Question

Write a short note on humour in shakespearean tragedy

Answer 1

The humor in Shakespeare’s tragedies is more important than is that in his comedies.  When the tragedy becomes unbearable, Shakespears inserts humor not only for comic relief, but also to contrast with the stark tragedy that came before and will surely follow afterward.  Here are some examples:

The drunken porter scene in Macbeth

The fool-is-smarter-than-the-king dialogue in King Lear

The Polonius in the wings speech in Hamlet

And the grave digger’s scene in Hamlet:

“Alas, poor Yorick!  I knew him, Horation; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy….  Where be your gibes now?  Your gambols?  Your songs?  Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?  Not one now, to mock your own grinning.”