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Plato

Plato. Comedy offers malicious enjoyment through the spectacle of those deficient in self-knowledge ( agnoia, Philebus 48c) and the ridiculous consequences which follow from exaggerated self-esteem.

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Plato

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  1. Plato • Comedy offers malicious enjoyment through the spectacle of those deficient in self-knowledge (agnoia, Philebus 48c) and the ridiculous consequences which follow from exaggerated self-esteem. • The “ridiculous” is the bad state of a mind that does not “know itself” (the lesson of the Oracle of Delphi)

  2. Theory of Comedy Tragedy is about the break-up of civilization. Comedy is about the establishment of social harmony. Both are dramatic terms of art: thus “tragedy” is not the same as “horrible” and comedies can be bittersweet as well as funny. Drama is not life, but ritual: thus Shakespeare ends comedies in weddings as a sign, not a proof, of social stability: 3 weddings in MSND; 2 in Much Ado (What happens after, who knows? Cf. the marital problems of Oberon and Titania: but you need hope.)

  3. Comedy • Impossible to define • Definite kinds, low to high • Reformation of a (ridiculous) character • Holiday spirit • Ritual element (marriage) • Comic diction

  4. Elements of Comedy • Sense of moral uplift for vile humans • “Montage” of death • Dinner party as image of social communion • Outsider/scapegoat to remove evil • Hint of heaven • Rebirth after death • Music and harmony • Message: be kind to others

  5. Comedy: For you to think about. • What elements of comedy do you find in Much Ado About Nothing that makes it “serious” art? • Does Branagh leave any out? • Does he add any? • Hint: Why does Hero seem to die and then come back to life?

  6. Endings • Where film must start strongly, it is arguable that drama must end strongly. • What is the effect of the whirling camera at the end of Branagh’s Much Ado? • Perhaps this uplifting harmony is the comedic version of Aristotle’s emphasis on the effect of drama on the audience.

  7. Music in Much Ado, to reinforce sense of social harmony • Benedick asks Claudio “In what key shall a man take you to go in the song?” • Beatrice reacting to Hero’s impending marriage: “the fault will be in time to the music: wooing, wedding, and repenting” (2.1.73) • Balthasar’s song is part of Don Pedro’s plot (2.3) • Beatrice, appearing in love in 3.4, says she is “out of tune” • Benedick calls for a dance to end the play.

  8. “Nothing/Nothing” as the Ridiculous? • This is a play about “nothing,” scrutinizing for little signs of truth, relying on fallible eyes, as when Beatrice and Benedick ignore the other’s words and look for signs that the other loves them. • While B and B are examining minutia, Claudio is deceived by the overly obvious impersonation of Hero by Margaret. He is not at all interested in the signs of love but in marrying an heiress with the sought after qualities of beauty and meekness (neither one said to belong to Beatrice, whose name, rather, suggests beatitude, or cosmic happiness, while Benedick means “blessed”)

  9. pun on “nothing” 2.3.48 BALTHASAR Because you talk of wooing, I will sing; Since many a wooer doth commence his suit To her he thinks not worthy, yet he woos, Yet will he swear he loves. DON PEDRO Now, pray thee, come; Or, if thou wilt hold longer argument, Do it in notes. BALTHASAR Note this before my notes; There's not a note of mine that's worth the noting. DON PEDRO Why, these are very crotchets that he speaks; Note, notes, forsooth, and nothing.

  10. Sigh no more … men were deceivers ever • Sung just before men deceive Benedick • Balthasar says the song is about how men deceive women by wooing falsely. • But Don Pedro wants the music (Note, notes) and “nothing” of that meaning but rather, here, a set-up for the “nothing = noting” by Benedick of their feigned conversation about how Beatrice loves him. • So the play harmonizes or softens male deception by turning it from a slander to a merry plot, re-enacting origins of comedy as a form.

  11. Film v. Drama • Film stresses opening; drama depends on how the captive audience leaves the theater: stunned in tragedy, uplifted by comedy. • Film is static: the interpretation never changes, no matter how many times we see the film; but drama can change every night, as an actor gives different emphasis. Even on the same night, the same play may seem different, depending on the angle and distance of the spectator.

  12. Much Ado About Nothing • Why does the play have a double plot? • To suggest contrast between physical attraction and intellectual compatibility • After all I have said about spectacle, what argument can you make for reading the play? • thinking about “Beatrice” as a name meaning beatitude, for example, which reminds us of heaven, harmony, uplift, role of comedy. • Don Pedro especially is very thoughtful, a master of ceremonies, a user of heightened language that we need to ponder over at leisure; see 5.3.24-28, as he announces the new dawn, new day, after mourning ritual for “dead” Hero

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