Comedy- A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakespeare’s comedy is characterized by with, puns, and sexual innuendos. A Midsummer Night’s Dream does feature some slapstick comedy in the scenes set in the woods. These scenes feature a lot of buffoonery; humor that is funny because of its stupidity, not because of its intellect. The Taming of the Shrew exhibited these same qualities. The Taming of the Shrew also utilized the fact that people tend to find humor in the pain of others as long as the pain is not severe. For example, the royalty had fun at the expense of the drunk my making him believe that he was a king. The tactics used by Shakespeare can be found in today’s comedy. Slapstick and buffoonery are used in standup and variety shows, and the other tactics are implored in various TV shows, movies, and comedy shows.

ACT III Scene i
Bottom
There are things in this comedy of Pyramus andThisby that will never please. First, Pyramus mustdraw a sword to kill himself; which the ladiescannot abide. How answer you that?
SNOUT
By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
STARVELING
I believe we must leave the killing out, when all is done.
BOTTOM
Not a whit: I have a device to make all well.Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem tosay, we will do no harm with our swords, and thatPyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the morebetter assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am notPyramus, but Bottom the weaver: this will put themout of fear.
QUINCE
Well, we will have such a prologue; and it shall bewritten in eight and six.
BOTTOM
No, make it two more; let it be written in eight and eight.
SNOUT
Will not the ladies be afeard of the lion?
STARVELING
I fear it, I promise you.
BOTTOM
Masters, you ought to consider with yourselves: tobring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies, is amost dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearfulwild-fowl than your lion living; and we ought tolook to 't.
SNOUT
Therefore another prologue must tell he is not a lion.
BOTTOM
Nay, you must name his name, and half his face mustbe seen through the lion's neck: and he himselfmust speak through, saying thus, or to the samedefect,--'Ladies,'--or 'Fair-ladies--I would wishYou,'--or 'I would request you,'--or 'I wouldentreat you,--not to fear, not to tremble: my lifefor yours. If you think I come hither as a lion, itwere pity of my life: no I am no such thing; I am aman as other men are;' and there indeed let him namehis name, and tell them plainly he is Snug the joiner.
QUINCE
Well it shall be so. But there is two hard things; that is, to bring the moonlight into a chamber; for, you know, Pyramus and Thisby meet by moonlight.
SNOUT
Doth the moon shine that night we play our play?
BOTTOM
A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanac; findout moonshine, find out moonshine.
QUINCE
Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOTTOM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the greatchamber window, where we play, open, and the moonmay shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thornsand a lanthorn, and say he comes to disfigure, or topresent, the person of Moonshine. Then, there isanother thing: we must have a wall in the greatchamber; for Pyramus and Thisby says the story, didtalk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT
You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom?
BOTTOM
Some man or other must present Wall: and let himhave some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-castabout him, to signify wall; and let him hold hisfingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramusand Thisby whisper.

In this passage, there is a great deal of buffoonery in the woods. This passage is humorous because of the stupidity of Bottom and the other cast members. They are so worried about the ladies being scared by the killing and the lion because they believe it will appear so real on stage. This is humorous because the audience knows that the cast is composed of horrible actors, so the fact that the actors believe that their parts will appear life-like is funny. The scene also shows the arrogance of the cast, especially Bottom, which is humorous because he is the worst actor of the bunch. It is humorous that several prologues are included into the play to explain that the events are not real because every one watching the play knows that the play is imaginary, and there would never be a prologue before every action in a good play. The description of the wall is particularly amusing because a wall is an inanimate object that really does not need to be acted out in the first place, and the idea of a person trying to be a wall, one with a hole no less, is particularly amusing. Acting out a wall is not the most intelligent idea, or the most necessary element of the play. The funniest part of this entire passage is that the cast spends so much time and puts so much effort into the little, unnecessary nuances that they are adding to the script instead of working on their acting, which is atrocious.



A did not enjoy A Midsummer Night’s Dream that much because I miss a lot of the suttle bits of humor that Shakespeare incorporates into the play when reading it. The scenes of buffoonery or slapstick humor are clearly funny, but that type of humor is much more effective when acted out because how humorous the scene will be is determined a lot by timing. Timing, expression, and context are very import to humor, and so much of that is missed when reading a play. One can understand much of the implied emotions when reading the play, but plays are truly meant to be performed for an audience.