Theory and the Comedic Spirit
(The reincarnation of Socrates with a different purpose)
Act 1
Scene 1
On the outskirts of Athens, an old market place surrounded by derelict buildings, left so for a number of years, due to traders taking their wares nearer to the centre of Athens where greater numbers gathered to buy their daily meat, fruit, vegetables and clothing without the need to travel too far.
Outside one of the buildings, still in reasonable repair, stands a man looking up at the building and about to enter to see what its condition might be inside -
Demetrious: Good day, Socrates, what brings you to this old part of the city?
Socrates: I might ask the same question of you. Since my death I have taken to wandering the parts of the city that were once fine examples of our architecture and fully occupied with the activities that varied with traders in fine foods, fine clothing fine pottery and entertainment to help take the people from their daily chores.’
Dem. The last I heard, Socrates, was that you had taken the Hemlock having been sentenced even after you had rendered your apology.
Soc. That is true, Demetrious. While I was given the choice of a fine and later the opportunity to escape from the prison I accepted none of these. You might like to join me.
Dem. Why might that be, Socrates?
Soc. I want to look into comedy; something I hadn’t done before.
Dem. Comedy! You, Socrates, the serious questioner of accepted matters of state.
Soc. Comedy may, on the surface, appear a less than serious topic for consideration. But we might also find that the elements of comedy are nearer to the spirit of the gods than we previously thought.
Dem. We could be entering dangerous waters with that thought.
Soc. The exposition of the truth can be a dangerous pursuit. Perhaps comedy is a device in presenting the truth and by using laughter prevents us from taking it seriously. Unless we reflect upon what the comic has revealed we may not see the underlying truth. I want to draw on the past and the future to try and establish what makes us laugh, why we laugh; and how important is comedy in our lives?
Dem. A huge undertaking. You have aroused my curiosity on the matter
Soc. Apart from meeting up with those whose business is comedy I would also like to see this building renovated sufficiently to provide a forum to help delve into comedy as well as a platform for the purveyors of it. I understand that this was once the Emporium. I would like to rename it. I would like to rename it Euphorium in the light of my quest for comedy. As you may know, Demetrious,
Comic comes from our Greek word, komikos from komos meaning ’revel’;
And further, from my travels in time the French used the word ‘revele’ - ‘to rise up in rebellion’. Perhaps we might find that the comic and the purveyors of comedy are at heart rebels.
I have decided to remain here awhile to see if there are any visitations that might help in this quest for comedy.
Dem. I am beginning to see that comedy might well need some serious consideration. You spoke of visitations. In what form do you see these visitations?
If they come.
Soc. This I will leave to the gods. Not until they arrive will we know what form they will take.
Dem. I am now most interested. But, I must leave you, Socrates, as I have an important meeting at the Assembly today.
Soc. I’ll bid you farewell, Demetrious.
Dem. Farewell, Socrates, and I hope your discoveries in comedy are fruitful.
2
Scene 2
Socrates is about to enter the building when Socrates notices someone.
Soc. I see a familiar face coming this way. It’s Aristotle if I’m not mistaken.
Aristotle sees Socrates looking in his direction and as he approaches -
Soc. Aristotle, greetings. It had not occurred to me that you might be our first visitant.
Arist. Greetings to you Socrates. For some inexplicable reason I was urged to make my way here with no indication that I would be meeting up with you, Socrates.
Soc. I’m making some enquiries into the nature of the comedic spirit.
Aris. I might be of a little help as I did spend some time looking into some of the elements of comedy in my Poetics where I said that since comedy achieves its aim through laughter we must consider how laughter arises.
From speech I found that it can come about in seven ways.
Soc. Are there seven elements of speech in our exhaustive enquiry?
Aris. As far as I could go, I think, Socrates, but your keen mind might come up with others.
Soc. Or, I might not agree with all the seven you offer.
Aris. Let’s examine them first and we might then discuss the merits and demerits.
Soc. Go ahead, Aristotle, I’m sorry I jumped the gun.
Aris. Firstly, there is the homonym.
Soc. Where one word can have two or more meanings?
Aris. Correct. An example of this is ‘paying’ which can mean defraying and profitable.
Soc. And where this might be used to provide comic effect?
Aris. As you might know, Socrates, I haven’t got what you call the comedic spirit. My strength here lies in organizing knowledge, categorizing and classifying.
Soc. Granted.
Aris. If it was otherwise, I might have written comedies in the ilk of Aristophanes. Now he used a homonym in ‘The Clouds’ where he made a pun of the word ‘metre.’
Another element of comedic speech is the synonym.
Soc. Where one or more words have the same meaning?
Aris. Yes. For example, ‘cloak’, ‘wrap’, or ‘mantle’.
Soc. Have we a comic example, Aristotle?
Aris. Once more, from Aristophanes’ ‘The Frogs’, the joke, I am here and have arrived’.
Soc. And a third element in speech?
Aris. From repetition when the same word or phrase might be used continuously or arising each time out of a given situation.
Soc. Number four?
Aris. Are you rushing me Socrates?
Soc. Not at all, Aristotle. Move on with speed.
Aris. A comedic synonym, Socrates. Are you catching the comic bug?
Soc. Your bent as you have mentioned is in classification and categorizing. If we can have these in comedy as quickly as is manageable then as this thesis evolves we should have numerous examples of these elements of yours from both older and newer sources.
Aris. Granted, again, Socrates. I will be as brief as I can to help accommodate your request.
Let us move on to paranyms which is the fifth element where an outside element is attached to the standard term or by subtraction. An example of this would be, ’I’m Midas the scrounge,’ instead of ‘scrounger’, to which one can attach diminutives.
Soc. Meaning to make ridiculous or to trivialize.
Aris. And, I am sorry my two examples will involve you - ’Socratiddles’ and ‘Euripidipides’.
Soc. As my enquiry is in comedy I will have to accept that one. If in turn you can accept mine for you.
Aris. What would that be?
Soc. As you have taken time during your life endeavouring to make in totality the organization of knowledge and the classification of the various aspects of life, how about, ’Aristotalides’.
3
Aris. Socrates! You really are catching the comedy bug, and not just scratching the surface but getting well below it. If I may use a metaphor.
Soc. I like that as well, Aristotle, bugs, scratching? It seems you too are being visited by the comedic spirit!
Aris. That as it maybe. Let us move on and mention that further to this there is the alteration where a word is, in part, the same and, in part, altered.
Soc. Any examples?
Aris. Yes, ‘The worstest of all’, instead of worst. The fifth element is derived from parody when a letter or letters are changed to provide an absurdity. ‘O Clod Almighty’, instead of ‘O God’.
Soc. Only two to go now Aristotle.
Aris. Yes. Our next element to examine for possible sources of comedy is the metaphor.
Soc. An example of which you have already given.
Aris. Not necessarily the best of an example. However, the particular source is the misapplication of a metaphor being the transference of words from things similar. These might be where there is an appearance, such as power; or, some other sensible aspect. This is particularly when it provides a sense of disgust or grotesqueness. Here though, one has to be careful not to transfer from something too dissimilar but from things of the same kind or class as this would otherwise become a riddle and not a metaphor.
Soc. And, last but not least?
Aris. This element of comedy came from the manner of speaking being that of the delivery of any speech within the representation of the comedy.
Soc. What might we discover where the type of comedy depends on action?
Aris. Here there are two main elements from which comedy can arise. These I made reference to in my ‘Rhetoric’. The first where comedy might arise is from deception. Aristophanes in “The Clouds’ has Strepsiades believing that the story about the fleas is true. In addition to this the cause of laughter can arise from assimilation or making alike. This again can be divided into two.
Soc. Your elements are beginning to multiply, Aristotle.
Aris. Not strictly. Like my classification of the animal life you might see these as subspecies from the two main species.
Soc. I am with you now.
Aris. These depend on whether a likeness is being made of a worse person towards a better person.
Soc. Are, yes, I remember in Aristophanes ’Frogs’ where Xanthias is disguised as Hercules.
Aris. Yes, Socrates. And the other being where a better person is being likened to a worse one.
Soc. This time where Dionysus is disguised as Xanthias.
Aris. Once again, Socrates, a good example.
Soc. These are not the only types of action that bring about humour?
Aris. There are other actions. One of these is faults in serious poetry. Laughter can also arise from the impossible or the in the impossible and the inconsequential. This also might be called illogical. But these can be flaws if they are not being used effectively for an artistic purpose. Comedy can arise from the unexpected or from making a character base. These two are normal in comedy.
Soc. Do you see any place in comedy that involves morals or the intellect?
Aris. Yes and both these aspects in comedy can be reflected in the characters involved.
Soc. How might this arise?
Aris. The moral qualities might arise indirectly by using vulgar dancing that
involves both song and spectacle. A moral element of a character might arise from that character making a bad choice.
Soc. As we all have a choice to act for the good or act for the bad, a character might miss the most important and choose the most worthless.
Aris Exactly. You’ve not lost your facility for the use of your intellect, I see.
Soc. Speaking of intellect the use of which I used invariably to enquire into matters of this world. How might this provide for laughter in our comedy?
Aris. The intellectual quality is something that must not be overlooked and is last but not least in the application of action in comedy. The joker aims to expose the faults of the mind and body in his victims and this can be amusingas long as the fault is painless and embarrassing rather than destructive.
4
If he becomes keen to arouse laughter by being destructive he falls into the realm of buffoonery. There needs to be some restraint in these matters.
Now, to comparing the aims of tragedy and comedy now that we have looked into what makes essential comedy. There needs to be a modicum of fear in the audience with the force of any fears being reduced to expressing them through the mimesis by providing a remedy for evil through evil. In comedies there needs to be the modicum of laughter providing a beneficial effect by reducing human pomposity without excessive buffoonery and impropriety. Let us now look into the qualitative parts that make an excellent comedy.
Soc. How many more of these parts will we be looking into? Our next visitation must be nearly here.
Aris. There will be six of these. The first to be considered is the comic plot and by this I mean that it is structured around laughable events. But this requires an artistic purpose, the arousal of laughter, with the events being built around probabilities, but, as well, improbabilities and illogicalities can be used comically as we have mentioned.
Soc. And the second?
Aris. This involves the representation of comic characters that are in error in some way?
Soc. Such as?
Aris. These characters of comedy are buffoonery, the ironical and the boasters.
Soc. Does this mean an excellent comedy requires a combination of these three aspects?
Aris. No, there is a distinction. While the buffoon errs in humour and will make any joke, even against himself to please others; while the ironical man does so to please himself. Although the ironical character moves from the mean of truthfulness and the boaster in the opposite direction, they are both liars. The boaster is the more blameworthy while elements if irony can seem witty. Not every bad character is suitable, only those that are not painful and destructive.
We will now examine the representation of thought.
Soc. Ah! In this element you will have my undivided attention!
Aris. Splendid, Socrates. I thought as much.
Soc. Ah! But have you thought as much as me? And you thought with my interest in thought I would be into the element of the representation of thought?
Aris. Socrates, you are getting wittier as we proceed further and further into our examination of comedy and laughter.
Soc. This new interest of mine does seem to be catching.
Aris. In answer to your second question and ignoring the unfathomable first, of course, what else? Now, to the two parts that thought falls into and these being the expression of opinion and the establishment of proof. The five parts that are of particular value to the creator of comedy are the five means of proof that do not depend on art. These are oaths, testimonies, ordeals and laws. I’ll move quickly to how diction is used in its various forms and how it can be used for verbal comedy. Comic diction is common and popular and makes use of contemporary words rather than glossy forms of dialect. Tragedy uses the same dialect for all its characters while the comic poet must imbue his character with native idiom and use the local idiom himself. We see this in The Archarnians where the Boeotian uses his own dialect, and uses Attic in the parabasis while Epicharmus uses his local Doric in his plays.
Soc. Time, Aristotle!
Aris. The fifth and sixth parts are song and spectacle. By song we mean that it belongs to the province of music and not to proper poetry, while spectacle contributes as great a benefit to dramas both tragic and comic, both scenery and costume. So there they are the six elements that give a distinctive quality to comedy but are not all of equal importance. Plot, diction and song are observed in all comedies where instances of thought, character and spectacle are not a few.
Soc. Are we finished, Aristotle?
Aris. Not quite. Very briefly, there are four elements in the category of quality relating to the matter of quantity. These are the prologue, choral element, episode and exodus. The prologue continues until the entry of the song of the chorus, the choral element, is sung by the chorus. If the chorus is a long one the episode is the part of the comedy between the two choral songs while the exodus is the part spoken at the end of the comedy by the chorus.
Soc. Aristotle, I hear the sound of footsteps coming our way. Look, around that corner, a shadow of a face coming this way. Ah! There’s the face!
5
Aris. I haven’t quite finished yet.
Soc. Leave it for the moment, perhaps our new visitor might like to hear your last few words and might have something to say about oh!
Aris. Do you recognize him?
Scene 3
Soc. Yes, Henri Bergson, the French philosopher, of the 19th and 20th Century, or, should I say
Artist-philosopher. His presentation of his works was not always recognized by the traditionalists in philosophy, logic and reason as a proper philosophy at all. But a very popular lecturer and his works were read widely particularly among poets, writers and playwrights, among whom was the famous 20th Century playwright of comedies and other writings on serious matters.
At this moment Henri Bergson arrives to where Socrates and Aristotle are standing and looking towards him.
Soc. Greeting Professor Bergson.
Henr. - so, this is where I have been drawn to by some force greater than me or, perhaps greater than all of us?
Soc. In my day Professor Bergson ---
Henr. Please, just call me Henri and leave the formalities for elsewhere. My apologies. Greetings to you, if I’m not mistaken, Socrates and am I recognizing, Aristotle?