ROMANTIC COMEDY:
Shakespearean Romantic Comedy
Explained by Dr. Vipul V. Kapoor, Associate Professor
“Soul of the age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer or Spenser,
Thou art a monument, without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read , and praise to give.”
Ben Jonson
INTRODUCTION:
Human life
is both a tragedy and a comedy. Tears and smiles, sighs and shouts of joy,
marriage and funerals go side by side. Tragedy and comedy are the twin sisters
of the same mother called “LIFE”. Goethe says, “Human
life is a tale, told in tears with smile.”
WHAT
IS A COMEDY?
· Aristotle defines comedy:
“Comedy is an imitation of men worse than the
average… not productive of pain or harm to others.”
· Horace Walpole also writes:
“Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a
comedy for those who think.”
1. Comedy is a play which ends with a happy note.
2. Comedy deals with light or trivial subject matter.
3. It arouses humour and laughter.
4. It aims at reforming the follies or weaknesses of mankind.
5. It appeals our intelligence.
SHAKESPEARE’S
CONCEPT OF ROMANTIC COMEDY:
The above
views expressed about comedy are generally not applicable to the Shakespearean
comedy.
· Shakespeare’s romantic comedy does not make an appeal so much
to our intelligence as to the heart of man.
· Its primary aim is neither satire nor correction of the evils
of the society. Its aim is just to give pure pleasure and joy.
· Unlike classical comedies, Shakespeare’s romantic comedies do
not follow the unity of time, place and action.
Shakespeare
has his own norms of writing romantic comedies. Let’s examine the chief
characteristics of Shakespearean Romantic Comedy:
FEATURES
OF ROMANTIC COMEDY OF SHAKESPEARE:
1. Fanciful World of Imagination
2. Element of Realism
3. Element of Humour
4. Subject Matter of Love
5. Light Mood
6. Music and Songs
1. FANCIFUL WORLD OF IMAGINATION:
Shakespeare’s comedies such as ‘As
You Like It’, ‘The Twelfth Night’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ have their
scenes of actions located in a far, distant land, far from the hurry of modern
life. They are staged in a remote and fanciful world of imagination. In his
romantic comedies, we come across some fairy land, magical woods and so on. In
short, the places in his romantic comedies are the creation of imaginative
fertile brain of the dramatist which we never see on the earth.
2.
ELEMENT OF REALISM:
The background and atmosphere of
Shakespearean romantic comedies is highly imaginative and fanciful. However,
“Life keeps hovering over it and enter into it.” It is Shakespeare’s unique
quality that he combines the real and unreal in his comedies. The romantic
world of fairy land has life like characters like merchants Antonio and
Shylock, real lovers like Portia and Bassanio, Helena and Demetrius. They face
the same real problems that we face in our real life. “The path of true love
never did run smooth.” This lines applies to the characters of Shakespeare’s
comedies and to us in our real life too. The mischeveous characters like Puck
as found in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ are also found in our neighbourhood.
The love triangles presented by Shakespeare is found in our life too. So, we can
say that there is a touch of realism in his comedies.
3.
ELEMENT
OF HUMOUR:
Humour is the soul of Shakespearean
Romantic Comedy. While watching the play, the audience cannot control their
laughter. Shakespeare’s humour is harmless, he does not laugh at anyone. He
does not aim at reforming the social evils as we generally see in other
comedies. His funny clown characters like Puck and Bottom have become immortal
in English literature.
4.
SUBJECT MATTER OF LOVE:
Shakespeare’s romantic comedy is
primarily the comedy of love. Love is the life blood of all his comedies. The
plots of his comedies are those of love intrigues. Here, the lover meet,
depart, fight, hate each other and then compromise and marry at the end. ‘The
merchant of Venice’ deals with the love story of Bassanio and Portia. ‘A
Midsummer Night’s Dream’ present the love story of Helena and Demetrius, Hermia
and Lysander, Oberon and Titania.
5.
MUSIC
AND SONGS:
In
Shakespeare’s comedies, music and songs predominate. The tone of his romantic
comedies is lyrical. There are six melodious songs in ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’.
“Over hill,
over dale
Through bush
and brior
Flood and fire.”
What a
melodious music is displayed in this song! Each line and stanza of the songs can
well be sung with music.
CONCLUSION:
Thus, we may
sum up by saying that the Romantic Comedy of Shakespeare is altogether
different from other comedies of English literature. It creates gentle,
innocent humour and laughter. It does not harm anyone and does not aim at
reforming the society. It is full of realism and imagination. Here, love is the
central subject matter and music and songs make his comedies more appealing and
interesting.
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