Question

2. How does Shakespeare alter the romantic comedy formula in A Midsummer Night's
Dream?
5
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Answer 1

Explanation:

What is romantic comedy? How did Shakespeare alter the romantic comedy formula in a Midsummer Night's Dream?

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Glenn Hopp

Answered 3 years ago

Romantic comedy is usually contrasted with satiric comedy, at least after the well-known book Anatomy of Criticism (1957) by the scholar Northrop Frye organized many useful terms for this discussion. Frye wrote that stage comedy often has a “blocking force” that places obstacles in the path of a young man and young woman who desire to be together. If the play develops with an emphasis on this blocking force (as in ancient Greek comedy and the plays by Moliere and by Shakespeare’s contemporary Ben Jonson), what results is satiric comedy, where primarily we are asked to laugh at various foibles and flaws.