Comedy

Comedy ; Comic Pleasure; Nature of the Comic Pleasure

Etymologically the word comedy as Aristotle suggested in the Poetics might have originated either from komas meaning, ‘revel or merrymaking “, or from komae meaning the “hamlets “where the plays were staged. Aristotle jocularly hinted that the comedians strolled from hamlet to hamlet, lack of appreciation keeping them out of the city .such facetiousness apart; the Oxford English Dictionary defines comedy as a stage play of a light and amusing character with a happy conclusion to its plot. It is associated with humorous behavior, wordplay, pleasurable feeling, release of tension, and laughter. Comic entertainment frequently exposes incongruous, ridiculous, or grotesque aspects of human nature. It generally follows a fixed pattern of theatrical surprises that leads to a sense of exhilaration in the spectator. Many definition stress the sadistic on egoistic element in human beings primarily utilizing stinging ridicule and exaggeration to criticize or condemn humankind's foibles and faults, asserting that comedies were written chiefly to amuse the audience by appealing.

Comedy gives pleasure, and is certainly a kind of pleasure which is hilarious the elements and techniques of which are diverse and differ from culture to culture, unlike that of tragedy .The question remains what the sources of such comic pleasure are .There are two principal “stimulus” theories about the source of comedy .The first paints to our satisfaction in feelings of superiority, a theory developed by Hobbes, Bergson , Meredith and others . This theory emphasizes our delight in seeing ourselves less fortunate than some human beings. We laugh when we find a man committing blunders we ourselves could easily avoid the range of topics cover the wide gamut of manners, eating, sexual desire, courtship, racial and social differences, vain presentations of self, physical shortcomings, cheating and lying etc. Hobbes says that “this passion of laugh...