Penny Gay - The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeares Comedies

The Cambridge Introduction to

Shakespeares Comedies

Why did theatre audiences laugh in Shakespeares day and why do they still laugh now? What did Shakespeare do with the conventions of comedy that he inherited, so that his plays continue to amuse and move audiences? What do his comedies have to say about love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class? What place have pain, cruelty, and even death in a comedy? Why all those puns? In a survey that travels from Shakespeares earliest experiments in farce and courtly love-stories to the great romantic comedies of his middle years and the mould-breaking experiments of his last decades work, this book addresses these vital questions. Organised thematically, and covering all Shakespeares comedies from the beginning to the end of his career, it provides readers with a map of the playwrights comic styles, showing how he built on comedic conventions as he further enriched the possibilities of the genre.

PENNY GAY is Professor of English and Drama at the University of Sydney.

Cambridge Introductions to Literature

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The Cambridge Introduction to

Shakespeares Comedies

PENNY GAY

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press

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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521856683

Penny Gay 2008

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2008

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Gay, Penny, 1945

The Cambridge introduction to Shakespeares comedies / Penny Gay.

p. cm. (Cambridge introductions to literature)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-521-85668-3 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-521-67269-6 (pbk.)

1. Shakespeare, William, 15641616 Comedies. 2. English drama (Comedy) History and criticism. I. Title. III. Series.

PR2981.G39 2008

822.33 dc22 2007050651

ISBN 978-0-521-85668-3 Hardback

ISBN 978-0-521-67269-6 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information given in this work are correct at the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.

Contents

Preface

Why did audiences laugh in Shakespeares day, why do they still laugh now? What did Shakespeare do with the conventions of comedy that he inherited, so that his plays continue to amuse and move audiences? What do his comedies have to say about love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class? What place have pain, cruelty, and even death in a comedy? Why all those puns?

These questions have fascinated me for at least thirty years of my professional life. I am grateful to Sarah Stanton for the opportunity finally to explore them and to begin to map out their connections. I must also thank my colleagues at the University of Sydney, particularly the members of the Early Modern Literature and Culture group, for providing clues and answers to odd matters. Kirsten Tranter was an imaginative and thorough research assistant, and I have enjoyed many illuminating conversations with drama specialists Kate Flaherty and Margaret Rogerson.

My daughter Virginia Gay read the whole book from the double perspective of Shakespeare enthusiast and professional actress; I am profoundly grateful for her insights and her insistence on clarity. As my test reader, she kept me to the books aim: simply to help twenty-first-century readers, theatre-goers, and actors find their bearings and increase their enjoyment of plays which as Duke Theseus says need no excuse.

Quotations from Shakespeares plays are from the individual editions of the New Cambridge Shakespeare, wherever possible; other editions, where used, are indicated in the notes.