Comedy

Because tragedy was a noble form of great seriousness that appealed mainly to the educated classes, in Europe as a whole it was not as popular as comedy. Though the lower classes might not catch the nuance of every comedic speech, they could appreciate the buffoonery and slapstick humor prevalent in most productions. Renaissance comedy began with works in Latin written by Italian humanists, based largely on the classical comedies of Plautus. In these presentations, the story concluded decorously though most of the characters were ridiculed during the course of the play. In England the braggart soldier of Plautus was immortalized in Ralph Roister Doister (printed 1566, performed earlier) by Nicholas Udall (c. 1505-56). Italian comedies modeled on those of Plautus were favorites of the Este court at Ferrara, and Isabella d’Este (1474-1539) patronized the earliest vernacular comedies by Ludovico Ariosto: La cassaria (The casket play, 1508) and I suppositi (The pretenders, 1509). The Latin comedy of Terence also became influential, especially after his Andria was edited by Poliziano and translated by Machiavelli. The focus of Renaissance erudite comedy usually was a family situation, with wife pitted against husband or children against parents, and various “advisers” who served only to complicate matters and enrich the plot. This restricted story line facilitated the classical unities of time and place, as the dramatic events took place in a single location within the time span of a single day. This structural unity prevailed in erudite comedy, in which the action occurred in five acts.

The farce was a loose form of low comedic drama in medieval France, extremely popular with the common people. When Rabelais was a medical student, he may have performed in student farces, which continued throughout the Renaissance. Marguerite de Navarre wrote a farce, and there were guilds in Paris that performed farces during the 16th century. Related to the farce were the sotties (fools’ plays) written in French for carnival, or Shrovetide, performances. In Germany, the carnival plays were called Fastnachtspiele, and the latter 15 th century saw some excellent examples. During the days just prior to the fasting of Lent, Catholics were permitted to ridicule church authorities and, in general, behave outrageously. The master of these German carnival plays was Hans Sachs. He wrote more than 100 of them, full of untrustworthy priests, spying neighbors, and other characters depicted with humor and wit. Although Sachs concluded his comedies with a moral lesson, they were not antipapal, unlike the Fastnacht-spiele discussed in chapter 2.

Renaissance comedies could have vastly different types of “comedic” endings. Whereas Shakespeare’s concluded in a congenial tone, other plays purporting to be comedies had more serious endings. In Ben Jonson’s (1572-1637) Volpone of 1606, for example, one character was whipped and sent to the galleys and Volpone himself was taken away to be chained in prison. Tragicomedy, a hybrid form criticized by several literary theorists, often concluded in an unsuspected or (according to critics) inappropriate manner. Tragicomedies were, however, popular among moralistic writers who wished to demonstrate wisdom or redemption through suffering. Ultimately tragicomedy was accepted in the guise of pastoral drama, with the action somewhat removed from daily life. One of the best examples was Il pastor fido (The faithful shepherd, 1589) of Giovanni Battista Guarini (1538-1612), copied by playwrights throughout the continent.