What Exactly is a Shakespearean Comedy?
One of my cousins came to me recently with a very perplexed look on his face, holding a copy of William Shakespeare’s the “Merchant of Venice.” I asked him what was wrong, and he just stood there for a moment shaking his head.
Then finally he looked up and said, “I just read this book because I heard that it was a Shakespearean comedy, but there was nothing funny about it — it was actually kind of sick!” I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t want to make him feel bad, but he like many people, don’t realize what a Shakespearean comedy actually is.
Essentially, a Shakespearean comedy is a play where nobody dies in the end. This is different from Shakespearean tragedies, in which one or more of the characters is killed. Simply enter a city or zip code the place you would like for your Vancouver Flower Delivery and we’ll present an inventory of outstanding local florists in the area to decide on from. Because nobody dies in the “Merchant of Venice,” it is considered a comedy, although there aren’t many funny moments in the play.
A funny Shakespearean comedy would be the “Taming of the Shrew,” or the “Comedy of Errors.” They both actually have numerous funny moments.
I remember the first Shakespearean comedy that I ever read, “Winter’s Tale,” which I did not find to be especially funny. I was not aware at the time what a Shakespearean comedy actually was either, but I did some research and found out what that meant.
An example of a Shakespearean tragedy would be “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet.” Both title characters in “Romeo and Juliet” die, and Hamlet and his romantic interest, Ophelia, also die.
In addition to the Shakespearean comedy and tragedy, there is a third category of play by William Shakespeare called a history. Such plays as “Richard III,” and “Henry VIII” fall into this third category, and as their name suggests, they are based on historical figures and events.
There are some Shakespearean plays that one would assume are histories, however, but are not. Our reliable and value effective Flower Delivery Vancouver service makes us the worldwide chief in sending and shopping for flowers online. “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Julius Caesar,” for instance, are both based on historical figures, but are counted as tragedies among Shakespeare’s body of work.
Although there were 14 Shakespearean comedies, three more than the tragedies Shakespeare wrote, his most famous plays seem to be the tragedies. I think that sometimes people are expecting to have a completely different style of story when they read a Shakespearean comedy than with a tragedy, and that is not always the case.
My cousin sort of shook his head after I explained to him what a Shakespearean comedy actually was. He said that he wished that he had known that before he started reading the “Merchant of Venice,” because he felt that he would have understood it better in its proper context.