Shakespeare is known as one of the world’s greatest playwrights. He has written tragedies, histories, and sonnets. But one of Shakespeare’s greatest talents was writing comedies. He used many techniques when writing a comedy and some of these seem to be consistent through out his comedies. One of the first techniques that should be discussed is the subject matter of Shakespeare’s comedies. Shakespeare always uses love and marriage as the content for his comedies.
This can be seen in the comedies Much ado about nothing, As You Like it, A Midsummer Nights Dream, and The Taming of The Shrew, where the characters fall in love and get married. Another technique that Shakespeare incorporates into his comedies is the use of the lower class for comedy. Shakespeare tends to poke fun at the lower class and make them into fools in his comedies. An example of this is in Much Ado About Nothing, where Shakespeare has the constable Dogberry and his foolish assistant Verges run around acting like they are riding horses. Another example of Shakespeare’s use of the lower class for comedy is in The Taming of The Shrew.
In that comedy Shakespeare makes Petruchio’s servants bumbling and incompetent. The use of eavesdropping is another very important device in Shakespeare’s comedies. This technique plays a major role in Much Ado About Nothing where it is used to get Benedick and Beatrice together. Also it used considerably in As You Like it. The last technique is the one everyone knows and loves, the happy ending. Shakespeare consistently has a happy ending in his comedies.
These happy endings usually involve the lovers finally getting together and getting married after they have solved the problem that had been keeping them apart This can be seen in Much Ado About Nothing where the situation between Claudio and Hero was cleared up and they were able to marry. Also Benedick and Beatrice was able to marry with the help of their friends who showed them how they truly felt about each other. Similar situations occur in Shakespeare’s other plays. The overall result being a touching and enjoyable ending to the comedy. As it can be seen Shakespeare was an excellent comedic writer. He used many techniques in his comedies and often these techniques would be reused in other comedies.
With such skill in writing these plays and the intuitive use of these techniques it is no wonder why we treasure Shakespeare’s comedies.