Dark comedy

Five types of comedy ,These types are romantic comedy,

the comedy of humors, the comedy of manners,
sentimental comedy, and black or dark comedy.

Black comedy is a style of comedy that makes light of

subject matter that is generally considered taboo,
particularly subjects that are normally considered serious
or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as
a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort,
serious thought, and amusement for their audience ,for
example death, crime, poverty, suicide, war, violence,
discrimination, disease, and human sexuality.
The play is dark comedy . This species of comedy is so
called because of an element of cynicism and bitterness in
it . Look Back in Anger can be considered to be a dark
comedy because it deals with dark and tragic themes in a
lighthearted way. Like other dark comedies, this play
contains a large dose of cynicism mixed with various
absurd elements that are meant to cause laughter (albeit
uneasy) as well as reflection in the audience. Most of the
comedy in Look Back in Anger comes at the expense of the
play’s main character, Jimmy Porter. Osborne is often quick
to point out the irony that exists between Jimmy’s words
and actions. Jimmy is fond of criticizing, often in a tongue-
in-cheek manner, much of the behavior that he sometimes
engages in.through his bitter comments mocks at the
contemporary society, making fun of people and
institutions. We can perceive his intelligence in the witty
comments he makes.
The play's ending is an excellent example of dark humor.
After the tragic miscarriage of Alison’s baby and the loss of
her fertility, she goes back to jimmy . The dark humor used
in the opening scene makes a form of humor that regards
human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable
Look Back in Anger is autobiographical and portrays the
playwright’s relationship with his first wife, as well as the
subsequent end of their marriage. Unlike a romantic
comedy, dark comedy mixes the joys in life with the
pain….. the play isn’t light and airy, and the audience is
never deceived into believing that the marriage will end
any differently that it does and also gloomy background.

Themes : failure of marriage / anger and hatred /alienation

and loneliness.
In the play, Look Back in Anger the playwright Osborne has
analyzed a perverse marriage very accurately. Jimmy
Porter’s problem is not the vicious injustice and hypocrisy
of the social order; it is his suppressed awareness of the
insoluble psychological paradox caused by his desperate,
over-riding need to possess a woman’s complete
unquestioning love and his simultaneous constitutional
inability to get along with anyone. His bitter outbursts are
the result of his wife’s failure to rise to the standard of
devotion that he expects from her though he is aware of
the fact that complete devotion is impossible. His biting
sarcasm is in a way directed against himself in the manner
of a guilt-ridden hero, who tortures others by torturing
himself. He needs absolute devotion from his wife, but too
proud to ask for it he demands complete allegiance from
his wife who comes from the upper class against whom he
wages a battle as a socialist. He wanted Alison to
completely alienate herself from her background and
submit herself totally to the working class customs.
Jimmy’s tragedy is that he will never find this ideal and he
knows it quite well. He spends the rest of his life bathed in
self-pity, ranting impolitely about the misfortunes he
himself has created.
Characters Jimmy
Jimmy Porter, the central character of the play Look Back
in Anger, who is the tragedy hero , who dominates the
whole play, is a tall, thin young man twenty five year of age
as described by the author. In spite of being a good eater
he does not put on weight, the reason according to him is
“People like me don’t get fat…..we just burn everything
up”. He is in the habit of playing on the trumpet much to
the annoyance of others. Jimmy becomes a kind of
representative of the young people of his time.
. He is cynical about everything and seems dissatisfied
with life in general.The author has projected Jimmy as an
“angry young man”, One of the chief reason of his anger
seems to be the inequality that exists between his
working-class origin and his wife’s upper-middle-class
background. He has to follow the Same routine every time
– reading the papers. Being a university graduate, he tried
his luck at various occupations before starting the sweet-
stall, the source of his livelihood now. He is a miserable
man who always look to the past in anger ,he can’t forget
so can’t forgive. Jimmy is constantly finding fault in his
wife. He criticized her for ironing the clothes endlessly. In
spite of his criticism and fault-find, we must acknowledge
the fact that Jimmy loves his wife. In Act I we have a brief
scene when they both refer to their favorite game of bears
and squirrels. Jimmy Porter was both individual and
symbolic significant character. As an individual, he leads
the frustrated life. As a symbol he becomes a kind of
representative of the young people of his time.
Alison
She is Jimmy’s wife, tall, slim and dark. She is from the
solid upper-middle-class Establishment And they have
been married for three years. Alison is described by the
playwright as “the most elusive personality”. As a result,
she becomes the natural target of Jimmy’s verbal abuse.
He abuses her continuously to extract some meaningful
reaction from her .There is a surprising reservation about
her eyes, which are so large and deep they should make
equivocation impossible”. She married Jimmy against her
parents wishes. Perhaps her love was triggered by pity and
compassion. Perhaps she saw him as a knight in shining
armour because of some misdirected juvenile fantasy. The
way she speaks to Helena about Jimmy is full of these
implications: “Everything about him seem to burn…full of
sun. He looked so young and frail.” She rightly believes that
Jimmy married her from a sense of retaliation; by making
her suffer, she imagines that Jimmy is reacting against and
punishing the society that she represents. Her friendship
with Cliff helps her unburden herself. She is responsible for
her suffering.
Throughout the play Alison is portrayed as a tortured soul
who sometimes has increased her troubles for her lack of
insight, tact and maturity about human relationship. But
Jimmy plays an important part in her sufferings. Fate also
has major role to make her a perpetual sufferer. After their
reunion, in Cliff’s absence, Jimmy will be encouraged to
make piercing remarks and will make her life a nightmare
again as: “ in the end she accepts her role as the
dominated partner…
Cliff
A kind man of working class background, and a good friend
and roommate to both Jimmy and Alison. He lives with the
couple, and helps to keep them together. Cliff is “easy and
relaxed, almost to lethargy, with the rather sad, natural
intelligence of the self-taught.” He and Alison have an
affectionate relationship that borders on a sexual one, but
both of them are content with comfortable fondness
rather than burning passion. Cliff eventually decides to
leave to pursue his own life, rather than staying in Jimmy’s
apartment. However, Cliff cannot show the same
confidence and tenacity with his selfeducation as with his
ability to stand on his own feet, as he himself admits: “I
don’t Think I’d have the courage to live on my own again .
when Cliff makes his Decision to leave the Porters’ flat and
to try something else a bit better – another home To live,
another job to work, and a girl to look after him, for
instance. We can deduce that Cliff, like Alison, undergoes
an evolution, and takes a major step Forward to his
identity pending to be established.
Helena
Helena, who plays a role that is instrumental to reveal and
to deepen the crisis Between Jimmy and Alison, The
playwright describes her as an attractive middleclass
woman who is almost “the gracious representative of
visiting royalty” – that Is to say, she is excessively attached
to the moral and religious values and norms of Middle-
class. According to Jimmy, Helena leaves because she is
escaping from pain and Does not know what it means to
be a human-being; Helena, on the contrary, leaves because
she knows what kind of human-being she should be, and
because she gets to be “sure of her identity” at the end,
like Alison and Cliff.