The dual nature of human consciousness could not be content with the straightforwardness of the rite without reinterpreting it, finding hidden meanings in it, sometimes quite unexpected. It was from the interpretation of solemn rituals, adapted to the simple needs of commoners during rural holidays, that comedy was born.
Instructions
Step 1
Familiarize yourself with the terms "comedy", "comedy del arte", "farce", "vaudeville", "parody" using literary dictionaries and reference books, as well as the Concise Encyclopedia of Literature.
Step 2
Comedy is not an opposition to tragedy. These genres developed in parallel, although they had a common ritual nature. However, for the feast of fertility, recitation and high-flown style were clearly not suitable. And that is precisely why base (including in the meaning of "everyday") themes, rude language and heroes, which can hardly be called such, have become the invariable features of this genre. This is also indicated by Aristotle in his Poetics, speaking of tragedy. However, the second part of "Poetics", devoted to the comedy, has not survived. Read the novel by W. Eco "The Name of the Rose", in which the search for the second part of Aristotle's work is accompanied by comments and assumptions about its content.
Step 3
It is customary to associate the flowering of the classical comedy of antiquity with Aristophanes, who created such a comedy that has not lost its relevance to this day, like Lysistrata, according to the plot of which wives are denied caresses endlessly at warring husbands. Comedy in those days was extremely topical in nature, which makes it somewhat difficult to understand. The caustic satire of Aristophanes has become a role model for many generations of comedians and poets.
Step 4
In the Middle Ages, comedy, as a documented work, practically disappeared, and the comic scenes themselves were allowed to be played only during carnival or large city fairs. The same Shakespeare and Moliere, before becoming eminent playwrights, wrote improvisation plays for itinerant troupes. It was then that a sitcom was born, requiring only knowledge of the plot from the actors and being created literally on the go. Its highest flowering - the comedy del arte, a comedy of masks, demanded from the actors not only an instant reaction to what was happening, but also excellent physical preparation, as it was interspersed with sideshows and acrobatic numbers. But gradually, with the advent of stationary theaters, the comedy also moved to the big stage, although for a long time it was something of a secondary importance, almost a farce for an intermission or a vaudeville before the first act of a serious production.
Step 5
The comedy of morals (ridiculing the moral traits of the characters), has in its genealogy not only Aristophanes' attacks on Socrates in the comedy "Clouds" with a transition to personalities, but also Christian mysteries with their allegorical content, in which Good and Virtue are always opposed to ugly Evil and everything else seven deadly sins, twisted, but very recognizable. It was not forbidden to stage Christian mysteries by the church, therefore this genre happily existed even in the darkest times. No one could have imagined that, contaminated with the open-air theater, the mystery will become one of the varieties of comedy.
