Comedies2

===**WHAT ARE SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES? WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND COMMON TROPES OF A COMEDY? WHAT ROLE DID HIS COMEDIES PLAY IN ELIZABETHAN AND JACOBEAN DRAMA? WHAT ARE THE PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT COMEDIES? WHAT ARE THEY ABOUT? WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT? **===

Answer Prepared by: Dominique T.

During Shakespeare’s time, comedies were very popular. They were usually light-hearted plays with happy endings. Shakespeare filled his comedies with wordplay and irony. Most of his comedies enacted the struggles of young lovers. The difficulty they faced was usually presented by their elders, and most plays end with a happy ending and marriage. Shakespeare’s comedies also treated subjects lightly. For example, love is not treated seriously. Disguises and mistaken identities are very common.

The plot of Shakespeare’s comedies is very important. His plots are usually very twisted and complicated, making them confusing and sometimes hard to follow. The theme of love and friendship is very important throughout the plot, love being the main source of conflict. His plays like //A Mid Summer Night’s Dream,// //Much Ado About Nothing//, and //As You Like It// are very good examples of love which is almost broken due to conflict throughout the story. Shakespeare’s style of writing is very predictable in his comedies as well. For example, we generally see a hero who is very strong, but has a significant weakness that makes a big difference in the story. Foreshadowing is very important in his plays, because it helps the audience understand what is going on later in the play. All of Shakespeare’s comedies were 5 Acts, the climax being in the 3rd.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays were very important and still remain popular even 400 years after they were written. One of his very well known plays is //A Mid Summer Night’s Dream//. This was written in 1596 and was first printed in quarto format in 1600. //Much Ado About Nothing// is a romantic comedy about relationships. It first appeared as a quarto in 1599. // Twelfth Night // is the most intricate of Shakespeare's comedies. It is filled with confusions of identity and memorable verbal put-downs. The play was not printed until the First Folio of 1623. These and many other comedies by Shakespeare are remembered and are classic favorites. Citations: Denton, Jaques Snider. //The System of Shakespeare's Dramas//. St. Louis: G. T. Jones and Company, 1877. __Shakespeare Online__. 20 Aug. 2009. (date when you accessed the information) < []>.

Crisp, Peter. __Shakespeare__. New York, New York : DK Publishings, 2002. Pgs. 46-47

Boyce, Charles. __Shakespeare – The Essential Reference to His Plays, Poems, Life, Times, and More__. New York, New York: Dell Publishing, 1990. Pgs. 119-120