English 3700 Lecture Notes - Bedroom Farce, Fourth Wall, Phlegm
Document Summary
Marriage a la mode: every character is playing their own games: to win their mistresses and keep their wives, breaking of the fourth wall creates a lot of humor. Preface to an evening"s love: theory about comedy: based on dryden"s own practice, development of comedy: language is improved/elegant, refinement of the courtship, ideas about comedy: comedy is inferior. Taking aim at low comedy (farce, slapstick, characters who are lowborn, disgusted by popular applause (snobbish) he has descend from comedy to farce. ) Farce: just needs to be entertained, over the top, exaggerated characters. Blames the french for the bedroom farce and for moral corruption. Ideal is a balance between wit and character: comedy of wit: more about dialogue, wit is the soul of conversation. Intellectual: comedy of humor: idea of the humors (medical ideas: if the humors were imbalanced you were sick.
