Tanmayee Yenumula: Class Notes (2.21.11-3.4.11)

Apocalypse Now

• Image of the stone head       > "Ozymandias"
• Even the greatest of rulers will not be remembered for what they would like to remembered for

Comedy Information
Types of Comedy

• Low Comedy: lack of seriousness; boisterous conduct; much wordplay; crude humor
• High Comedy: serious comedy; arouses thoughtful laughter; displays the follies of social matters
• Burlesque: ridiculous exaggeration and distortion (very caricature-like); serious topic treated frivolously or vice versa
• Farce: characterized by a highly improbably plot and exaggerations; slapstick elements for humor
• Lampoon: broad satirical piece with the intent of attacking a person or group
• Parody: imitation or burlesque of a serious piece of work; literary version of a caricature
• Satire: ridicule of the follies and vices of a people or time period
• Slapstick: boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes
• Travesty: reduces every subject to its lowest level
• Note that many of these various types of comedy do overlap each other

The Comedic Ladder

• Comedy of Ideas
• involve ideas such as politics, religion, sex, marriage, etc.
• use of wit and clever language to mock opponents
• subtle satirical aimed towards people and institutions such as political parties, governments, churches, war, marriage, etc.
• Comedy of Manners
• love affairs among the upper class
• witty language, clever speech, insults and "putdowns:
• Connection: Pride and Prejudice is typically considered a Comedy of Manners because its characters make full use of witty language and clever speech as a means of verbal jousting
• cliques that are exclusive with certain groups
• Farce
• plot full of coincidences, mistimings, mistaken identities
• characters are puppets of fate
• loss of identity is a common theme
• twins separated (ties in with fate)
• Low Comedy
• dirty jokes, dirty gestures, sex, elimination
• exaggeration and understatements act as extremes of humor with a focus on physical aspects
• slapsticks, pratfalls, loud noises, physical mishaps, collisions

Comedy v. Tragedy

• Irrational v. Rational
• Amoral v. Moral
• Discontinuous v. Logical
• Marriage v. Death
• Connection: Throughout my four years in English at OHS, we focused greatly on the different between a tragedy and a comedy, and we definitely notices that with Shakespearan texts, the MAIN difference between a comedy and a tragedy was marriage and death. Comedies such as Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Taming of the Shrew all feature a happy ending with a marriage.
• Reconciliation v. Punishment
• Laughter v. Catharsis

The 6 Elements Required for a Work to be Considered Humorous

1. It must appeal to the intellect rather than emotions
2. It must be mechanical
3. It must be inherently human, with the capability of reminding us of humanity
4. There must be a set of established societal norms
5. The situation and its component parts must be inconsistent with societal norms
6. It must be perceived by the observer as harmless to the participants

Comedic Technique Vocabulary
- This is just something you will have to work on. However, i'm sure you know all of these words because you have all been studying vocabulary ; )


Huck Finn is considered to be a comedy of ideas and is a piece whose motifs involve a search for identity and freedom. The book was filled with Twain's characteristic satirical style.