Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Comedy: Some Background

An excellent introduction to early modern stage comedy, including an overview of the traditions on which it draws, can be found in Richard Dutton and Jean Howard's A Companion to Shakespeare's Works: The Comedies. The book is the third volume in a series published by Blackwell, and it is available in Frost (PR2976 .C572 2003). Here is a link to the book's table of contents.

1 comment:

the Fool said...

The last essay (Penny Gay) has an interesting point about the multiple doubles of Twelfth Night: two clowns, two sea captains, and even two "ladies of the house" in addition to the actual twins.

I think her conclusion is a little misleading, though: Malvolio's departure does deny the play closure, but does it really subvert "golden time" in favor of whatever time Malvolio chooses? I think not: rather than being a deciding figure, 12th Night's Malvolio is systematically stripped of agency; he hasn't escaped the "whirligig" of time, and in fact the festive atmosphere seems to have destroyed him.

Then again - in time's whirligig, we might find that there IS no "golden time" - in the Clown's final song, it seems like the only consistent thing is the ever-recurring dreary rain.