherness by various characters in the play, especially Iago, which set the stage for the tragedy of dissimilarity which is to ensue.
Jealousy is a powerful emotion that can blind oneself from identifying the truth. Shakespeare heavily emphasizes this theme throughout the drama Othello, especially through the actions of characters. In the play the heinous antagonist, Iago, uses each character’s jealousy to deceive that person and manipulate the truth. His false promises and deceitfulness bring to the demise of many of the main characters in the play, including the protagonist, Othello. Othello could not have been deceived if it were not for his powerful jealousy. Therefore, Shakespeare is telling us that jealousy is an ugly trait that can hide the truth, which in turn causes many problems between characters in the play.
The idea of altering perception is a fundamental one in “The Winter’s Tale”, and art is seen as the way to make this alteration occur. While it is clear to the reader from the very beginning that Hermione is in fact innocent, Shakespeare introduces the reader to Leontes’s persistence to clearly show the beginnings of the conflict brewing. Despite Hermione’s clear innocence, Leontes has been written as a character so belligerent to ever see what is universally accepted as true in nature. The result is a conflict clear to the reader—a conflict of nature on its own merit, a question of truth, versus art, where perception is inherently flawed. Shakespeare creates a truly paranoid, conflicted character in Leontes, which works to make his objectivity, his desire to make truths out of falsities, even more apparent. Leontes speaks to the audience passionately upon his discovery, but his passion sounds so melodramatic, especially when we as readers a...
William Shakespeare’s tragic drama Othello boasts quite a little list of abnormalities in both occurrences and personal behavior.
The Development of the Character of Othello as Shown by his Use of Language and Imagery in William Shakespeare's Play
The presence of certain literary elements creates a more dramatic and realistic image for the readers throughout the piece. William Shakespeare included literary elements in The Tragedy of Othello to bring the story line to life. Throughout the tragedy, Shakespeare used the elements of theme, dramatic irony, and symbolism along with many others. These three literary elements are significant because they help readers fully understand the complexity of the plot. The theme of jealousy, the dramatic irony, and the symbolism throughout the tragedy create the thrilling atmosphere readers experience.
Othello’s speech to Brabantio and the Duke in Act 1, Scene 3 is of major importance in describing Othello’s personality. This long speech, found in lines 149 to 196, shows Othello for the first time as a person with depth and less as a soldier. This speech is important to the book as a whole because it is a testimony to the strength of the love between Othello and Desdemona, which will later play a major role in the plot. It is also one of the first times that we see Othello trying to influence his audience with his words. The speech given by Othello is intended to convince Brabantio that Desdemona is with him willfully, and not by “spells and medicines bought of montebanks” (line 74).
A tragedy is defined as beginning with a problem that affects everyone, i.e. the whole town or all the characters involved, the tragic hero must solve this problem and this results in his banishment or death [run-on sentence]. A comedy is defined as also beginning with a problem, but one of less significant importance. The characters try to solve the problem and the story ends with all the characters uniting in either a marriage of a party. Although these two genres are seen as being complete opposites of each other, through further analysis one can gather that though they are different certain similarities can also be seen.
Shakespearian comedies have some common characteristics which are found in The Tempest. The first characteristic of Shakespearian comedy is that there is a struggle of young lovers. They have to go through many adversaries to achieve their love. Miranda is a passive character and Ferdinand is also not the hero of the play. But they are the important couple of the play. Miranda is shown as a meek lady who is very faithful to her love when she says, “I am your wife, if you will marry me; / If not, I’ll die your maid” (III.i.83–84). Along with the struggle of the lovers, the protagonist also is shown going through several adversaries. The exile theme is one of the major themes in Shakespearian comedies. For example in Just like Prospero, in “As You Like It”, Duke Senior was exiled by Fredrick. Rosalind’s adverse journey starts from here. Rosalind is portrayed as a strong lady; hence she becomes the real hero of the play. But in The Tempest, Miranda’s character is portrayed as a weak person. Unlike Rosalind from As You Like It, Miranda is not the influential lady in the play.
A tragedy, in terms of literature, is when the main character is not seen as indestructible. The main character has flaws and a tragic ending. One of the most famous writer of tragedies is William Shakespeare. Shakespeare, author of Hamlet, (biography.com) was alive between the years 1564 and 1616. His occupations were playwriting and poetry and he was brilliant. William, being the poet and play writer he his, wrote almost 400 different pieces. Some of his most famous plays include: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet. Hamlet is considered a tragedy because Hamlet, the main character, has a character flaw which is being very reluctant. Also throughout the play nothing really seems to go the way that Hamlet plans. Finally, the end of the play ends expectantly with a death from just about every main character except Horatio, Hamlets best friend.