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Ancient Comedy, Commedia Dell'arte, and Shakespearean Comedy
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by Celia Maddox
Educational Consultant
Norwalk, Connecticut
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Ancient Comedy
Aristophanes and Old Comedy
A survey site good for its structural elements and character types typical of Old Comedy and for its thumbnail descriptions of Aristophanes' plays. The site also includes interesting facts about Aristophane's life.
 Aristophanes and Old Comedy
Roman Comedy: Plautus and Terence
This brief overview of Roman comedy from William Harris, a professor emeritus of Middlebury College, introduces and describes the contributions of Plautus and Terence, but offers no examples from their works.
Roman Comedy: Plautus and Terence
Greek and Roman Comedy
An excellent overview of Greek and Roman comedy that introduces the major contributors in sufficient detail and summarizes the major works with useful reference to the later comedy of Shakespeare, Molière, and others.
Greek and Roman Comedy
Old Greek Comedy
While little more than a series of bulleted lists, this page offers details that longer sites overlook. Separate sections list the characteristics of satyr plays, Greek comedy, the comedy of Aristophanes, and voice, movement, character, and emotion in Greek comedy -- all very useful for imagining how Greek comedies looked and sounded.
Old Greek Comedy
Commedia Dell'arte
Characters: Commedia dell'Arte
A brief overview of commedia offers lovely illustrations of its major character types: Harlequin, Pantelone, Pulcinella, and I Dottori.
Characters: Commedia dell'Arte
Definitions: Commedia Dell'Arte
A bit more information on commedia practices and characters, but without illustrations.
Definitions: Commedia Dell'Arte
The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare
These encyclopedia-style entries, called "sessions," are from an online seminar based on The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare.
- Session 2:
An overview of codified distinctions between comedy and tragedy and the influence of these genre theories on Shakespeare's drama.
Contrasting Comedy and Tragedy
- Session 4:
A brief text illustrating Shakespearean comedy including references to some alternative critical perspectives, and puts Shakespearean comedy in the contexts of the traditions it derived from and of non-Shakespearean comedies of the period.
The Genre of Comedy
The Comedy of Shakespeare
This source briefly conceptualizes Shakespeare's vision in the comedies and romances and includes a list of "key influences" and "fundamental ideas of the Renaissance period" in order to show how Shakespeare transcended them, plus a list of notable themes and elements, with paragraphs on how they are enacted in several plays. A little schematic in presentation but informative.
The Comedy of Shakespeare
Shakespearean Comedy on Film
A well-put-together lesson plan on Shakespearean comedy uses film -- Much Ado About Nothing -- for a "Humor in Comedy" section, and Hamlet for a "Comedy in Tragedy" session, along with the PBS In Search of Shakespeare video.
Shakespearean Comedy on Film
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