Comedy: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:45, 15 October 2006

General Definition

Comedy is a term used to describe a play or performing art which generally ends in a happy ending. Webster's Dictionary Comedy describes a drama or any work with a happy ending. All materials integrated into a this form of literary work are included in effort to amuse an audience. It starts with a problematic, tragic, or serious situation or ludicrous event and uses humor to show how characters within the work overcome such obstacles. The term comedy also includes exaggerated forms of comic entertainment called farce and burlesque. Other forms of comedy are farce, romantic, satiric, or comedy of manners (Abrams 39). It can best be described as a form of humourous entertainment.

Types of Comedy

Farce comedy was designed to provoke the audience to experience a simple hearty laughter-or "belly laughs" (Abrams,Harpham 40). Romantic comedy developed during the Elizabaethan Age. The courses of such loves rarely run smoothly in these works but all is overcome in the end with a happy union (Abrams,Harpham 39). Satiric Comedy ridicules political policies or philisophical doctines or sometimes attacks deviations from the accepted social order (Abrams,Harpham 39). They do this by making ridiculous violations of standard morals or manners(Abrams,Harpham 39). Aristophanes used this as his preferred style (Abrams,Harpham 39). Comedy of Manners was developed by Roman dramatists Platus & Terrence (Abrams,Harpham 39).

Comedy in History

Comedy developed from ancient Greek festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god of revelry. It was then associated with fertility rites and the worship of the gods(Cuddon 148).Greek comedy reached its highest development in the plays a dramatist named Aristophanes. His works contained the elements of mockery and mischeif to create amusement for his audiences. He created works such as "Acharnians", "Knights", "Clouds", "Wasps", and "Birds" (Cuddon 148).Roman comedies regularly dealt with youthful love. Shakespeare's preferred style was romantic comedy as well (Baldick 40). Since the original development of comedy it has always been associated with drama (except in the Middle Ages) (Cuddon 149).

What Others Have to Say About Comedy

Comedy is a term that is defined in so many ways that it is easy to see why it is one of the more difficult terms to define. Aristotle distinguished it from tragedy by saying that it deals in an amusing way with ordinary characters facing hard times in everyday situations (Cuddon 149). Comedy usually concerns petty human failings rather than the insurmountable catastrophies that are found in works of tragedy. Beckson and Ganz suggest comedy is any literary work, but especially a play, less exalted and less serious than tragedy, commonly having a happy ending (Ganz,Beckson 43). Vincent de Beauvis describes comedy as a poem changing a sad beginning into a happy ending(Cuddon 148).

To Sum Up

Most commonly comedy can be defined as a work of fiction in which all materials used are to amuse an audience. Before the happy ending, characters in a comedy must face misfortunes or disasters that they must overcome. Rather than feeling concern for these characters we usually feel confident that the situation will not get any worse than it already is. We feel the intended humor behind the calamity and we always seem to know that such obstacles will not prevent the character's triumph in the end. The term comedy is mostly just used for plays or for motion picture films, but it is also used in prose fiction as well as in narrative poetry (Abrams 38-40).

Works Cited

Abrams, M. H., Harpham Geoffrey Galt. "A Glossary of Literary Terms 8th Edition"The Thomson Corporation. 2005

Baldick, Chris. "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms"Great Britian: Cox and Wyman Ltd. 1990

Beckson Karl E., Ganz Arthur. "Literary Terms A Dictionary 3rd Edition"Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 1975.

Cuddon, J.A. "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory Fourth Edition"London: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998

Literary Terms

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Comedy is a term used to describe a play or performing art  which generally ends in a happy ending. Webster's Dictionary Comedy describes a drama or any work with a happy ending.It distinguishes from a problematic, tragic, or serious and is also defined as any comic or ludicrous incident or series of incidents.(262)The term is comedy also includes exaggerated forms of comic entertainment called farce and burlesque.(700)
+'''General Definition'''
-Its best form of work is described as humourous entertainment.(143)
-Comedy developed from ancient Greek festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god of revelry. Greek comedy reached its highest development in the plays of Aristophanes.(700)
+Comedy is a term used to describe a play or performing art  which generally ends in a happy ending. Webster's Dictionary Comedy describes a drama or any work with a happy ending. All materials integrated into a this form of literary work are included in effort to amuse an audience. It starts with a problematic, tragic, or serious situation or ludicrous event and uses humor to show how characters within the work overcome such obstacles. The term comedy also includes exaggerated forms of comic entertainment called farce and burlesque. Other forms of comedy are farce, romantic, satiric, or comedy of manners (Abrams 39). It can best be described as a form of humourous entertainment.
+'''Types of Comedy'''
-A
+Farce comedy was designed to provoke the audience to experience a simple hearty laughter-or "belly laughs" (Abrams,Harpham 40). Romantic comedy developed during the Elizabaethan Age. The courses of such loves rarely run smoothly in these works but all is overcome in the end with a happy union (Abrams,Harpham 39). Satiric Comedy ridicules political policies or philisophical doctines or sometimes attacks deviations from the accepted social order (Abrams,Harpham 39). They do this by making ridiculous violations of standard morals or manners(Abrams,Harpham 39). Aristophanes used this as his preferred style (Abrams,Harpham 39). Comedy of Manners was developed by Roman dramatists Platus & Terrence (Abrams,Harpham 39).
+'''Comedy in History'''
+Comedy developed from ancient Greek festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god of revelry. It was then associated with fertility rites and the worship of the gods(Cuddon 148).Greek comedy reached its highest development in the plays a dramatist named Aristophanes. His works contained the elements of mockery and mischeif to create amusement for his audiences. He created works such as "Acharnians", "Knights", "Clouds", "Wasps", and "Birds" (Cuddon 148).Roman comedies regularly dealt with youthful love. Shakespeare's preferred style was romantic comedy as well (Baldick 40). Since the original development of comedy it has always been associated with drama (except in the Middle Ages) (Cuddon 149).
+'''What Others Have to Say About Comedy'''
-Comedy is a term that is defined in so many ways and credits it is easy to see why it is one of the more difficult terms to define. Abrams and Harpham state,in the most common literature application, a comedy is a fictional work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to invest & amuse us(Abrams,Harpham 39). Beckson and Ganz suggest comedy is any literary work, but especially a play, less exalted and less serious than tragedy, commonly having a happy ending (Ganz,Beckson 43). Vincent de Beauvis describes comedy as a poem changing a sad beginning into a happy ending(Cuddon 148).
+Comedy is a term that is defined in so many ways that it is easy to see why it is one of the more difficult terms to define. Aristotle distinguished it from tragedy by saying that it deals in an amusing way with ordinary characters facing hard times in everyday situations (Cuddon 149). Comedy usually concerns petty human failings rather than the insurmountable catastrophies that are found in works of tragedy. Beckson and Ganz suggest comedy is any literary work, but especially a play, less exalted and less serious than tragedy, commonly having a happy ending (Ganz,Beckson 43). Vincent de Beauvis describes comedy as a poem changing a sad beginning into a happy ending(Cuddon 148).
-In today's sociey we see it in the farce variety of comedy. Farce is a type of comedy designed to provoke the viewer or audience to a simple hearty laughter or-"belly laughs"(Abrams,Harpham 40). One of the earliest forms of this type of comedy came during the Middle Ages Period, where works such as "Noah" and "The Second Shepherd's Play" were created by Wakefield Cycle. However, comedy has a come a long way from what it has been seen today. Greek comedy was from the beginning associated with fertility rites and the worship of Dionysus(Cuddon 148). Aristophanes, a Greek dramatist, created works such as: "Acharnians", "Knights", "Clouds", "Wasps", and "Birds"(Cuddon 148).
+'''To Sum Up'''
-Comedy has many types of itself: farce, romantic, satiric, and comedy of manners. Romantic Comedy was developed by Elizabaethan dramatists represent a love affair that involves a beautiful & engaging heroine(Abrams,Harpham 39). Althought the course of this love does not run smoothly it overcoms all the difficulties to end in a happy union(Abrams,Harpham 39).
+Most commonly comedy can be defined as a work of fiction in which all materials used are to amuse an audience. Before the happy ending, characters in a comedy must face misfortunes or disasters that they must overcome. Rather than feeling concern for these characters we usually feel confident that the situation will not get any worse than it already is. We feel the intended humor behind the calamity and we always seem to know that such obstacles will not prevent the character's triumph in the end. The term comedy is mostly just used for plays or for motion picture films, but it is also used in prose fiction as well as in narrative poetry (Abrams 38-40).
-Satiric Comedy ridicules political plicies or philisophical doctines or else attacks devations from the accepted social order (Abrams,Harpham 39). They do this by making ridiculous violators of its standards of morals or manners(Abrams,Harpham 39). The early master of this was Aristophanes(Abrams,Harpham 39). Comedy of Manners orginated in he new comed of the Greek Menander & developed by Roman dramatists Platus & Terrence in the third & Vicissitudes of young lovers(Abrams,Harpham 39). This also included what became the stock characters of much later comedy, such as the clever servant, old & stodsy parents, and the wealthy rival(Abrams,Harpham 39).
+== Works Cited ==
+*Abrams, M. H., Harpham Geoffrey Galt. "A Glossary of Literary Terms 8th Edition"The Thomson Corporation. 2005
+*Baldick, Chris. "The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms"Great Britian: Cox and Wyman Ltd. 1990
-== Works Cited ==
+*Beckson Karl E., Ganz Arthur. "Literary Terms A Dictionary 3rd Edition"Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 1975.
-*Cuddon, J.A. "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory Fourth Edition"
-London: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998
-*Abrams, M. H., Harpham Geoffrey Galt. "A Glossary of Literary Terms 8th Edition"
-The Thomson Corporation. 2005
-*Beckson Karl E., Ganz Arthur. "Literary Terms A Dictionary 3rd Edition"
+*Cuddon, J.A. "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory Fourth Edition"London: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1998
-Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 1975.