Comedy and Christianity: A Comparison.

摘要

The number of theories of comedy have been growing at a rapid pace, but the old question, 'What is comedy,' remains largely unanswered. Chapter one presents a view of comedy which is based on Edmund Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. The central observation in the model is that if the reader or playgoer is left with the sense that the hero in a drama overcomes the outrages and misfortunes of life and is not overcome by them, then the drama is a comedy. Three elements are extracted from the model and developed in subsequent chapters as the foundation of the similarity between comedy and Christianity. Chapter two presents the first of these elements, which is that the central figure in the drama--the hero--is aware of his identity. The comic hero confronts the limits that life imposes on him, and finds a way to overcome those limits. Chapter three investigates the joke that heals as opposed to the joke that destroys. Comedy, like Christianity, moves toward the former. It is the function of comedy to create a healing atmosphere. Chapter four examines how comedy, like Christianity, moves toward overcoming the void of death. Comedy faces that void, and through the 'narrow escape into faith,' overcomes it. (Author)