Comedy in Othello

Outline
◉Introduction
◉Shakespeare’s use of comdey in
tragedy
◉Comic relief in Othello
◉Comic instances in Othello
◉Othello and Commedia Dell’arte
◉Conclusion
What is comical in
Othello?
Does it make the play
a tragicomedy ?
Introduction
 “
Othello is not really a tragedy at all,
but, in its very fabric, it employs a
series of devices that are closer to
the standard mechanisms of
comedy’’
- Peter J Smith
 Shakespeare’s Concept of Tragedy :

Tragedy is a tale of exceptional suffering. According to A.C Bradley,

Shakespearean tragedy is the story of suffering and calamity leading to the
death of hero. This suffering or death is not usual as natural death or old age
death, but it is an exceptional death leading to the death of hero. It is an
unusual death which arouses tragic feelings.
Shakespeare’s Concept of Comedy:

Shakespeare’s concept of comedy in general is a play of love, romance,

marriage, joy, delight, wit, humor, light satire and irony exposing the follies
and foibles of man good. It deals with the light on trivial occurrences of life
which are treated in such a manner that the “ludicrous” and comic element
pre-dominates
 Tragedy VS Comedy
 Egocentric nobles : heads  Ordinary people
of state or heros

 Great hall or battlefield  Homes including

bedrooms

 Protagonist makes tragic  Lives of regular people,

choice in the face of with common misfortunes
conflict

 Ends in protagonist’s  Typically ends happily

downfall and likely death
Shakespeare’s use of comdey in
tragedy
 “
“spectacular violence, with loose and
episodic plotting, and with mingling of
comedy with tragedy”
-Boris Ford
 Shakespeare’s use of comdey in
tragedy

It was shakespeare’s method to mingle the heretofore antagonistic visions of

comedy and tragedy in ways ‘‘that still seem novel and startling.’’

So eight Shakespearean plays were admitted to be both tragic and comic

namely: Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,
Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus.
 “
"the generality of our audiences
seem to be better pleased with it
[tragi-comedy] than with exact
tragedy”
- Nicholas Rowe
Shakespeare used comedy in tragedy through inserting comic passages in his
tragedies without losing the tragic aspect of the play :

 Comic passages that in effect are comic

 Comic passages that, through contrast with their tragic setting, are, in
effect, tragic or pathetic

 Comic passages that, by relieving the tension, contribute to the tragic effect
of the passages that follow
Comic relief in Othello
 Comic relief In Othello

Comic relief is a literary device used in plays and novels to introduce light
entertainment between tragic scenes. It is often used in the shape of a humorous
incident, a funny incident, a tricky remark or a laughing commentary. It is
deliberately inserted to make the audiences feel relief. In this sense, it makes the
tragedy seem less intense. Although it is often considered a diversion, it plays a
significant role in advancing the action of the play.
The character of the clown:

The first scene the clown is introduced in is act three scene one. In the
beginning of this scene, the reader can tell the clown is included to relief
tension. Right when the clown enters the scene, he starts off making fun of
the musicians saying, “Why, masters, have your instruments been in/ Naples
that they speak I’ th’ nose thus?” (III. I. 3-4). He was joking about the
similarities between flatulence and wind instruments. Thus, one can infer that
this is merely comic relief, because there is no better time to include it than
after a serious scene. In the scene prior to this one Cassio and Roderigo got
in an affray.
A few lines later, after the musicians leave, Cassio and the clown are alone.
Cassio then asks “Dost thou hear me , mine honest friend?” (III,1). The clown
replies with a pun , “No. I hear not your honest friend. I hear you.” Iago has
tricked Othello into believing that Cassio slept with Desdemona. In Othello’s
eyes, Cassio is dishonest. The clown was making a subtle humorous
reference to the fact that Othello believes Cassio to be dishonest.
Again, in the Clown's second appearance in Act III, Scene 4, something more
than "comic relief" is at work. The clown is in the company of Desdemona and
Emilia, and he perpetrates one of the tritest of Elizabethan puns, one which
Shakespeare himself used about a dozen times, namely the pun on lie.
Desdemona asks the clown which room Cassio lies in and he replies “He’s a
soldier, and for one to say a soldier lies, ’tis stabbing.” That is “He’s a soldier. If I
accused a soldier of lying, he’d stab me.” He then adds” To tell you where he
lodges is to tell you where I lie.”
Comic Instances in Othello
 “
The play ‘‘is reluctant to conform
to a tragic scheme. ’’
- Peter J
Smith
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉The play and its themes:
® Critics agree that Othello differs qualitatively from Macbeth, Lear
and Hamlet, and some trace this difference to “the play's
fundamentally comic structure”

® Ridley argues that Shakespeare uses a comic structure to achieve

tragic effect in Othello. Certainly a comic structure would help to
account for some of the factors that differentiate Othello from the
other major tragedies: the lack of sub-plot, the smaller number of
characters, and the lower social rank of those characters are all
more characteristic of comedy than of tragedy.
(Frances Teague)
 “
"comic success precedes tragic
catastrophe" in Othello
- Susan
Snyder
Critics argue that , though the play starts with Iago plotting to ruin Othello and
Desdemona’s marriage, it does not anticipate a tragedy but the reader is
rather invited to anticipate how the couple will overcome his plotting.

This might be linked to the themes of the play : Love , jealousy and
deception… while the characters might not be that ordinary , Othello ‘‘is a play
striking in its everydayness.’’ Matters such as love and jealousy are very
common and are even often associated more with comedy rather than
tragedy.

Barbara Everett
Throughout the first scenes of the play, the reader is yet to figure out
whether the play is a tragedy or a comedy , as comic elements are almost
pre-dominating these scenes.

It is only when Othello actually kills Desdemona that it is clear for the reader
that this is a tragedy.
But is it really tragic ?
In his article ‘‘ ‘A good soft pillow for that good white head’:Othello as
comedy,” Peter J smith argues that Othello (The murder of Desdemona for
Bradley) is “Rather sensual not tragic’’

He argues that the Contrast between Othello and other Shakespearean

tragedies are evidence that Shakespeare intended the comic aspect of the
play.
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉‘‘The Tragedy of Handkerchief’’

Thomas Rymer criticizes the mismatch between the trifling object

and the profound consequences of its loss and finds it unreasonable
and thus adds to the comic sense in the play :
‘‘So much ado, so much stress, so much passion and repetition about an
Handkerchief! Why was not this call’d the Tragedy of the Handkerchief?  [...]
the Handkerchief is so remote a trifle; Yet we find, it entered into our Poet’s
head, to make a Tragedy of this Trifle!’’

‘‘Rymer suggests, sarcastically, that the moral of the play ‘may be a warning
to all good Wives, that they look well to their Linnen.’ ’’

-Peter J
Smith
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉ Private Death
Most Shakespearian tragedies like Hamlet and King Lear end with deaths that
impact the nation and ‘‘each of these tragedies is steeped in the horror of an
irrevocable logic of destruction.’’ (Tragedies of state)

However, The Death of Desdemona , Othello and Emilia in Othello does not impact
the state as it leaves Venice undamaged. Their death is private. Cassio replaces
Othello taking his position and property and the state is left unharmed.
Critics argue that this end is not really tragic , as it is a fair end that
reaches ‘‘justice.’’

While Desdemona’s and Emilia’s deaths are tragic, Othello who is the one to
murder Desdemona kills himself and Iago who is the one to murder Emilia
gets his punishment and therefore the play ends with justice .

Though this is obvsiouly ,still, an unhappy end , critics back up their argument
using Samuel Beckett’s statement that ‘‘Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,
I grant you that. Yes, yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world’’
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉ Language and verbal Irony:
Irony: the expression of one's meaning by using language that
normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic
effect.

Desdemona in Act 4 scene 2 says ‘‘I cannot say ‘whore,’ It does

abhor me now I speak the word.’’
“Not only do we relish the comic irony of her pronouncing a word that she
can’t bring herself to say—she has to say it to tell us what it is she cannot
say—but, as if that were not enough, Shakespeare requires her to say the
word ‘abhor’ in the next line, the second syllable of which is homophonic with
the taboo word. Desdemona’s protestations are laughably inadequate and
her prissy self-consciousness is punctured by the playwright.’’
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉ Characters :
® Iago : ‘‘The comic impresario ’’
Iago’s capacity to manage those around him by stealth rather than
authority makes him another version of the comic dissembler .His
descriptions of his next plan of action, aired with disarming candour
to the audience, are a marked proclivity of the comic Machiavel that
Shakespeare had so brilliantly developed in his characterisation of
Richard III

(Alan Sinfield)
® Roderigo:

Roderigo is used by shakespeare as a conventional comedic element as he a

laughably foolish character .

In Act 2 scene 1 Roderigo is paying Iago to convince Desdemona that she

should love Roderigo . Iago is doing nothing to convince him ,
subsequently,Roderigo is paying Iago to do nothing . ‘‘It is amusing that
roderigo is so foolish,’’ a critic said , ‘‘It is even more amusing that Iago has
the ability to play him in the way that he does.
(The Role of Comedy in Othello)
 Comic Instances in
Othello
◉ Events:

Desdemona and Othello's marriage presents another set of comedic

elements. Since there is a vast difference in race ,age and cultural
background between them their marriage is considered a mismatch.
These mismatches were common objectives of Elizabethan comedy.
Although Othello's marriage alone is humorous, the reaction of Desdemona's
father adds to the hilarity. When Roderigo and Iago go to Desdemona's house
to tell Brabantio of her marriage with Othello, Brabantio becomes hysterical.
When he learns of his daughter's elopement with Othello it is night time. That
however does not stop him from ‘‘ranting hysterically through the streets in
his pajamas.’’

(The Role of Comedy in Othello)

Othello and Commedia Dell’arte
 Othello and Commedia
Dell’arte:
Commedia dell'arte, also known as "Italian comedy," was a
humorous theatrical presentation performed by professional actors
who traveled in troupes throughout Italy in the 16th century. Music,
dance, witty dialogue, and all kinds of trickery contributed to the
comic effects. Subsequently, the art form spread throughout Europe,
with many of its elements persisting even into the modern theater.

The actors of the commedia represented fixed social types. These

types included tipi fissi, for example, foolish old men, devious
servants, or military officers full of false bravado. 
Thirty years ago Barbara De Mendonça conclusively demonstrated the
affinities between Othello and commedia dell’arte. Not only are the motifs of
young wives and lovers, jilted older husbands and sexual scandals familiar
from this dramatic mode, but even the bases for different kinds of character
are generically determined
 Iago A “zanni” : The stock servant character with
wit , intelligence and a love for jokes

 Desdemona An “Inamorata” : The lover

 Emilia A “Servetta” : her servant

 Brabantio A version of “Pantalone” : a caricature of the

Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young wife
or an adventurous daughter.
Conclusion
 “there is in this play, some burlesque, some humour and a
ramble of comical wit.Some show and some mimicry to divert
the spectators ;but the tragical part is clearly none other than a
bloody farce,without salt or savor.”

Thomas Talfourd
Bibliography
o A. C. Partridge, M. R. Ridley: Othello, Shakespeare Quarterly, Volume 10,
Issue 1, Winter 1959, Pages 99–104

o A. Watts, Robert. “The Comic Scenes in Othello,” Shakespeare Quarterly,

Volume 19, Issue 4, 1968, Pages 349–354.

o Chaudhary, Shweta. “Othello: A comedy of characters, situation and

dialogues,” The Criterion , vol7 issue III , june 2016.

o Huntington Nason , Arthur. “Shakespeare's Use of Comedy in Tragedy.”

The Sewanee Review , 1906. Vol. 14, No. 1 pp. 28-37 .

o J.Smith,Peter. “‘A good soft pillow for that good white head’:Othello as
comedy.” Sydney Studies.
o Rogers, Stephen. ‘‘Othello: Comedy in Reverse,’’ Shakespeare Quarterly.
Oxford University Press. Vol. 24, No. 2 (1973), pp. 210-220 .

o Sinfield,Alan.“Cultural Materialism and the Politics of Dissident

Reading.” Oxford University Press, 1992.

o Stephen,James. “Rymer on Tragedy.” Critical and Miscellaneous Writings.

o Teague,Frrances. “Othello and New Comedy,” Comparative Drama , vol.20 ,

1986.
Thank You For Your Attention