...BOOK REVIEW OF COMEDY OF ERRORS This is one of the first literatures from the great legend “William Shakespeare”. All the work from William Shakespeare is literally a literature. His books are referred in syllabus in schools and colleges all over the world. He is in true sense a king of English literature. There are so many contemporary authors whose work is supposedly inspired by him. Frankly I never read any of his books so when I come across “The comedy of errors” and immediately grab it. And second thing is plays are always the medium for writers to depict the present political and social conditions. And Shakespeare must have written this book in as early as in 1500. Because of that some of the things are not as relevant or funny today as they might have been at that time. The book has story of two twin brothers and their twin slaves. It is a story of lot of coincidences and fun happen because of that. The story starts with a death threat hovering over an old merchant for breaking some silly rules. He tries to win duke’s sympathy by telling him the story how he lost his family i.e. his wife and his two twin sons and there twin slaves. And he breaks the rule as he is in search of them. Coincidently one of his lost son and one slave was settled in the same city for a long time and they had been happily married. Another coincidence happens when other twin brother and slave also visit the city. And there happen lot of kayos which results in slapstick...
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...12th Night Feste: Foolish or Wise “Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools, and I that am sure I lack thee may pass for a wise man.” (1.5.30-31) In the ‘Twelfth Night’ by William Shakespeare, the role of the entertainer was fulfilled by the character named, ‘Feste’. Feste’s purpose was to entertain the nobles through songs and witty jokes at the expense of others; however, his role was far more important than a simple ‘jester’ or ‘fool’. When Feste says; “Those wits that think they have thee do very oft prove fools, and I that am sure I lack thee may pass for a wise man” (1.5.30-31), he is stating a version of the old saying, “know thyself.” These lines point out that Feste is not simply a jester; but rather a fool with much intelligence. Shakespeare meant to create Feste’s character to help teach the other characters more about themselves through experiences displaying their foolishness and short-comings. Feste used various strategic approaches and insightful remarks to reach that goal. Feste incorporates music to affect and convey multiple hidden messages which are essential in order to better understand the play’s central theme of love. A perfect example is the song he performs for Sir Toby and Sir Andrew: “O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear, your true love's coming, That can sing both high and low. Trip no further, pretty sweeting, Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son doth know” (2.3.37-42)...
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...The Twelfth Night, Or What You Will is a reflection of how Shakespeare felt and his state of mind after the death of his son, Hamnet. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has characters that are in mourning similar to Shakespeare’s mourning, the characters were inspired by his grief, and this means he is the acceptance stage of grief. Twelfth Night is a comedy about Viola, who pretends to be a man to survive in the new land she has shipwrecked upon. She is sent by the Duke Orsino, whom she has fallen for, to plead his love to Olivia, who is deep in mourning. Olivia falls for Viola, AKA: Cesario. This creates an awkward love triangle, especially when Viola’s brother, Sebastian turns out to be alive and is mistaken for Cesario. Malvolio, Olivia’s steward, is tricked by Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby, and her maid, Maria. Everything is eventually sorted out, and the twin siblings reunite happily. Sebastian...
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...When we hear the words tragedies and comedies we can reference them to death and jokes; however, there is more to these concepts than can come to one’s mind especially in drama. In tragedies there is often the downfall of a tragic hero whereas in comedies the unexpected rise of the comic protagonist is to be laughed at due to the wit and humor used. Tragedies end in catastrophe as seen in the death of Romeo and Juliet unlike in comedies where the conflicts are to be made fun of, for example in Sure Thing, Bill the comic protagonist, makes every possible mistake when trying to pick up a girl in a café, but somehow still ends up getting the girl after many attempts. Tragedies and comedies are mostly defined by the emotions they evoke in the public...
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...Shakespeare used over 25,000 different words in his writings. He is the magician of words. He made many play-words, quotes and expressions still used nowadays. (Beginning of his career in 1592 Robert Greene : Elisabethan playwright called WS “upstart cow”) Shakespeare wrote mainly tragedies. His work contain thousands of quotes from the Gevena Bible (Matthew) There is many changes in his style of writing. His first plays were acknowledged by the public : The Comedy of Errors, and Taming of the Shrew He wrote tragedies as well as comedies. From 1580 to 1613 : he wrote 37 plays! He had the ability to represent human nature. He saw life as a theater and theater as life. He gave the public what he want. He was a formidable storyteller. He told every kind of story: comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama, adventure, love stories and fairy tales. After he was known for his humorous plays he shifts his style to darkness and tragedy : Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello. Incidentally many comedies he wrote were noticeably un-humourous. Some suggest that this switch in style was family-related, others that he wanted to please the crowds at...
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...wrong, at the time we can be furious but eventually we are usually able to look back and laugh, even if it is a rather wary laugh. Black comedy may position an audience to laugh at something they’re not ready to laugh at, or at something they’re not really allowed to laugh at. Black comedies can show us the errors and misjudgements that lead to our downfalls and give us an opportunity to laugh at the silliness of human existence. The only difference between comedy and black comedy is the seriousness of the consequences of the misunderstanding. Black comedy explores modern comic plays from different countries that deal with what is often uncomfortable or suppressed. The nature of comedy and the use of humour is used to confront an audience with human experiences of pain, loss, forms, styles, techniques and conventions. Black Comedy is all about how you get your audience into a position to observe the confusion, to be aware of the misunderstanding leading to these terrible events. And the difference (sometimes) between the confusion and the reactions of the confusion is what creates the comedy. The term for the positioning the audience so they are aware of a significance that the characters are ignorant, is of course Dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is a theatrical technique that can be used in a variety of styles of theatre, from tragedy to comedy. It is the form of irony where the audience is aware of the significance of something that the characters are ignorant of. Within the plays...
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...A Midsummer Night's Dream Genre Comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream is a classic example of Shakespearean comedy. What, you don't believe us? We'll prove it to you. We've got a checklist that details all the typical conventions and features of the genre so you can see for yourself: Light, humorous tone: Check. The play features fairy magic (like Oberon's love potion), silly pranks (like the transformation of a guy's head into that of a jackass), and the botched performance of a play-within-the-play by a bunch of wannabe actors. Need we say more? Clever dialogue and witty banter: Check. Shakespeare is a huge fan of punning and snappy wordplay, so naturally, his characters know how to get their witty repartee on. Shakespeare reserves some of the best dialogue for his warring lovers, especially Oberon and Titania, and even the "rude mechanicals" manage to wow us with their clever banter. Deception and disguise: Let's see…Hermia and Lysander try to sneak away from Athens to elope (behind Egeus's back). Also, Titania and the young lovers have no idea they've been drugged by Oberon and his magic love juice. So, check. Mistaken identity: Check. Sort of. In most of Shakespeare's other comedies, someone usually runs around in a disguise to mask his or her identity. (Sometimes, a lover is even tricked into sleeping with the wrong person by mistake.) This isn't necessarily the case in A Midsummer Night's Dream, unless we count the fact that the love juice causes Titania to fall head...
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...William Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the shrew’ consists of disorder which is further enhanced by the comic devices. Confusion is prominent throughout Shakespeare’s plays, for example ‘The comedy of errors’ and ‘Macbeth’. The disarrangement would be expected by an Elizabethan audience; however the structure of the play subverts traditional, more conventional plays and suggests disorder in itself. There are various comic techniques that Shakespeare utilises, the most significant being deception, most of the characters are able to transgress past social boundaries in order to get their way, which ultimately causes disorder. He is able to use both subtle and obvious techniques to cater for all of his audience. Shakespeare immediately presents his audience with this idea of disorder through the induction; the chaos at the start is further emphasized by comic techniques. Although the induction would be highly amusing for an audience, it does highlight that a person’s behaviour can quickly change depending on how they are treated. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony not only to evolve comedy but to engage the audience, when Sly says ‘well, bring our lady hither to our sight, and once again a pot o’th’smallest ale’. As well as being bawdy the quotation epitomizes the idea of gender roles, however Shakespeare establishes dramatic irony as ‘our lady’ is one of the page boys. The aspect of disorder is developed by the disguise, and tricking Sly. Shakespeare through the induction might be challenging...
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...History of Early Greek Drama Typically all humans enjoy a good laugh. After all, “Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems” (Smith). The attention of a human being is automatically grasped when it comes to dramatic and comedic situations. It is almost like the human brain has an on and off switched that is flipped on when drama is involved; or when something is funny. “Ancient greeks from the 5th century BC onwards were fascinated by the wuestion of the origins of tragedy and comedy” (Saskia). During the time origin of Athens greek theatre was still on the rise. Greek theater was in a way a celebration to honor the Greek Gods. “A Greek God, Dionysus, was honored with a festival called [by] ‘City Dionysia’” (Greece). At the Dionysus festival in athens there were three main people todirect and perform ech play. Usually the author of a play would be one of the cast members. There were three well known Greek tragedy play writers in the 5th century. A man by the name of Aeschylus was one of the manificent writers. “Aeschylus was the first of the 3 renowned prize-winning Greek writers of tragedy” (Gill). Because only three people were allowed to participate in a single play, Aeschylus acted in most of the plays he wrote. When Aeschylus died, it was allowed to replay his plays. The reason replying Aeshylus’s plays was because “…during the Classical perios, each tetralogy...
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...study will show why movie that were produced in Malaysia diverting to horror comedy genre. This study also will show that why demand of horror comedy genre increased. The objective to know whether this movie genre are giving impact on Malaysian social economy and to know to what extent of the trend of horror film. The research will be done by using survey techniques and will be given to 100 participants among the student population in UiTM Shah Alam. This study will show that horror comedy genre demand are more than horror genre. 1.Introduction In my opinion, horror film is a genre that aims to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience through a portrayal of their worst fears and nightmares. Horror films usually center on the arrival of an evil force, person, or event. Horror film may become as an adventures to some people. This is because the film may play with the viewer emotions. According to Danielle Braff on his article about Movies may cause special effects on the body, he stated that the people who are fascinated by horror movies tend to be the same people who love to sky-dive, go rock climbing and try extreme skiing adventures. The horror genre allows them the opportunity to experience events and people who otherwise wouldn't enter their lives. In my opinion, comedy is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are...
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...William Shakespeare was great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. No other writer’s plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. He was one of eight children. When William Shakespeare was about seven years old, he probably began attending the Stratford Grammar School with other boys of his social class. Students went to school year round attending school for nine hours a day. The teachers were strict disciplinarians. Stratford was an exciting place to live. Stratford also had fields and woods surrounding it giving William the opportunity to hunt and trap small game. The River Avon, which ran through die town, endowed him the title the Bard of Avon. Shakespeare’s poems and plays show love for nature and rural life which reflects his childhood. In London, Shakespeare’s career took off. It is believed that he may have become well I known in London theatrical life by 1592. By that time, he had joined one of die city’s repertory theatre companies. These companies were made up of a permanent cast of actors who presented different plays week after week. The companies were commercial organisations that depended on admission from their audience. Scholars know that Shakespeare belonged to one of the most popular acting companies in London called...
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...Early European Theater • The writings of this period were primarily hymns, sermons and similar theologically oriented works. • Latin became a literary medium. • Major preserves of learning are the monasteries. • 8th century Europe returned to greater stability under the Carolingian kings. ➢ Charles Martel – defeated the Moslems at Tours in 732 AD, through his innovative use of armored horsemen as the principal military force, initiating the development of knighthood. ➢ Charlemagne – extended his realm into the Slavic territories and converting non- Christians on the way. Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope and pronounced him as the successor to Constantine. The scenario was the first attempt to establish the Holy Roman Empire. • Charlemagne’s death caused Europe to break into small units isolated from each other and from the world. • Moslem controlled the Mediterranean and the Vikings, still pagans, conquered the northern seas. Early Middle Ages • Life was relatively simple. • Feudalistic patterns were fully established. ➢ Manor (large estate)- headed by a noble man, assumed absolute authority over the peasants who worked his land collectively. ➢ Vassals – supplies the lords a specified number of knights upon demand and the lords in return were bound to protect their vassals. The Theater (500- 900 AD) • The theater revived during the early Middle Ages. • After the Western Roman...
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...in his own plays, but its thought that he is a very busy man, writing, managing the theatre, and commuting between London and Stratford, where his family was, he didn’t undertake big roles. There are evidences that he played the ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As You Like It. Being the most famous writer in the world, Shakespeare left us neither journals nor letters- he left us only poems and his plays. What we know about Shakespeare’s life comes mostly from church and legal documents- a baptismal registration, a marriage license and records from real-estate transactions. However, these only provide brief sketches of specific events in his life. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were comedies and...
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...A Groatsworth of Wit by Robert Greene says he was an actor for a few years. He also may have taught at a school. In 1585 he started his apprenticeship as an actor(Academy of American Poets). Shakespeare began writing in 1593 to 1601, all together he has 154 known sonnets and 37 known plays. Shakespeare dedicated his first two poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) to his friend, Henry Wriothesley. His sonnets fell into two groups: 1-126 dedicated to a friend, 127-154 to someone named “Park Lady”. Shakespeare’s plays were also divided into groups, such as: comedy, histories, tragedies, and romances. Earlier plays were the comedies and histories, one’s such as: Henry VI and The Comedy of Errors. Shakespeare is most known for his plays, most of his plays are still being remade into movies. His most popular works include: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, and Macbeth. In his final years Shakespeare wrote romances, such as: Cymbeline, A Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. Only 18 of 37 plays were published in Shakespeare time alive. In his sonnets and plays, Shakespeare invented thousands of words, combining and contorting Latin, French and native roots. He created words such as: arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, radiance, school boy, watchdog, and zany. Most...
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...William Shakespeare was great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. No other writer’s plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. He was one of eight children. When William Shakespeare was about seven years old, he probably began attending the Stratford Grammar School with other boys of his social class. Students went to school year round attending school for nine hours a day. The teachers were strict disciplinarians. Stratford was an exciting place to live. Stratford also had fields and woods surrounding it giving William the opportunity to hunt and trap small game. The River Avon, which ran through die town, endowed him the title the Bard of Avon. Shakespeare’s poems and plays show love for nature and rural life which reflects his childhood. In London, Shakespeare’s career took off. It is believed that he may have become well I known in London theatrical life by 1592. By that time, he had joined one of die city’s repertory theatre companies. These companies were made up of a permanent cast of actors who presented different plays week after week. The companies were commercial organisations that depended on admission from their audience. Scholars know that Shakespeare belonged to one of the most popular acting companies in London called...
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