Harvey | Familiar Comic Elements
In the following essay, the author discusses how Mary Chase’s Harvey recycles familiar comic elements, drawing in particular on the ideas of Northrop Frye.
For a four year old boy to have an invisible friend is nothing extraordinary. However, when the ‘‘boy’’ is a forty-seven year old alcoholic bachelor with a horrified set of relatives, comedy ensues. This simple formula is complicated when other supposedly sane characters also admit to occasionally seeing the invisible friend, a six-foot white rabbit named Harvey. By the end of the play, the question is, who is better off, the sane but anxious Myrtle May or the deluded, pleasant, gentle Elwood? A big audience success, recipient of the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, and mostly...
[The entire page is 1728 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Tell a friend about Harvey at eNotes.
