Banana Peel of Doom: The Tragedy in Shakespeare’s Comedy

Michael Ehrhardt
Sep 5, 2018 · 8 min read

Comedy is no laughing matter. That is to say, creating a comic scenario is no laughing matter. It is extremely difficult to form a full, original comedic scenario that surprises an audience. Structure is needed in the narrative in order for the comedy to really payoff. The key to comedic structure, no matter what medium you are writing in, is conflict. That is really true in any story that is ever written, comedic or dramatic. Conflict is what sets the plot in motion. It is, more often than not, the basis of the inciting incident and the catalyst for the rising action that moves the narrative forward. In comedy, conflict is what leads to the humor. It is what drives the characters’ main motivation and sets up the sometimes ridiculous lengths they will go to to end this conflict. This is a device that has been used as long as plays have been written; from Menander and Plautus, to Shakespeare and Moliere, all the way to Noel Coward and Neil Simon.

Shakespeare in particular, uses this device in full throttle in his comedies. In fact, he often uses severe tragedy to create entertaining, humorous scenarios. He utilizes death, separation, emotional and physical torture, and other dark, tragic devices and spins them on their head to actually make them funny. Shakespeare is truly a master of using tragedy to make grand, glorious comedy.

Shakespeare’s comedies often begin immediately with a tragic event. At the very beginning of The Comedy of Errors, we are introduced to Egeon, a man who is being sentenced to death for basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As if that was not tragic enough, we then find out Egeon’s backstory filled with separation from his family and the fear that his wife and son are long dead. This man is risking death to find his wife and son, who may not even be alive. Based on that set-up, it is hard to believe that this play soon becomes an all-out farce. This first scene is where Shakespeare lays the exposition, the groundwork for the chaos that is about to ensue.

Similarly, Twelfth Night begins with the aftermath of a shipwreck that has separated a family. In this case, it is Viola who was separated from her twin brother, Sebastian. This tragic event is what leads Viola to dress as a man and get a job in Orsino’s court, which leads to the bulk of the farce that ensues in this particular play. Twelfth Night probably has the most tragedy featured for comedic effect amongst its ensemble of characters. There is a wide variety of sadness and despair that appears in this bright, witty farce.

In a different vein, A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins with a slightly more domestic tragedy. That comes in the form of Theseus and Hippolyta’s impending marriage. Everything seems all well and good until you realize that Hippolyta is being forced against her will to marry Theseus after losing a war. In this very progressive society we are living in today, fueled by the rage against a sexual assault epidemic, a plot point like this can be quite a bitter to swallow, especially in a light comedy such as this. Again, it is hard to believe that from here, the piece will develop into a raucous, sexually-charged farce, but this is just Shakespeare beginning the twists and turns of the plot, almost manipulating his audience emotionally in preparation for the hilarity about to ensue.

One of the universal sources of conflict in any dramatic writing is love, usually of the unrequited or forbidden persuasion. Love is such a strong, powerful emotion that it can lead to a multitude of comedic situations. There can also be a rather dark edge to love, an idea that Shakespeare uses quite a bit in his comedies. As Lysander says in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

The course of true love never did run smooth (I.1, 134).

There is a danger to being in love. It sometimes means that we are capable of keeping our love alive by any means necessary. This is the concept that Shakespeare plays with a lot in his comedic works.

On the surface, The Comedy of Errors, does not have much romance, per say. However, there is a bit of romantic conflict in the relationship between Antipholus of Ephesus and his wife, Adrianna. Adrianna is very progressive for a woman of her time, as we see in her conversations with her sister, Luciana. She will not let herself be stifled by her husband and the patriarchal conformities fallen upon her contemporaries, despite her sister’s insistence that her way of thinking is distasteful. To those comments, Adrianna replies:

This servitude makes you to keep unwed (II.1, 26).

This creates much tension between Adrianna and Antipholus, who likes to live a free-spirited, rollickingly fun time, much at the expense of his befuddled wife. Her frustrations with him and his reckless lifestyle lead to a significant chunk of the climax of the play, where she declares her “husband” insane after dealing with who is actually her husband’s twin. This lover’s disagreement is the backbone for much of the craziness that envelops the piece.

Twelfth Night, on the other hand begins with a case of unrequited love, heralded by the iconic, woeful declaration from Orsino

If music be the food of love, play on

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken and so die (I.1, 1–3).

We meet Duke Orsino in a very vulnerable moment. He is hopelessly infatuated with Olivia, who has shunned him in her mourning. His desperation to be with Olivia is the catalyst that sets the main conflict of the play in motion, which is the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola/Cesario. All three of these characters are so deeply in love with each other that they go to outrageous lengths to get their love, creating a plethora of complications amongst themselves and the other characters along the way. There is also the darker, albeit less romantic plot of Antonio and his love and devotion towards Sebastian. This love story, unlike the love triangle, does not have a happy ending as Antonio sacrifices himself to save who he thinks is Sebastian’s life, only to find out Sebastian has married Olivia. We never really see Antonio’s reaction to this news but one can imagine that he is slightly disappointed to not be spending the rest of his life with is beloved Sebastian. That being said, his arrival in Illyria and recognizing Viola as Sebastian is just another twist in the comedic maze that is Twelfth Night.

Theseus and Hippolyta are not the only case of toxic love in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In fact, there are three other romantic pairs in the piece: Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, and Titania and Oberon. With the four lovers, the play begins with Lysander and Hermia being forced apart from each other, and Demetrius shunning Helena. Most young people can relate to this kind of love and how it affects their mental state and makes them act out of the ordinary, especially when under the influence, as Demetrius and Lysander end up, thanks to Oberon and Puck. Audiences can also laugh at this heightened reality. They are seeing real life emotions played out in an over-the-top fashion, which could really be considered one of the mantras of comedy.

Titania and Oberon, on the other hand, are in a different kind of romantic conflict. They are a married couple in the middle of the petty squabble that leads to spiteful jokes at one’s expense. This is another situation that may hit close to home for some audience members who relate to this couple, despite them being a pair of mythical monarchs fighting over a changeling boy. These heightened comedic scenarios are both very funny and very poignant and human portraits.

There is yet another dark subject matter that Shakespeare uses frequently in his comedies, and it is an idea that may not be construed as “dark”, per say. That idea is the act of mischief. Shakespeare uses the idea of mischief in rather dark ways in both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night. In the former, the mischief makers come in the form of Oberon and Puck. Their mischief begins with putting Titania under the spell to make her fall in love with the first thing she sees when she awakes. Puck furthers the mischief by putting the ass head on Bottom so that Titania can fall in love with an ass. This is, again, a rather dark theme to exist in a comedy. When one really looks at that plot point, it is especially cruel of Oberon to essentially drug his wife and make her indulge in sexual and romantic acts with someone who is currently part-animal. The cruel irony of that is that Oberon has no repercussions for his hateful and vindictive actions. In fact, Titania never discovers that her husband and his servant played such a malicious joke on her; she is under the impression that it was merely a dream. Similarly, Demetrius and Lysander, along Hermia and Helena, are led to believe that rationale themselves after the two men are given the same curse as Titania. In Oberon’s defense, though, his motives with the four lovers are slightly nobler than his motives with Titania. However, Oberon’s orders and Pucks follow-through of those orders, with rather dark implications lead to a surprising amount of hilarity and strong dramatic payoff then leading to a satisfying conclusion with a happy ending.

Another case of dark mischief exists in one of the multiple plots of Twelfth Night. This particular plot involves Malvolio and the cruel prank played on him by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Fabian and Feste. This bit of mischief actually has a much darker payoff than any of the mischief in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After the initial prank is played on Malvolio with the forged letter and the yellow stockings, he then has to endure severe psychological torture by being falsely told that he is insane. Malvolio, along with Antonio, is one of the few characters in the play who does not get a happy ending. However, this dark plot line usually elicits the most laughs in performance.

One can infer from some of these acts of mischief, that Shakespeare was intrigued by the idea of Schadenfreude. The German word literally means “malicious enjoyment of the misfortunes of others”, and was not really coined until the 18th century (Hu). However, Shakespeare probably knew in his day that audiences enjoyed laughing at the physical and emotional pain of others, no matter how severe the pain is. This is especially true with more unlikeable characters like Malvolio. When we first meet Malvolio, he is very pompous and condescending, so audiences enjoy getting his just desserts in the end. What can take an audience by surprise, though, is how sympathetic and human Malvolio can become after he has been tortured so. Moments like that can give an audience the full impact of theater: laughter leading to some unexpected empathy.

In conclusion, it is very obvious from these points that Shakespeare is master of emotional manipulation. He can use some dark themes and plot points to elicit thunderous laughs from an audience. He can also turn those comedic moments on their head to create some poignant moments of human behavior. These techniques are one of the many reasons why William Shakespeare’s works are still around today.

Works Cited

Hu, Jane. “A Joyful & Malicious History Of ‘Schadenfreude’.” The Awl, 20 Oct. 2011,

www.theawl.com/2011/10/a-joyful-malicious-history-of-schadenfreude/.

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Shakespeare, William. The Comedy of Errors. Oxford University Press, 2002.

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