Page 86 - The Language of Humour

Unit six
Written texts—literature

The term ‘literature’ covers such a wide spectrum of genres and styles
that it is not possible to do more than indicate approaches to humour in
this area. It is useful to think of three main divisions: drama, prose and
poetry. Under each heading some issues are discussed to guide your
own selection of texts for analysis. The text provides one example of the
way that the framework suggested in this book can be applied to
literature. The activity section then hands over to you to select genres
and texts for further investigation.

Drama
In drama the term comedy is often used to characterise a particular sort
of play, as distinct from tragedy. In broad terms a comedy ends in
marriage, a tragedy ends in death. The notion of human relationships
and sex as the necessary ingredient of comedy may not seem as obvious
as death being a necessary part of tragedy—there are more romantic
views perhaps! The comedies of Shakespeare certainly end in multiple
marriages, the plot involving confusion and setbacks to the—usually—
young lovers. The obstacles are often put in their way by the older
generation, or the prevailing social conditions that dictate who is a
suitable mate. This overall structure also characterises the comedy
dramas of Oscar Wilde. Plays termed ‘farces’ involve little more
than sexual romps, with less subtlety of characterisation or plot.
Leaving aside such broad comments on the structure of a comedy,
close language analysis will need to focus on particular instances of
humour within the drama. Humorous interludes in the tragedies and
historical plays of Shakespeare introduce characters designated as
comic, for example the fool in King Lear. The comic characters are
often drawn from working classes—Shakespeare uses a range of
regional dialects, though this may be less noticeable to a modern