The Comedic Value of the Play, Pseudolus

In the play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar the main character, Brutus, experiences many things that lead him to become a tragic hero. From the interactions between Cassius and Brutus, the two characters contract each other, Brutus’s character develops into a tragic hero, and the plot advances and a theme is also created.

Although their scheme with Pseudolus takes vastly different measures to achieve their goal, the behavior and attitudes of Calidorus and Hero are practically identical. Both characters possess such an intense love that it could be described as torturous, have absolute trust in Pseudolus’s advice, and achieve their goals through deception. Finally, both Calidorus and Hero are depicted similarly; both being of young adult age and sons to wealthy a father.

Bastard, a child born out of wedlock, an illegitimate descendant that "deserves to be slapped." Don John, coined as “Shakespeare’s most passive villain” is plagued by the society of Messina that rejected him from the very moment of birth. Looking through the idea of predetermined roles in life, we can come to realize the roots of Don John’s agitation arises from his illegitimacy, stacking him at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Here he feels obliged to act the part of the villain, delegated by his very own blood.

Many aspects of the film pay clear homage to New Comedy. The plot is simplistic, focusing on the desire of a young man to get around the restrictions of his parents and gain the affections of the girl he loves. The characters, although not boring, are one-dimensional. Hero, the love-sick youth, has one hope in the film: to unite himself with Philia. Pseudolus, his slave, only wishes to earn his freedom. The life's work of Erronius is to find his children, each bestowed with a ring bearing an engraved gaggle of geese; and so on through the inhabitants of this depiction of Rome. Each character does whatever it takes to achieve their one goal in life, and this is what builds the frenetic disposition of the plot, causing twists and turns especially where the very determined instigator Pseudolus is concerned. There is no character development, however, and every character finishes the film with same endeavor he

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet serves as one of the most multi-faceted characters in the entire play with critics often deeming his personality “paradoxical”. Ultimately, Hamlet provides the audience with the epitomy of internal contrast and instability by rapidly transitioning through periods of caution and rash action, introversion and extroversion and calculation and spontaneity.

As with many plays, actors in Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, are at liberty to alter the portrayal of their characters. Because of this, the significance and subtleties of various characters can be lost in varying adaptations of the play. This holds true for the character Polonius, who is often incorrectly portrayed as a oblivious and foolish yet caring father. Rather, Shakespeare implicitly and explicitly establishes Polonius as a character in full control of his wits. Polonius’ interaction with other characters throughout the play highlights his cunning, wit, and selfishness.

The qualities a tragic hero, in Shakespeare's plays, normally displays consists of the hero falling from a place of glory, or rank, or happiness. We are astounded by the extent to which they fall, or allow themselves to stoop. The resulting catastrophe from the hero's mistake is of monumental proportions. With the discussed play Julius Caesar, Cassius exhibits Jealousy, Rashness, and Impulsive behaviour. Cassius makes mistakes, each with a disastrous effect.

  Well aware that several hours of unrelenting angst would be a bit much for his audience to take, William Shakespeare strategically placed several humorous scenes throughout his masterpiece, Hamlet.  In particular, the character of Polonius fills the role of the comic fool; he is in two essential comedic scenes, one with his own children and then one with Hamlet.  Shakespeare's acute ability to weave humor into this very heavy play is noteworthy, as his use of comedy goes beyond merely providing much-needed comic relief.   In fact, the rather numerous comedic scenes serve as a foils to, as well as reflections of, the intense action of the play.   In every case where humor is used in Hamlet, it is

The rise of tension between characters is another characteristic of comedic plays. After Oberon sees the way that Helena has been treated by Demetrius, he orders Puck to apply the juice to the eyes of Demetrius. Puck accidentally applies the juice to Lysander’s eye, which causes him to fall in love with Helena. After the mistake had been caught, Oberon sends Puck to watch Helena and Oberon applies the juice to Demetrius’ eyes. This causes both men to fall for Helena and now the battle is for Helena and not Hermia. Helena is convinced that this is a joke or prank because neither of the two men loved her before. Now because of Puck’s mistakes the four decide to find a

In addition to Ralph’s dynamic character, in “Julius Ceaser” the character, Marcus Brutus, is a dynamic and round character. Throughout the play, Brutus’ character experiences a

Shakespearean plays are often known for their outstanding entertainment and classic comic conflict. In his masterwork, Hamlet, Shakespeare uses these aspects to serve his thematic purpose. He has used comedy throughout many of his historic plays, but in this play, comedy is the drawing point that makes it fun and entertaining, yet clear and intuitive. Generally, his tragedies are not seen as comical, but in reality, they are full of humor. However, these comic elements don’t simply serve to relieve tension; they have much significance to the play itself. The characters of Hamlet, Polonius, Osric, and the Gravediggers, prove to be very influential characters, and throughout the play, they are the individuals that

There is an certain recurring flaw of characters in western media that is ever present throughout the ages. The ubiquitous aspect that mars a character, leading to their usually plot driven downfall is ego. Western media has a tendency to promote rational humility over irrational egoism. From the sufferers of the ninth circle of Dante’s hell to the Ayn Rand’s unorthodox support for egoism in Anthem, this identity stemming from one’s self plays on repeat. The major characters of Sophocles’ Antigone and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Creon and King Lear, respectively, are actually both very similar characters, and both demonstrate egos that ultimately detriment them. They both deny reality and attempt to trump destiny to protect their deleterious egos.

In Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night or What you Will, the characters are involved in a plot complete with trickery, disguise, and love. Each character is defined not by his or her gender or true identity, but by the role they are forced to take because of the complicated situation that arises. Unlike their gender, the speech the characters give an insight to their true personalities. In the Twelfth Night, the character Duke Orsino uses flowery and over-dramatic language, long poetic sentence structure, and melodramatic metaphors to display his overemotional romantic nature despite the different emotions in his various speeches.

There is considerable sameness in his plots, which simply accentuates the viewpoints that he held and matters which he deemed important and non-changing. While Plautus is clearly by no means indifferent to social conditions, nor does he refrain from commenting on the growing estrangement between rich and poor as an element of danger to the State, he does not write solely to highlight these things. His works come from his desire to represent the passing humors of the day and to amuse those who wish to be amused. While the work of Plautus riddled with good sense and good humor, as well as includes occasional touches of pathos and elevated sentiment, there is no trace of any serious purpose behind his comedic scenes, plots and

WIth this initial first line, he satirically assaults Claudius’ claim the prince is both his cousin and his child. One may conclude that Hamlet’s mind and witticism, which partitions him from Claudius and Gertrude, add to the acrimony of him and the imperial couple. In this paper I would address and investigate the humorous parts of the protagonist, while analyzing the different witty figures, and also remark on the perplexing relationship between the play’s comic and genuine components, the novel blend of happiness and seriousness.