Techniques Used In Shakespearean Comedies Essay, Research Paper

Shakespeare is known as one of the world’s greatest playwrights. He has

written tragedies, histories, and sonnets. But one of Shakespeare’s

greatest talents was writing comedies. He used many techniques when

writing a comedy and some of these seem to be consistent through out

his comedies.

One of the first techniques that should be discussed is the subject matter

of Shakespeare’s comedies. Shakespeare always uses love and marriage as

the content for his comedies. This can be seen in the comedies Much ado

about nothing, As You Like it, A Midsummer Nights Dream, and The Taming

of The Shrew, where the characters fall in love and get married.

Another technique that Shakespeare incorporates into his comedies is

the use of the lower class for comedy. Shakespeare tends to poke fun at

the lower class and make them into fools in his comedies. An example of

this is in Much Ado About Nothing, where Shakespeare has the constable

Dogberry and his foolish assistant Verges run around acting like they are

riding horses. Another example of Shakespeare’s use of the lower class

for comedy is in The Taming of The Shrew. In that comedy Shakespeare

makes Petruchio’s servants bumbling and incompetent.

The use of eavesdropping is another very important device in Shakespeare’s

comedies. This technique plays a major role in Much Ado About Nothing

where it is used to get Benedick and Beatrice together. Also it used

considerably in As You Like it.

The last technique is the one everyone knows and loves, the happy

ending. Shakespeare consistently has a happy ending in his comedies. These

happy endings usually involve the lovers finally getting together and

getting married after they have solved the problem that had been keeping

them apart. This can be seen in Much Ado About Nothing where the situation

between Claudio and Hero was cleared up and they were able to marry. Also

Benedick and Beatrice was able to marry with the help of their friends

who showed them how they truly felt about each other. Similar situations

occur in Shakespeare’s other plays. The overall result being a touching

and enjoyable ending to the comedy.

As it can be seen Shakespeare was an excellent comedic writer. He used

many techniques in his comedies and often these techniques would be

reused in other comedies. With such skill in writing these plays and

the intuitive use of these techniques it is no wonder why we treasure

Shakespeare’s comedies.