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Subject: ENGLISH Class: B.A. Part 11 Honours, Paper-111[DRAMA] Topic: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMANTIC COMEDY & THE CLASSICAL COMEDY OF MANNERS Lecture no :178

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROMANTIC COMEDY & THE CLASSICAL COMEDY OF MANNERS

Shakespeare's romantic comedy is fundamentally different from the classical comedy of manners and a realistic comedy aims at exposing and expected and social morality the comedy of humour and the comedy of manners aim at holding up to contempt and ridicule the oddities of individual or of a social institution.

Similarly, the romantic comedy aims at removing man's romantic illusions woven round the social’s concepts of love war, marriage, patriotism duty morality etc. All the varieties of comedy are satirical in tone and reformative in purpose. But a romantic comedy is essentially poetic and imaginative. It stresses a romantic treatment of themes and characters.

The setting is all imaginative. It is either unhistorical. France or the forest of Arden of Illyria not wholly unrelated to real life. So, there is strange union of fantasy and realism. The scenes are such as make a romantic of the things of life and realistic of the imaginative and improbable events and situations. Besides the wit and humour, mirth and gaiety predominate in a romantic drama.

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The humour is born of a union of intellect and emotion eradicates both the scenes and characters. Among the themes of romantic comedy or Shakespearean comedy love is more particularly love, at first sight is the main theme. It occupies a central position and provides the main dramatic interest.

As H.B Charlaton says, "It is not worthy that some of his great comedies are even more exclusively the plays of lovers and their wooers." Another important aspect of Shakespearean romantic comedy is that the heroines surpass the heroes.

Unlike his tragedy in which hests predominate in his comedy, the heroines play a leading role. So, John Ruskin Bond says, "Shakespeare has no hero but heroine." This is true of all his great comedies like, "As You Like It", "Twelfth Night", "The Merchant of Venice".

All the comedies have a galaxy of the queens of beauty, intellect, wit and wisdom. They love sharp intellect, a more penetrating wit and imagination and maturer than the heroes. It is perhaps, because Shakespeare found sensitive to intuition and responsible to emotion. Clearly, romantic comedy is more prominently a comedy of love.

Disguise or mistaken eternity is another important element in the plot construction of a romantic comedy and produces, a great deal of mirth and gaiety, fun and humour. It is now desirable to examine Twelfth Night in the light of alone discussion for the sake of example. Viola and Sebastian set out on a voyage and level unhistorical city of Illyria.

Viola, the heroine of the drama disguises herself as a boy and appear before Orsino, The Duke of Illyria for his scenes and livelihood. While serving Orsino, she falls in love with him. Orsino loves Olivia and Olivia loves Viola who is in disguise of a boy named Cesario, Orsino's love of Viola who is narrating of fancy and sentimental love. Olivia has a certain and austere temper.

But Viola has a balance of heavenly wit and sensibility. In contrast with the sentimental love of Orsino and silent love of Viola and Viola's love for Orsino is carried through mistaken identity of Viola who disguises herself as a boy Olivia also

3 mistaken Viola's brother Sebastian for Viola and marries him hastily, early love and disguise are the main themes and provides the main dramatic interest as well as the fun and gaiety in the drama. The fun and gaiety is further provides by the loose sallies of the witty Fabian and Feste, the fools and clowns in the drama. The pair of Maria and Sir Toby Belch also adds to the fun and gaiety in the drama. There is of course an unhappy world of Malvolio, where love for Olivia ends in his frustration. But it is a small episode of a subplot in the drama, and its purpose is to expose the hypocritical vice of puritanism. Puritanism may be a virtue but when it becomes a guise for concealing selfish desire, it becomes hypocrisy and a vice. There is a slight abstain in the character of Malvolio. So, Charles is of opinion that Malvolio's character is not essentially ludicrous. Thus a close analysis of the plot and theme of Twelfth Night makes it clear that it is a romantic comedy. Speaking about the theme of love in this drama, F S. Boas observes- “The relation between Twelfth Night and Two Gentle Men of Verona is of a more intimate kind for in both plays the dramatist is chiefly occupied with the same fundamental themes of love in its varied manifestation." Clearly, the treatment of the theme of love and the role of disguise provides the main romantic setting. Besides, it has an unhistorical setting and an imaginary situation. There is a happy world and love, joy, fun and gaiety throughout the drama. So, J.C Maxwell observes; " . . . Twelfth Night is justly praised as a masterpiece of stagecraft and is perhaps the most popular work of Shakespearean comedy." Although Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night clearly mimics the conventions of the Twelfth Night celebrations, with the social order of the play suspended and characters easily crossing social classes, there is no obvious reference to the holiday within the play itself. As Samuel Pepys, a member of Parliament and Administrator of the English Navy, noted in his diary upon seeing the play on the eve of Epiphany in 1663, Twelfth Night was “acted well, though it be but a silly play, and not related at all to the name or day.” While Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night makes no mention of the three magi, the baptism, or the birth of Christ, it channels the rowdiness of the holiday revelries. Feste the Fool, Sir Toby Belch, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek can all be considered versions of the Lord of Misrule, while Maria bears strong

4 resemblance to the Lady of Misrule. Feste’s song at the end of the play suggests the reintroduction of reality – once the festivities are over, the audience will face a long, bleak winter in which social norms are back in place and debauchery is frowned upon.

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By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English Women’s College Samastipur Mob: 9934917117 E mail: [email protected] Website:www.sunitasinha.com