Comedy of Menace

 Thinking activity

Comedy of Menace

       This blog is written as a part of a thinking activity assigned by Yesha ma'am, department of English, MKBU on Comedy of Menace. So in this blog I will try to explain the concept of Comedy of Menace and its prevalence in 20th century English literature as well in the modern time with some examples.

What is comedy?

      Generally, Comedy means the form of literature, which ends happily. History of comedy begins with the ancient Greek Comos. Out of these grew the comedy of Aristophanes, generally in satirical tone. Menander, the so-called New comedy, which was imitated by the Latin dramatists Plautus and Terence, which resembled the so -called "Comedy of Manners" some 18 century later. The true origin of English comedy however is to be found in the mystery and miracle plays of the modern age. There are various types of comedies which have prevailed and are prevailing in literature. Lik 

• Comedy of Humours
• Comedy of Errors
• Farce
• High comedy and Low comedy
• Comedy of manners
• Comedy of menace
• Sentimental comedy

    Among all of these I am going to discuss the Comedy of Menace which has prevailed in the 20th Century in the plays of Pinter and many other writers. This term is often used to designate the works of the post modern Times.

Comedy of Menace:

       The term comedy of Menace was coined by a drama critic Irving Wardle, who borrowed it from the subtitle of Campton's play 'The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace' in reviewing Pinter's and Campton's plays in 1958. The Comedy of Menace is the body of plays written by David Campton, Nigel Dennis, N. F. Simpson, and Harold Pinter.

      The phrase 'Comedy of Menace' inspires both positive and negative feelings. The word 'Comedy of Menace Brings' contradicts our mind because comedy is something that makes people laugh and the word Menace implies something threatening or a kind of disaster. So basically the audience is made aware of some menace in the midst of its laughter. 

Comedy = Laughter

Menace = a kind of disaster or threatening

Comedy + Menace = Comedy of Menace

         By the usage of this phrase where comedy and Menace both are placed together the writer wants us to get something wrong happening or going to happen in the middle of laughter and comic scenes. This is a comedy, which also produces an overwhelming tragic effect. Throughout this type of play we are kept amused and yet throughout the play we find oursel also on the brink of terror. There is also some kind of indefinable and vague fear that keeps our nerves on an edge. We feel uneasy all the time even when we are laughing or smiling with amusement. This dual quality gives the play a unique character. The goal of such works is to generate tension around the situation or to alter the views of an audience about a particular character. By creating humour around a very dramatic or tense situation, it left the audience confused at the end, because of the range of emotions experienced. So while watching such plays it is very confusing, whether one has to laugh or not because the hidden or upcoming situation will lead to a great tension about the present as well as the future.

Characteristics of The Comedy of Menace:

        While going through the concept Comedy of Menace I have noticed some points which are basically the major characteristics of Comedy of Menace.

• In Comedy of Menace two contradictory ideas are juxtaposed, meaning it contains two opposite ideas in a single form. For example in Tragicomedy there is tragedy and comedy also. 
• So like Tragicomedy, Comedy of Menace are based on two contradictory forms of literature.
• In this category of plays, one or more characters feel that they are threatened by some obscure and threatening force, power, personality and so on. Here fear and menace becomes a source of comedy.
• In this kind of plays ironical language is used to build dramatic tension and through it writers attempt to convey certain social or political ideas to the audience.
• Themes like destiny and absurdity show the uselessness of language. Through it the playwright attempt to present the confusion and caves around and its impact on humanity more over the pain and anticipation and various social pressures.
•  It suggests that although they are funny, they are also frightening or menacing in a vague and undefined way. Even as they laugh, the audience is unsettled, ill at ease and uncomfortable.
• The menace evolves from actual violence in the play or from an underlying sense of violence throughout the play.
• It may develop from a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity. The audience may be made to feel that the security of the principal character, and even the audience’s own security, is threatened by some impending danger/fear.
• This feeling of menace establishes a strong connection between the character's predicament and the audience's personal anxieties.
• The other point that I want to add is that the audience is confused about the consequences of the situation which is apparently amusing. 

      So these are some important characteristics that one has to look at. Various post modern plays are written in this genre. Among them, the best example is Harold Pinter's 'The Birthday Party'. While looking for the characteristics of Comedy of Menace I have observed that The Birthday is at the top. So by this I personally come to the conclusion that the foremost work which can be identified as Comedy of Menace is The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. At a point one can think that The Birthday party has become the synonym of the term Comedy of Menace. For this play and his most of the plays Harold Printer is being considered as one of the most influential figures in Comedy of Menace. There are other works also which can be categorised in this category. 

• The Room (1957)
• A Slight Ache (1961)
• The Dumb Waiter (1960)
• The Caretaker (1960)
• Celebration (2000)

The Birthday Party as a Comedy of Menace 

           The Birthday Party was written in 1957 which is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter, first published in London by Encore Publishing in 1959. It is one of his best-known and most frequently performed plays.

         The Birthday Party is a comedy of menace. This is also Tragicomedy as it is a tragedy with a number of comic elements – as it is a comedy, which also produces an overwhelming tragic effect. Throughout the play we are being amused though at the same time we find ourselves at the brink of terror . There is a kind of terror and vague fear that keeps our nerves on an edge. Each and every time we feel uneasy. This happens even when we are laughing or smiling with amusement. So this kind of split quality gives this play a uniqueness. 

Let's sum up…

To conclude we can say that Comedy of Menace is such a play that presents laughter but at the same time a kind of fear and anxiety. So it remains a kind of tragedy not in a particular way but we can say disaster at the end.

I hope this blog will help you to have a better understanding of this term comedy of Menace.

Happy learning...

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