The Comedies of Shakespeare

Between the three comedies read in class, they have similar style context and similar style plots and even similar speeches. Shakespeare knew the workings of how to manipulate the style of his comedies to entertain people through out centuries.

The languages in all of these plays are very similar to one another. Shakespeare uses his language to get different meanings from one speech spoken by a character. In Taming of the Shrew, when Petruchio and Kate interact for the first time, all she tries to do is insult him and make him sound idiotic while Petruchio takes what she is saying and makes it incredible dirty with sexual innuendos all over the place. They argue and Petruchio states that Kate is a bee, she then says to beware of her sting. He then replies that he would pluck it out, and then she says only if he is able to find it. He says that it is on the tail, she says tongue, he asks whose, she replies his, then he says, “What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.” She means the sting to be her words which lay on her tongue, but the whole time he is talking in the sexual terms. These types of hidden innuendos are all over the place in Shakespeare’s comedies.

Most of Shakespeare's comedies all have the same or similar themes which involve the protagonist falling in love and out of love fast while the antagonist tries to stop the communion of those who are in love. Of course there are more details and some plot lines change a little along with the characters, but Shakespeare was a master at creating characters that seem like everyday folk but live in a whole different world of mystical beings and ridiculous everyday events that are the norm for the characters and unrealistic to us, the audience.

Two of those comedies we read in class, Taming of the Shrew and A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, have much in common. They both contain a fool, hero, heroine, villain, and plays within a play. The character’s who play the fools are Bottom in A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, and Grumio in Taming of the Shrew. They are there for the comic relief factor and just too plainly make people laugh. They get themselves into ridiculous situations that do not faze them at all. Both take themselves to be very serious people when in all actuality they are anything but the total opposite of serious. Bottom for example had his head turned into that of a donkey's head. This is why Shakespeare named Bottom, for he acts like that of a donkey's "bottom". He is there to make fun of those who take them far too serious and to make the audience laugh.

Another recurrence of structure in Shakespeare's comedies is the play within a play. In A Mid-Summer Night's Dream and in Taming of the Shrew there is a play within the play. For A Mid-Summer Night's Dream it was a play about Pyramus and Thisbe which is about two people in love but can not be together because there parents are forbidding them from being together, just as in the actual play Hermia is in love with Lysander but her father wants her to marry his choice, Demetrius, whom she does not love. Pyramus and Thisbe’s story is one of the most romantic and classic love story there is and the whole time it is being acting out, lines are being forgotten or screwed up while Bottom over acts everything making himself more of a fool. In Taming of the Shrew the play within the play is actually the main story. The play is Taming of the Shrew which is acted out for Christopher sly who believes he is lord when really the trick is being played upon him.

All of Shakespeare's comedies treat sensitive and usually meaningful subjects lightly and with ironic and moronic satire. I find all of the comedies we have read to be funny and joyful. The main reason is because Shakespeare makes sure that there is no seriousness in the plays at all. It is funny how all of the characters believe that everything they is serious and take it full heartedly while the audience is laughing at them the whole time. It is also comical to listen to the language because every time you read a play, no matter how many times you have read it previous, you find some type of new symbol or meaning or theme in Shakespeare’s writing. He was a great manipulator of words.