The Modes of Laughter

Yet, even in evaluating how anger is emotionally imposed on the audience due to the absurdity of the proposal, it’s impossible to disregard the role of humor. There are obvious elements of humor throughout the proposal and amusement in the very nature of the proposal is expected. However, any sense of humor abruptly disappears at the heart of the critism. When the proposer begins stating “I can think of no one objection that will possibly be raised against this proposal” the humor stops and the voice of Swift, as well as sharp criticism, begins. Although humor may be an integral part of the proposal and certainly a partial indication of the use of Horatian satire, the fact that humor isn’t present throughout the whole proposal suggests that the use of hilarity is secondary. Rather, this contrast of humor and emotionally imposed irritation only helps to emphasize the role of anger. This is especially evident when one considers the irony that litters the humorous proposal.

George Meredith, an English novelist and poet, once said, “The true test of comedy is that it shall awaken thoughtful laughter.” Many comedic works have a combination of funny scenarios and serious life lessons. The author’s ability to perfectly balance the two and to encourage contemplative laughter gives a deeper understanding of the work as a whole. Voltaire’s famous novella, Candide, provides an example of this balance. Candide is a story that tracks the adventures of the protagonist, Candide, and the great hardships that happen in each stage of his life. Voltaire’s novella captures the abrupt changes in lifestyle, while providing the reader with comic relief. In the novella, Candide, Voltaire uses satire and impractical occasions to invoke thoughtful laughter while expressing the absurdity of the natural world.

Frances Gasparino of Rochester Institute of Technology suggests “the generative methodology offers the capability for the jokes and segments… to be analyzed against Burkean theory of comedic enlightenment. By looking to show that a means-end joke is an appropriate way in which to convey a message it would be seen that the message… would not be eclipsed by… the underlying message, to question the media and not take what is said for fact [got] across to the audience.” This tool of comedic critique can be dually entertaining as well as enlightening. The seemingly realistic script coupled with the serious expressions and tone of the actors creates the perfect milieu to reach the intellectual viewer as well as the average, blue-collar viewer; thus, increasing their total

The speaker never states with any clarity whether the memory of this story is a pleasant experience. Though the author uses “Papa” within the title as a term of affection, the speaker may well be mourning the loss of his father and venting while recalling this particular event in his past.

As I approach the end of my novel, I can see how Joseph has changed during these past weeks. Before the sarcastic attitude and is rude comments was his immediate response to anything, now I can see that is reaction to other campers comments toward him are more kinder and moral. In the past, offers of help and assistance were ignored and answered with sardonic utterances often insults. On page 133 Kevin said “Yeah, you know, stay close in case you need me need,” and Joseph rudely responded “I don't need you for anything!” “I didn't mean... I just thought” “You thought wrong. You can go up the tower. I'll follow, if I want to.” This was rude and unkind of Joseph, but on page 204 Kevin ask Joseph if he needs assistance and Joseph responded with

The story Don Quixote is a burlesque, mock epic of the romances of chivalry, in which Cervantes teaches the reader the truth by creating laughter that ridicules. Through the protagonist, he succeeds in satirizing Spain’s obsession with the noble knights as being absurdly old fashioned. The dynamics of the comedy in this story are simple, Don Quixote believes the romances he has read and strives to live them out, and it is his actions and the situations that he finds himself in during his adventures that make the reader laugh. We can define comedy as something that entertains the reader and that makes us want to laugh out loud and Cervantes succeeds in doing this through his use of

Both Edgar Allan Poe and H. L. Mencken can write reviews bursting at the seams with sarcasm and humor. These pieces of criticism speak novels about their judgment of these works that don’t “make the cut” of perceived greatness, and of the types of people who would indulge themselves with them. However, Noël Carrol does not speak about the use of humor in arts criticism, for good or for bad. If we are to use Carrol’s definition of arts criticism, then we can’t judge the effectiveness of Poe and Mencken’s use of humor in criticism, or whether it belongs at all. The question, then, is if humor has a place in the world of arts criticism, and how effective it is at conveying the critic’s judgment and evaluation of the work. As Poe and Mencken

Stories of teenage years and coming-of-age have always enrapt children, teens, and adults alike. But why do they? These groups share virtually none of the same interests, and reside in very different emotional levels of life. In every other form of media, these groups can scarcely coexist—the prospect of watching Power Rangers for the six hundredth time would make any parent blanch, and the thought of their four year old asking to borrow his parents’ copy of The Canterbury Tales is laughable. And surely no other age group would condemn themselves so deeply to internet culture than teens. Coming of age stories, however, are the exception. Nadine Gordimer beautifully explains this phenomenon in her short story “A Company of Laughing Faces”.

Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown- Donna M Goldstein

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde uses thoughtful laughter to satirize the Victorian Era. In the Victorian Era, marriage is seen as a way to improve an individual’s social standing rather than a commitment of love. Lady Bracknell interviews Jack to see if his wealth and housing will improve Gwendolen’s social standing. The Victorian Era’s high regard for wealth is satirized as Lady Bracknell’s opinion of Cecily immediately changes as she finds out Cecily is wealthy. Jack and Algernon lie about their identities in order to marry Gwendolen and Cecily.

Humor is one of the tools many advertisers utilize to make its audience comprehend, watch, and enjoy their ads. Comedy is a prime way to entertain the audience and to keep their attention instead of looking away or changing the channel or radio station. Fred K. Beard, a tenured advertising professor at Gaylord University, expressed in his book, “Researchers have found that as children get older they increasingly enjoy wordplay, and when they reach adolescence (ages 12 to 18), they like puns and irony but continue to enjoy slapstick and physical forms of humor. When people reach adulthood, puns and other forms of wordplay are among the types of humor they enjoy the most” (Beard 75). While this technique should be used for a particular audience

Many questions arise from this scenario. 1) Eighteen days without food or fresh water would have meant they all would have been dead, assuming that this ship was in salt water. 2) How did anyone know that they killed the fourth member? Unless one of those left on the raft said something it would have been easy to attribute his lack of presence due to the fact they were unable to locate him in the storm. 3) Was the crewmember that was killed injured in away that might have cause him to be the victim that was sacrificed. Did he volunteer as tribute?

This year in Funny Pages, I have learned a considerable amount about the art of Comedy. Some of the stories we read were such classics as: Twelfth Night, The Lull, Handful of Dust, and the Unrest Cure. Each of these stories are brilliant and amusing in its own ways. These stories also have a likeness in the types of humor practiced. There are several elements that seem to be repeated throughout such as: satire, characters that represent the spirit of comedy or its enemy, and

With that, a new idea of Anthropocene laughter is brought up, where laughter is now different than what is was originally known as because what used to make people laugh simply does not apply to this new age. Although one could argue that the previously mentioned play The Birds is an outdated comedy that does not have any influence today, they play perfectly follows the Theory of laughter and concepts set up by Bergson, therefore it is effective today and applies to the current epoch.

Life is absurd as a game of chess which is played by a blind man and a sighted man from the point of view of the observer to the patient. In this paper, absurdity is observed and detected in a critical point of view that covers Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Beckett's Endgame and Pinter's "The Birthday Party". Absurdity in these works is at two levels which are character's absurdity and language's absurdity.