Comedy

3. Comedy and tragedy

Once we set aside traditional prejudices against comedy, we can compare it more equitably with tragedy. The most general similarity between the two is their focus on the incongruities in human life – the ways in which our experiences do not match our expectations. As William Hazlitt said, humans are the only animals who laugh and weep because they are the only ones who are struck by the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.

It is in their responses to life’s incongruities that comedy and tragedy differ. Both see misfortune, vice, folly, and, in general, the gap between the real and the ideal as part of the human condition. But tragedy sees these leading to downfall and death, while comedy sees them as something we can live with and even enjoy.

Comedy and tragedy also have different attitudes towards the physical side of human nature. Comedy accepts the limitations of our bodily existence and celebrates acts like eating and sex. Tragedy bemoans our physical limitations and often identifies the human being with the mind, spirit or soul. In general, comedy is more physical and active, and tragedy more intellectual and contemplative. Falstaff might deliver a monologue while gnawing on a leg of mutton: it is inconceivable that Hamlet would do so.

The idealism and dualism of tragedy carry over to its vision of society. In tragedy only a few people are important and only their lives are of interest. The main characters in tragedy, as in the epic, are heroes, typically male rulers or warriors. In comedy, by contrast, there is a greater variety of characters, women are more prominent, and central characters may come from any social class. While the language of tragedy is elevated, the language of comedy is common speech.

Tragedy usually focuses on the suffering of one elite character in an extraordinary situation; comedy involves several characters from different social classes in ordinary situations. When comedy has a central character, that person, unlike the tragic hero, is not exalted above other human beings. Tragedy emphasizes the dignity and pride of the hero, which are often based on the code of honour of a male-dominated, power-based, militarist ideology. Indeed, it is often just this ideology which gets the hero into the tragic situation. Comic characters, not bound by codes of honour, may lack dignity, but at the end of the comedy they are still alive. Indeed, they are often found attending a wedding or another life-affirming celebration.

Furthermore, because comedy values life – especially the life of the community – over honour, it emphasizes the social support we all need. In tragedy, by contrast, the hero is more of a ‘loner’. Many comic plots are based on reconciliation and peacemaking, while no tragic plots are. As Aristotle noted, in comedy enemies sometimes become friends, but in tragedy they never do.