English 1022E Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Northrop Frye, A Modest Proposal

• School: Western University
• Department: English
• Course: English 1022E
• Professor: David Bentley

Document Summary

Tragedy: all tragedies end with a death order to chaos. Comedy: all comedies end with a marriage/happy ending chaos to order: condescend: literally means to look down on. Much more difficult to get a handle on than tragedy. According to bentley, no one has ever nailed humour. Leaf theory of comedy: we laugh because we are in some sort of relief: relief from tension, insecurities, when people laugh in inappropriate situations relief from tension. That"s just the way that emotion happens to release itself sometimes: incongruity, slapstick comedy (superiority) we laugh when people hurt themselves and we feel physically & mentally superior to them. Social theory: we laugh to feel closer to people. You have to tell a joke suited to you and your personality that you present to people. It depends on who you tell the joke to telling a feminist joke in a women"s studies class would not provoke a response.