T C 357: Comedy, Ancient and Modern

Questions to Ponder

Here are some of what I think are the central questions to consider when studying dramatic comedy. I would like each of you to choose one of these questions and make it your "specialty" throughout the course. Concentrate on this specialty as you prepare for class discussions and oral reports, and as you write. You should also feel free to create your own specialty, if there is an area of comedy not mentioned here that particularly interests you.

Language and style: What features of the playwright's and/or the translator's language and style stand out? What has the playwright and/or translator accomplished through such elements as word choice, meter, and rhetorical devices?

Music: What kind of music, if any would be used in productions of this work? What effects would the music have?

Setting: Where, geographically and topographically, is this play set? What does the playwright accomplish through this choice of setting?

Physical features of performance: What sets, costumes, and props would be used for this play? What would be accomplished through use of these elements?

Actors: Who would the actors for productions of this play be? What style of acting would be used? What can you surmise from the text about blocking and gestures? What would these features contribute to the play?

Audience: What can we know about the audience for whom this play was written? How involved is the audience in the performance, and in what ways?

Morality: What does the play suggest about the moral preconceptions of its author and audience? To what extent do characters transgress moral precepts of the play's society? What kind of judgment is passed on such transgression?

Humor: What is funny in this play? Why? What does the humor accomplish? Are there things in the play that you do not find funny, but which the original audience evidently did?

Victims: Who is the butt of the comedy's humor? Is the audience's laughter directed at those they could consider "other" (e.g., foreigners or outcasts), or do they laugh at themselves?

Seriousness: Are there elements in this play that you would consider serious? If so, how does that seriousness fit within the comic context?

Satire and social criticism: Do you think this work presents criticism of the society in which it was produced? If so, how? Are there specific topical allusions? If so, are they satirical?

Social class: What is the role of social class in this play? What assumptions does the playwright make about the differences between social classes? Are there any ways in which the playwright challenges assumptions about social class?

Gender: What is the role of gender in this play? What assumptions does the playwright make about the differences between men and women, and the expectations of each gender? Are there any ways in which the playwright challenges assumptions made about gender?

Love: What is the role of romantic love in this play? What assumptions does the playwright make about love?

Intertextuality: How does the playwright respond to earlier comedies, or to other works of literature and theater?

Metatheater: How much, if any, do the characters show an awareness that they are performing in a play? Does the playwright offer any thoughts on the nature of theater itself?

Genre: What mixture of comic genres (e.g., farce, comedy of manners, romantic comedy) do we find in this play? What elements of other theatrical genres (e.g., tragedy, melodrama, romance) are present here?

Plot: What is the core of the play's plot? Does the play concentrate on one plot, or are there subplots? Are individual moments in the play subject to the concerns of the plot as a whole, or are they important for their own sake?

Characters: What kinds of characters appear in this play? Are they stock characters? Which characters would win the audience's sympathy and why?

Irony: What role does dramatic irony play in this work (i.e., when the audience knows more than one or more characters)? What other irony is present?

Suspense: How much suspense occurs in this play, and how much does the audience already know what will happen in the plot? What is the effect of this suspense or lack of suspense?

Influence: How has this play been adapted, in performance on stage and film, and as new plays? What other influence has this work had on later literature and drama?

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