Jul 25, 2008

Richard III | Dark Comedy in Richard III

William E. Sheriff discusses various purposes for Shakespeare’s use of comedy in Richard III and examines the title character’s wittiness and use of dramatic irony and inversion. In the second essay, John W. Blanpied asserts that Richard himself, behaving like an actor or clown, is responsible for the comedy in the play.

A number of critics have examined the types of comedy present in Richard III and have speculated about why so much of it exists in what is otherwise a grim play. William E. Sheriff points out that although there are no scenes that contain "outright comedy," there are many which become comedic as the result of dramatic irony. (Dramatic irony occurs when the audience understands the real significance of a character's words or actions but the character or those around him or her do not.) Thus Richard's commiseration with Clarence as he is being led to prison in Act I, scene i, becomes...