Meaning of Laughter in The Country Wife and The School for Scandal
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Wycherley and Sheridan are representative Restoration and the eighteenth-century playwrights who belong to the school of 'laughing comedy' in the sense that their plays are abundant with humor and laughter instead of tears and sentimentality. This paper aims to clarify the ways that Wycherley and Sheridan provoke the audience to hearty laughter in The Country Wife and The School for Scandal to make their plays belong to 'laughing comedy.' In The Country Wife and The School for Scandal Wycherley and Sheridan employ various devices such as a complicated plot, verbal wit, stupid characters, situational irony, and satire to excite our laughter. Among these theatrical devices their use of complicated intrigues is specifically effective to provoke delightful laughter. In these plays there are more than two intrigues which not only generate the action of the play but also generate laughter. Horner's intrigue in The Country Wife and Joseph's in The School for Scandal contribute greatly to evoke laughter. Jealous husbands, along with the subtle ironies of the famous china scene and screen scene, enrich the play with ridicules. Their satiric criticism of the age also contributes to provoke thoughtful laughter. Comically presented jealous husbands warn that excessive jealousy can be dangerous. The hypocrisy in a polished and sophisticated society as well as the scandal-making is sharply satirized within thoughtful laughter. Thus, with their faithful presentation of laughter, it is obvious that The Country Wife and The School for Scandal are good examples of what Goldsmith said "laughing comedy."
Abstract
Wycherley and Sheridan are representative Restoration and the eighteenth-century playwrights who belong to the school of 'laughing comedy' in the sense that their plays are abundant with humor and laughter instead of tears and sentimentality. This paper aims to clarify the ways that Wycherley and Sheridan provoke the audience to hearty laughter in The Country Wife and The School for Scandal to make their plays belong to 'laughing comedy.' In The Country Wife and The School for Scandal Wycherley and Sheridan employ various devices such as a complicated plot, verbal wit, stupid characters, situational irony, and satire to excite our laughter. Among these theatrical devices their use of complicated intrigues is specifically effective to provoke delightful laughter. In these plays there are more than two intrigues which not only generate the action of the play but also generate laughter. Horner's intrigue in The Country Wife and Joseph's in The School for Scandal contribute greatly to evoke laughter. Jealous husbands, along with the subtle ironies of the famous china scene and screen scene, enrich the play with ridicules. Their satiric criticism of the age also contributes to provoke thoughtful laughter. Comically presented jealous husbands warn that excessive jealousy can be dangerous. The hypocrisy in a polished and sophisticated society as well as the scandal-making is sharply satirized within thoughtful laughter. Thus, with their faithful presentation of laughter, it is obvious that The Country Wife and The School for Scandal are good examples of what Goldsmith said "laughing comedy."
참고문헌 (15)
- Billington, "A Personal Essay" (1983), New York: Longman
- Danziger, "Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan" (1978), New York: Frederick Ungar
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- Heath, "The School for Scandal" (1983)
- Knights, L. C, "Restoration Comedy: The Reality and the Myth", pp.269~282 (1981), New York: Harper & Row
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- Salgado, "English Drama: A Critical Introduction" (1980), London: Edward Arnold
- eNotes.com, "School for Scandal: Introduction", ″ e e(tes tes), eNotes.com
- Sheridan, "The School for Scandal" (1983), New York: Longman
- Wycherley, "The Country Wife. Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy", pp.3~78 (1973), New York: Norton