Comedy

that department of the drama which appeals to the sense of the humorous or ridiculous. Amusement and fun are prominent features of comedy, and the outcome must be happy, or at least leave a pleasant impression. Horror and grief are elements of tragedy, and the end must be in a measure disastrous. In a broad sense, comedy includes all forms of tragicomedy, farce, and melodrama. In a more restricted sense, comedy, while separated on the one hand from tragedy, is separated on the other from that which is farcial or grossly comical. Gloom, sadness, and soberness are out of keeping with real comedy; so also is the grotesque and all that is absurdly extravagant. A farce may be classed properly as low comedy. It is the province of comedy proper to satirize in a pleasing way the weaknesses of humanity, the follies of society, or the humorous incidents of life.

As "the history of the Greek stage is the history of dramatic art," we need not go elsewhere to look for the beginnings of comedy. In the Greek colony of Sicily, "to this day the home of spontaneous mimicry," it is said to have arisen. At the vintage festival held yearly in honor of Bacchus or Dionysus, the comus or procession was the principal feature; the word comus signifying a revel continued after supper. The participants went about in carts or on foot, wearing gay costumes and indulging in jovial mirth, interspersed with jests at the expense of the onlookers. A song sung in these processions was called a comus song, or comus ode, whence the word comedy. Susarion, who is called the founder of comedy, and who lived in the sixth century B. C., is said to have traveled from place to place with a small movable stage, holding up to ridicule the follies of the time.

Comedy assumed definite form during the age of Pericles. There are three distinct periods of Greek comedy. The first, called Old Comedy, dates from the establishment of the democracy by Pericles. There was a strong political tendency in Old Comedy, the chief butts of satire being the influential men and rulers of the time. Aristophanes belongs to this period. His best comedies are The Knights, The Frogs, The Clouds, and The Wasps. It has been said that "were it not for the limitations of the female characters which Greek manners necessitated, Aristophanes would perhaps have been the equal of Shakespeare in comedy." In these old comedies, masks imitating the faces of individuals were worn frequently. Middle Comedy marks the time when heads were busy and tongues were wagging over the opposing schools of philosophy and rhetoric, instead of rival political leaders. Law forbade the name of a living person to be brought on the stage, or the face to be imitated by a mask; so classes, instead of individuals, became the objects of jest. A change also occurred in form. The parabasis or speech in which the chorus addressed the audience, always a feature of Old Comedy, was omitted in Middle Comedy. New Comedy was Middle Comedy matured, and corresponds to the comedy of modern times. Manners and social conditions were now held up to ridicule. Menander is the one notable name in Grecian New Comedy. Among Roman writers of comedy, Terence and Plautus stand first. Their work was based on the Grecian models and contains little that is original.

From ancient times until the later Middle Ages, there is nothing worthy of note in the history of dramatic literature. When the drama revived it was in the form of miracle plays. These miracle plays were presented in nearly all European countries, and led up to modern comedy; which would seem to have appeared as a result of the natural desire for amusement and variety. The miracle plays were concerned chiefly with religious subjects; but now and then some hint of comedy appeared. In Noah's Flood played at Chester, a domestic quarrel occurs before Noah's wife can be persuaded to enter the ark. When she has been pushed and pulled aboard by her children she is so enraged that she belabors her husband until he cries for mercy. Even in the Play of the Shepherds some inventive genius introduced a comical sheep-stealing scene before the song of angels informs the shepherds of the birth of Christ. Gradually current topics were brought into the dialogues, and characters from real life appeared on the stage. The interlude, introduced by John Haywood to relieve the strain of more serious presentations, contained many of the elements of comedy.

In 1540 appeared the "first play which bears the distinctive marks of real comedy." This is Nicholas Udall's Ralph Royster Doyster. It may be said to mark the beginning of modern English drama. Shakespeare is a master of comedy as he is of tragedy. Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It are two favorites among his thirteen comedies. Other names worthy of mention as writers of English comedy are Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Congreve, Goldsmith, and Sheridan.

In other countries the origin of comedy has been similar to that in England, although different influences have given it different characteristics. France produced comedies much earlier than England, although the French names most noted in comedy, those of Corneille and Moliere, do not appear until after Shakespeare's time.

In more recent times, comedy has crowded tragedy from the stage. Great tragedies, such as Shakespeare's, presented by great actors, still keep their place, but the popular play is the comedy.

See Drama; Tragedy; Miracle Play; Udall; Vaudeville

Comedy amuses, corrects, and heartens. It shows that the vanities of life are not final, and the failures not always fatal.-Gayley.

Comedy presents us with the imperfections of human nature; farce entertains us with what is monstrous and chimerical; the one causes laughter in those who can judge of men and manners, by the lively representation of their folly and corruption; the other produces the same effect in those who can judge of neither; and that only by its extravagances.-Dryden.