Characteristics of Comedy and its Types

Definition of Comedy
The word ‘Comedy’ has been derived the French word comdie, which in turn is taken from the
Greeco-Latin word Comedia. The word comedia is made of two words komos, which
means revel and aeidein means to sing.
According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, comedy means a branch of drama, which
deals with everyday life and humourous events. It also means a play of light and amusing type of
theatre. Comedy may be defined as a play with a happy ending. Renee M. Deacon defines
comedy as “Comedy, considered in its essence, represents the forces of life as opposite to the
forces of death, the latter, in a greater or less degree, forming the subject of tragedy.”

Function of Comedy
Though, there are many functions of comedy, yet the most important and visible function of
comedy is to provide entertainment to the readers. The reader is forced to laugh at the follies of
various characters in the comedy. Thus, he feels jubilant and forgets the humdrum life. George
Meredith, in his Idea of Comedy, is of the view that comedy appeals to the intelligence
unadulterated and unassuming, and targets our heads. In other words, comedy is an artificial play
and its main function is to focus attention on what ails the world. Comedy is critical, but in its
scourge of folly and vice. There is no contempt or anger in a comedy. He is also of the view that
the laughter of a comedy is impersonal, polite and very near to a smile. Comedy exposes and
ridicules stupidity and immorality, but without the wrath of the reformer.

“A tragedy is a tragedy, and at the bottom, all tragedies are stupid. Give me a choice and I'll
take A Midsummer Night's Dream over Hamlet every time. Any fool with steady hands and a
working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down, but it takes a genius to
make people laugh.”
— Stephen King
Kinds of Comedy
There are two kinds of comedy, Romantic Comedy and Classical Comedy

Classical Comedy
Classical comedy is a kind of comedy, wherein the author follows the classical rules of ancient
Greek and Roman writers. It is modeled upon the classical comedies like Platus Terence and
Aristophanes. The most important classical rules are:
• The Three Unities of Time, Place and Time
• Separation of comic and tragic elements i.e., comedy is comedy and tragedy is tragedy
having no other element from each other. There is no mingling of comic and tragic elements
in a classical comedy.
 • The aim of classical comedy is satiric in nature. It does not only aim at providing
entertainment, rather, it aims at correcting the society.
Romantic Comedy
Romantic comedy is a type of comedy, wherein the playwright doesn’t follow the classical
conventions of comedy. The writer is mostly concerned with his plight of imagination and writes
what he thinks. There is mingling of comic and tragic elements unlike classical comedy, wherein
only comic elements are included in a comedy. The three unities are thrown into the wind. Its
aim is not didactic or morality. Its main function is to provide entertainment to the readers.
Comedies of Shakespeare are romantic in nature.

Comedy of Humours
Comedy of humours is a special type of comedy, wherein the author dwells upon a certain trait
of a character. Humour means a specific trait of a character, e.g., avarice, pride etc. The ancients
believed that human body was made of four elements i.e., air, fire, water and earth. The
increased quantity of any of these elements is called humour. It was supposed that every element
stands for a certain trait of human character e.g., fire stands for ill-tempered nature, water stands
for cold temperament, earth signifies down to earth nature, while air implies a lofty or showy
temperament of human being. The comedy of humours satirizes the idiocies and idiosyncrasies,
the flaws and evils of contemporary society, and his satire is generally abrasive and fierce. For
example, Ben Johnson’s comedy Volpone is written upon avarice.

Comedy of Manners
Comedy of manners is a play, which deals with the elite class of the society and their manners. It
is satirical in nature like the comedy of humours. Its main purpose is to bring about reforms in
the society of his age. Such plays were popular in the Age of Restoration. Sheridan’s The
Rivals and the plays of Congreve and Oliver Goldsmith are examples in this regard.

Comedy of Errors
It is a comedy, wherein the author dwells upon errors on the part of characters. Every character is
not aware of what is going on. Mostly, the error occurred due to mistaken identity and other
means. It was imported from Rome. In the Roman age, such plays were written by Terrence.
Comedy of Errors deals with sea-sorrow, separation of twins and mistaken identity. At the end of
the play, the mystery is completely resolved and every one comes to know about the real
situation. For example, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a perfect example in this regard. It deals
with mistaken identity.

Sentimental Comedy
It is a special kind of comedy, wherein the author focuses on sentimental and emotional traits of
characters. It is pertinent to mention here that this type of comedy came into being as a reaction
to the 18th century Comedy of Manners. Such comedies were composed by Richard Steele, Hugh
Kelley etc. But later on, the sentimental comedy went into background and the comedy of
manners revived again.

Quinn Mattfeld (left) as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Aaron Galligan-Stierle as Feste, and Roderick
Peeples as Sir Toby Belch in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2014 production of Twelfth Night.
Utah Shakespeare Festival 2014. | Source

Comedy of Intrigues
It is a form of comedy, wherein the main focus is on the intrigues and so on plot rather than
characters. It was imported from Spain as it was extremely famous over there. The comedy of
intrigues got popularity in the age of Dryden.

Masque
It is a form of comedy, wherein the actors wear masks. It was imported to England from Italy
and became popular in the Elizabethan age. Many writers have tried their hands on Masque, but
Milton was more successful in dealing with Masque. His masque, Comus, is a perfect example in
this regard.
Farce
It is a form of comedy, wherein the author concentrates on producing laughter. In such type of
comedy, we can observe the use of episodes of low comedy. In Farce, a one-dimensional
character is put into ludicrous situation to evoke maximum laughter. An example of Farce is
Fielding’s The Author’s Farce.