Mathew Arnold a poet and literary critic from the Victorian era felt that poetry should be happy, enlightening and positive. He felt this so solidly that when he could not produce poems that he felt lived up to the standard he stopped writing poems altogether. Despite the fact that Shakespeare preceded Arnold by 300 years there are several ways in which he lived up to the Victorian’s standards.
1.) He has close to 20 comedies
- He obviously had a great sense of humor and knew how to make his audience laugh
- Audiences are still laughing today. One of my favorite parts of the Shakespearean festival in Cedar City was watching my aunt throw her hands in the air as tears streamed down her face while Beatrice and Benedict exchanged witty banter.
- Being a self proclaimed writer myself I can imagine him sitting at a table writing by candle light and scribbling as fast as he could as he giggled at the prospect of the reaction his audience would have to the comedy he was writing.
2.) As stated by Rebecca in class today, in reference to Romeo and Juliet, even his more serious plays are riddles with humor.
o Another example: The exchanges between Hamlet and Polonius.
3.) Many of his sonnets are filled with proclamations of love and others with humor.
- Sonnets 146 and 130 are examples of this.
4.) The humor is timeless and applicable to all audiences
- He uses whit to appeal to the educated
o Characters who use educated or elevated language to insult each other or insult unknowing receivers of the insult.
- He uses vulgarity to appeal to the less educated audience
o Ex: Falstaff, Pistol, Touchstone, Feste, Costard, Peter, Thersites , gravediggers, Trinculo, just to name a few.
If you are still having doubts let me remind you of humorous quotes by Shakepeare:
“He who has injured thee was either stronger of weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself.”
“Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes by chance.”
“Maids want nothing but husbands, and once they have them, they want everything.”
“Tis ill the cook cook that cannot lick his own fingers.”
“I do desire we may be better strangers”.
