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Courtney Head

12/9/19

Semester Exam

ENGL 601 01

Bawdy Humor in Shakespeare’s Tragedies vs. Comedies

Shakespeare is known for bawdy humor in his plays and he approaches it different ways

depending on the type of play. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, bawdy humor is address either in an

underlying manner, not at all, or so extreme it becomes comical to the readers. Most of

Shakespeare’s tragedies involve death that is so extreme and violent that it would impossible to

make a joke out of it. Shakespeare keeps this trend going through all tragedies, starting with

Titus Andronicus. In Shakespeare’s comedies however, bawdy humor becomes more

predominant and is very apparent. Many of Shakespeare’s comedies are full of bawdy humor

because many of them involving some type of extreme romance, so extreme that it becomes

comical. Shakespeare keeps the trend of putting bawdy humor in his comedies to add another

satirical element to them. In Shakespeare tragedies one could not imagine making jokes due to

the extreme death, whereas; in his comedies, even Shakespeare, couldn’t take himself seriously.

In Shakespeare tragedy, Titus Andronicus there is many references to hands and hand

imagery. Some critics may take this as Shakespeare trying to incorporate bawdy humor into his

tragedies. With the patterns from the other tragedies in would be hard to make that connection,

especially with the rape of Lavinia. Shakespeare writes, “Why dost not speak to me? Alas, A

crimson river of warm blood, like to a bubbling fountain stirred with wind” (II. vi. 21-22).

Shakespeare’s made the image of Lavinia after her rape and mutation vivid enough that using
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bawdy humor in this play would not be appropriate. The other death scene that Shakespeare uses

in Titus Andronicus, is the scene where Titus captured Chiron and Demetrius and has Lavinia

help kill them. That death scene is brutal, and Shakespeare would not be able create a comedic

scene out of it. Shakespeare writes, “so, now bring them in, for I’ll play the cook and see them

ready against their mother comes” (V. iii. 204-205). Titus Andronicus fits the definition of

“tragedy” perfectly and Shakespeare started his idea in Titus Andronicus to keep bawdy humor

out of his tragedies, because of the extreme death and violence that he wrote in his tragedies.

Titus Andronicus is not the only play that critics say may have some bawdy humor to them.

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare well know plays and it is surprisingly

considered a tragedy. This play by Shakespeare is one of the only ones that doesn’t necessary fit

into Shakespeare’s idea of extreme death and violence, but he reason the play is consider a

tragedy because of all the issue Romeo and Juliet must face and both die at the end of the play.

Even though the play is considered a tragedy, this play has one the most notorious bawdy humor

characters in Shakespeare history. Mercutio was constantly making sexual and inappropriate

jokes towards and around Romeo. Mercutio always associates love with sex, “Romeo, that she

were, O that she were, An open-arse thou a pop’rin pear” (II. i. 37-38). Most of Mercutio’s

dialogue is bawdy humor, even during his death scene he is making jokes. “Ask for me

tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world” (III. i. 94-

95). Mercutio was making puns about his death, shortly after being stabbed. The death of

Mercutio is a way for Shakespeare to keep on his trend of their not being much or any bawdy

humor in his tragedies. Shakespeare wanted Romeo and Juliet to be a tragedy but putting

Mercutio in the play help level out the extreme “romance” in the start of the play. Once

Shakespeare killed off Mercutio, it was easier for him to make Romeo and Juliet a tragedy but
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keep the elements of the extreme romance in the beginning. Romeo and Juliet were the one of

the few tragedies that Shakespeare put bawdy humor in. Shakespeare kept his trend of not

putting bawdy humor in his tragedies because he killed Mercutio off so quickly. While Romeo

and Juliet, had some bawdy humor in it. Most of Shakespeare tragedies don’t have any bawdy

humor in them at all.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth winds up killing 9 people in the play and then gets

decapitated by Macduff, sounds extreme to me. Shakespeare again wanted to keep the theme

going in his most of tragedies that there is no place for bawdy humor when there is so much

mayhem going on. Some critics have read into the scene where the English Porter comes as

possible bawdy humor. Shakespeare comments, “Faith, here’s an English tailor come hither for

stealing out of a French hose” (II. iii. 12-13). This is a stretch to make that connection when in

Macbeth, has so many killings taken place. With all the extreme death that happens in Macbeth,

Shakespeare would not be able to put bawdy humor in it. In the end of Macbeth, Macduff

beheads Macbeth and carries his head back with him. Shakespeare writes, “Hail, king for so thou

art. Behold where stands Th’ unsurper’s cursed head” (V. viii. 54-55.). Shakespeare wrote

Macbeth in such an extreme and gory manner, that if someone was to read it they would know, it

was tragedy. Shakespeare stuck with his trend of making his tragedies so extreme, that there was

no place for bawdy humor.

If one was too able to find any bawdy humor in Hamlet, they would have to dig through

all the deaths first. In all of Shakespeare’s tragedies other than Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

stays with his idea of keeping any bawdy humor out of the plays and focusing more on the

extreme deaths and violence. In Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is responsible for 7 deaths.

Unlike Macbeth, this tragedy play has more revenge and contemplation. Hamlet is trying to get
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revenge for his dead father’s death, and he goes the whole play trying to figure out to do so.

Shakespeare wrote Hamlet like Titus Andronicus where a mass death happens at the end. Hamlet

who dies in sword fight, almost gets poisoned by his stepfather, “Stay, give me drink. Hamlet,

this pearl is thine. Here’s to thy health. Give him the cup” (V.ii.265-266). Which in turn doesn’t

work because his mother drinks from the cup, which makes his stepfather drink from it. The

mass death in this play shows that Shakespeare doesn’t stray far away from the trend he set in the

beginning of his tragedies. Shakespeare’s comedies on the other hand, have bawdy humor all

over the place.

In one of a Shakespeare’s most iconic comedic play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

Shakespeare made sure to make use of bawdy humor in this play. First Shakespeare named a

character “bottom” and made sure he was painted as an ass and lazy in the play and then he has

Titania fall in with Bottom to even add more ridiculous bawdy humor to match the ridiculous

romance that takes place in this play. Shakespeare even goes as far as making jokes about STD’s

and what they do. Shakespeare writes, “Some of your French crowns have no hair all, and ten

you will play bare-faced" (I.ii.87-88). Shakespeare made this joke as a nod towards the STD

syphilis and he is making in regards toward French men. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is all

about love and sex, so much that in the last part of the play they are all caught naked right before

they run off to get married. Most of Shakespeare’s comedies involve extreme romance and

because of how extreme we today reading them, find them comical. Shakespeare keeps that

extremeness in almost all of comedies as to contrast the extreme death in tragedies. Shakespeare

uses more bawdy humor in his comedies than his tragedies to emphasize and poke fun at how

extreme he made his comedies.

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Twelfth Night is one Shakespeare most well know comedies; it is different from A

Midsummer Night’s Dream in that the romance is not so ridiculous but it still causes many

problems throughout the story. It has a classic love triangle, women dressing up as men, and

bawdy humor in it, that anybody can see it is comedy. Shakespeare wanted to match the crazy

love triangle by putting bawdy humor in it just to show how ridiculous the plot line of the story

is. Most of the bawdy humor is by the secondary characters in the story and most of it vulgar

compared to Shakespeare's other comedies. One of Shakespeare’s character, Malvolio, who is in

love with Olivia, because the main victim of the underlying humor which isn’t surprising since

he is so blinded by love. Sir Andrew jokes around with Malvolio with bawdy humor saying

things such as, “Her c’s, her u’s and her t’s. Whys that?” (II. v. 92). Bawdy humor is also greatly

used in-between the two drunks, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, which Shakespeare has them say the

bawdiest humor things. because they in themselves are laughable. Sir Toby says things like

“Excellent! It hangs like flax on distaff, and I hope to see a housewife take thee between her legs

and it spin it off” (I.iii. 90). Although, Shakespeare didn’t have extreme romance in Twelfth

Night like he did in A Midsummer Night’s Dream he was able to play on the extreme love

triangle and keep the bawdy humor jokes in this play.

One of Shakespeare’s last play he wrote by himself was the comedy The Tempest and

even with this being one of his last plays, Shakespeare made sure to use bawdy humor in this

comedy. In The Tempest the play is set on island after the ship everyone was shipwrecks. There

are many people on this island with different relationships and Shakespeare made sure to take

advantage of that, and through in bawdy humor. In this play, the bawdy humor isn’t as bad as the

other the other comedies, but Shakespeare was not going stray from his trend and not include

some bawdy humor. Gonzalo the character in this play who dreams of utopian society is
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surprisingly use some bawdy humor that may if you aren’t looking for bawdy humor it maybe

hard to find. Shakespeare writes, “though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky

as an unstanched wench” (I. i. 46-46). Shakespeare is making a comparison to the leaky boat to

unsatisfied women, which is something very extreme to place with a character like Gonzalo. By

doing so though Shakespeare is keeping the idea of the bawdy humor inside all his comedies. In

the play, Antonio and Sebastian are the two males who hearing bawdy humor from them is in not

surprising. Antonio and Sebastian both think very highly of themselves. When they are in fact,

two idiots. Shakespeare writes, “Ay, and a subtle, as most learnedly delivered” (II. i. 45).

Sebastion just referred to himself an expert in sex. Shakespeare again, is basically poking fun at

the characters he wrote.

Shakespeare wrote many plays over his lifetime and many of them and his comedies and

tragedies are just the start of them. Shakespeare started his own idea throughout his plays, leave

the tragedy to the extreme serious death and his comedies have bawdy humor in them and they

made the story more enjoyable. Shakespeare went as far as sometimes poking fun at the

characters he wrote in his plays. Shakespeare was a real rounded man. Shakespeare knew how

and when to work bawdy humor into his comedies and in his tragedies. Shakespeare wanted

poke fun at extreme relationships in his comedies and really focus on the extreme violence in

tragedies. Shakespeare was able to bring out both extreme with just some bawdy humor.
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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Translator. Alan Durband. Hauppauge:

Barron's Educational Series, 1985. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Editor. A.R. Braunmuller. New York: Penguin Random House

LLC, 2016. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Editor. Stephen Orgel. New York: Penguin Random House

LLC, 2016. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Translator. Alan Durband. Hauppauge: Barron's

Educational Series, 1985. Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. Editor. Peter Holland. New York: Penguin Random House

LLC, 2016. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Titus Andronicus. Editor. Russ McDonald. New York: Penguin Random

House LLC, 2017. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Translator. Alan Durband. Hauppauge: Barron’s

Educational Series, 1984. Print.