Subjects:
wordplay, create an amusing situation, or use physical
comedy. Often jokes may be incorporated into a play, or a
comic situation may result in a series of complicated
antics. The tradition for some of these comic devices has
been carried over for hundreds of years, dating back to
Shakespeare in the 1600's. In his play, A Midsummer Night's
Dream, Shakespeare creates humor through three diverse
devices: oxymoron's, malapropisms and mistaken identities.
All result in a farcical mix of comic situations.
Wordplay, such as the use of oxymorons, is an abundant
source of humor in Shakespeare. The word oxymoron comes
from the Greek meaning "pointedly foolish." Pointedly
foolish certainly applies to the mechanicals, whose
ignorance provides the root of all their comedy in the play.
For example, Quince refers to the play of Pyramus and Thisbe
as "the most lamentable comedy." (Iii 9) This does not make
much sense, since we would hardly express sorrow over a
comedy. However, as it turns out, the pathetic production
they eventually put on is so bad it actually is lamentable.
When Bottom says: "I'll speak in a monstrous little voice,"
. . .
her around hopelessly in love, is filled with humor. In the end it all works out because
Lysander loves Hermia; Demetrious, Helena. The
reversal of situations are comic and the complexity of one
wrong situation leading to another keeps the laughs coming
one after another. I have an exposition
(interpretation) of sleep come upon me.
The ignorance of Bottom and his friends seems to be
bottomless and voluminous and results not only in oxymorons,
but also in "malapropisms. Every
encounter the couples have gets more confusing and
exasperating. Hermia loves Lysander
and Lysander loves her, but Demetrious also loves Hermia,
and Helena loves Demetrious. The
idea of Bottom as a mistress makes the malapropism even
funnier. While asleep, Puck,
a fairy, squeezes juice from a flower that makes whomever's
eye it enters fall in love with the first person they see. So now, Lysander loves
Helena, Helena loves Demetrius, Demetrius loves Hermia and
Hermia loves Lysander. The other type of humor is a form of
slapstick in which mistaken identities cause an uproar of
emotional mix-ups. This is often the case with Bottom,
who tries constantly to appear extremely educated and uses
long impressive words without any clue as to their real
meaning.
He puts it onto Lysander's eye, thinking he was Demetrius.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.