The Seriousness of in Shakespeares Comedy of Errors Essay -- Shakespe

The Seriousness of The harlequinade of Errors The comedy of Errors has practically been dismissed as a mere farce, piteous of any expert attention. Yet, when the author is Shakespeare, even a farce is intumesce worth a second look. Shakespeare himself may have takent his comedic work sooner seriously, for audiences expected buffoonery of his day non only to entertain, but overly to m verbally instruct. It is not surprising, therefore, that for one of his earliest comedies, Shakespeare found a mystify in the plays of genus Plautus and Terence, which were studied in all Elizabethan Grammar Schools, praised by give instructionmasters, and critically respectable. (Muir 3) The Menaechmi was the low gear Plautus play to appear in translation, and was a popular school text (Muir 16). Amphitruo, the second Plautus play communicate The Comedy of Errors, was useable in English translation by 1562-63, and was likewise taught (Miola 22). Plautus and Terence texts served the s chools not as entertainment, but as t to each oneing tools for literary works and both oral Latin and vernacular languages. Schoolmasters even used prepared study guides to the plays in their instruction The academic approbation of Roman comedy in the reincarnation was largely a linguistic, rhetorical, and didactic enterprize commentators provided lexical and mensural information, expository paraphrase, well-formed analysis, explanatory notes, classical cross references, and the identification of rhetorical figures. (Miola 4) Richard Bernard, for example, translator of the start-off complete bilingual edition of Terence, organized from the text a accommodative list of Formulae loquendi (phrases useful for Latin conversation) and Sententiae (wise sayings) to accompany each scene (Muir 4). If no w... ...owever, indicates that Shakespeare meant The Comedy of Errors to provide more than just a good laugh. kit and boodle Cited and Consulted * Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Fifth ed. Boston Allyn and Bacon, 1987. * Epstein, Norris. The Friendly Shakespeare. unfermented York Viking, 1993. * Miola, Robert S. Shakespeare and Classical Comedy The Influence of Plautus and Terence. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1994. * Muir, Kenneth. Shakespeares Comic Sequence. Liverpool Liverpool University Press, 1979. * Riehle, Wolfgang. Shakespeare, Plautus, and the Humanist Tradition. Cambridge Brewer, 1990. * Shaheen, Naseeb. biblical References in Shakespeares Comedies. Newark University of Delaware Press, 1993. * Shakespeare, William. The riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et al. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1974. The Seriousness of in Shakespeares Comedy of Errors Essay -- ShakespeThe Seriousness of The Comedy of Errors The Comedy of Errors has often been dismissed as a mere farce, unworthy of any serious attention. Yet, when the author is Shakespeare, even a farce is well worth a second look. Shakespeare himself may have takent his comedic work quite seriously, for audiences expected comedy of his day not only to entertain, but also to morally instruct. It is not surprising, therefore, that for one of his earliest comedies, Shakespeare found a model in the plays of Plautus and Terence, which were studied in all Elizabethan Grammar Schools, praised by schoolmasters, and critically respectable. (Muir 3) The Menaechmi was the first Plautus play to appear in translation, and was a popular school text (Muir 16). Amphitruo, the second Plautus play informing The Comedy of Errors, was available in English translation by 1562-63, and was similarly taught (Miola 22). Plautus and Terence texts served the schools not as entertainment, but as teaching tools for literature and both oral Latin and vernacular languages. Schoolmasters even used prepared study guides to the plays in their instruction The academic approbation of Roman comedy in the Renaissance was largely a linguistic, rhetorical, and didactic en terprize commentators provided lexical and metrical information, expository paraphrase, grammatical analysis, explanatory notes, classical cross references, and the identification of rhetorical figures. (Miola 4) Richard Bernard, for example, translator of the first complete bilingual edition of Terence, organized from the text a helpful list of Formulae loquendi (phrases useful for Latin conversation) and Sententiae (wise sayings) to accompany each scene (Muir 4). If no w... ...owever, indicates that Shakespeare meant The Comedy of Errors to provide more than just a good laugh. Works Cited and Consulted * Brockett, Oscar G. History of the Theatre. Fifth ed. Boston Allyn and Bacon, 1987. * Epstein, Norris. The Friendly Shakespeare. New York Viking, 1993. * Miola, Robert S. Shakespeare and Classical Comedy The Influence of Plautus and Terence. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1994. * Muir, Kenneth. Shakespeares Comic Sequence. Liverpool Liverpool University Press, 1979. * Riehle, Wo lfgang. Shakespeare, Plautus, and the Humanist Tradition. Cambridge Brewer, 1990. * Shaheen, Naseeb. Biblical References in Shakespeares Comedies. Newark University of Delaware Press, 1993. * Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans, et al. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1974.