‘Laughter is always dangerous.’ In the light of this view, discuss ways in which writers use humour. In your answer, compare one drama text and one poetry text.
It is clear that humour is employed in both Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale (1478) and Samuel Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer (1773), yet the context and manifestation of this humour differs greatly between the texts. Whilst Chaucer’s Merchant’s Tale uses a mix of irony combined with sexual comedy that encourages both surprise and laughter, Goldsmith’s She Stoops not only satirises the previous form of sentimental comedy that was popular at the time, but also uses the concept of conflicting social norms to create a perhaps more awkward humour. Irony, whilst chiefly prevalent in The Merchant’s Tale, is used by both writers to yield interesting results. Earle Birney in the 20th century commented that Chaucer’s work contained ‘an irony so quiet, so delicate that many readers never notice that it is there at all’. Meanwhile, the 21st century critic Oliver Ferguson comments that ‘irony is the distinguishing quality of [Goldsmith’s] writings’ – thus it may be fruitful to compare their uses of irony in the pursuit of humour. Chaucer maintains an ironic tone about religion, and particularly the rites and sacraments thereof. After describing the marriage between May and January as being made ‘siker ynough with hoolinesse’ by the priest, suggesting that it has God’s blessing and is an example of true love, we are informed of the ‘sly and wys tretee […] by which [May] was feffed his lond’, with this being the real inspiration for the union. Comparatively in She Stoops, humorous irony is used in Goldsmith’s approaches towards materialism and possessions as opposed to marriage and love (which is explicitly mocked). For example, when Mrs Hardcastle discovers that her jewels were stolen, she repeatedly screams ‘I am ruined in earnest’ before suddenly deciding ‘we must learn resignation […] for though we lose our fortune we must not lose our patience’ – an approach incongruent with her previous sensationalist attitude to unfortunate news. What adds to the irony of this incident is that fact it contains an ironic nod towards the contemporary form of sentimental comedy, which found comedy through focussing of virtues (for example Mrs Hardcastle’s apparent resignation and humility), with Goldsmith referring to this type of comedy as ‘a species of bastard tragedy in his essay Laughing and Sentimental Comedy (1773). Thus, it would seem that Chaucer mocks and bemoans a lack of virtue and principles within the narrative, whilst Goldsmith actively ridicules virtue and principles when they appear.
Whilst there are levels of subtle, ironic, humour in the texts, both utilise forms of ‘low’ comedy in order to shock audiences and readers and through this inspire laughter. The narrator of The Merchant’s Tale is most explicit of his expectation that people may take offence at his writing, as he comments ‘ladies, I prey yow be nat wrooth’ before he explains how Damyan ‘gan pullen up his smock and in he throng’, even relating January’s commentary of how May was ‘swived’ (a particularly strong and expressive word at the time), before commenting that ‘algate in it went’ to remove all doubt from the reader’s mind – leaving them with the comically awkward situation of adultery in a tree with the husband looking on from below, which leaves Norman T. Harrington to comment that the reader, though laughing, is left with ‘no faith or loyalty in wives, no rectitude in religion, and no hope in supernatural powers’ – suggesting that the humour is indeed ‘dangerous’ as the title of this essay might suggest, ultimately giving way to great dissatisfaction and unhappiness. It is comic but also depressing when in contemplation of the purposes of marriage, January gives an eloquent description of marriage that is not solely focussed on sex, where both partners help each other ‘as a suster shall a brother’, before commenting in a monosyllabic sentence ‘that nat am I’ -instead preferring a path of ‘lecherye’. This in itself may not be too far from Middle Age reality – H. H. Kelly comments that ‘mutual love and support between spouses is notably absent’ in lists of medieval church reason for marriage. Despite coming later and in comparatively less progressive times, Goldsmith’s She Stoops contains to explicit references to intercourse, with perhaps the stage direction of ‘they seem to fondle’ (referring to Tony and Miss Neville) being the closest one gets. This may be explained by the constant fight Goldsmith fought against censorship of ‘low’ comedy. His previous play, The Good Natur’d Man contained a scene of low, or bawdy, humour that was hissed at so much on its opening night that it had to be cut thereafter. Despite this, interactions between Marlowe and Kate contain ‘low’ or bawdy references that are only thinly veiled. For example, Marlowe’s demand that Kate show him some of her ‘embroidery’, before demanding that they become ‘acquainted’ (a euphemism for the beginning of sexual relations), also commenting on her ‘bosoms’ in a later, stutter-laden encounter. Dr Johnson, a contemporary to Goldsmith, commented on the play’s ability to ‘so much exhilarate an audience’. Thus, we see again the different use of the same type of humour in both The Merchant’s Tale and She Stoops to Conquer: bawdy and low humour in Chaucer is used to obliterate optimism and hope, whilst the low humour within Goldsmith’s text is used to excite an audience with the possibility of something more (continues....)
