19 résultats pour "comedy"
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Comedy
Socrates suffered in the comedy of Aristophanes. Throughout history, opposition to comedy and laughter has been strongest in societies which emphasize physical restraint, decorum and conformity. Many medieval monastic orders had statutes forbidding laughter. The Puritan and Victorian eras saw many condemnations of comedy and laughter. The more authoritarian the regime, the greater its suppression of comedy. Hitler even set up ‘joke courts' to punish those who made fun of his regime - one Berl...
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Comedy
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INTRODUCTION
Laurel and Hardy
Stan Laurel, in overalls, and Oliver Hardy, left, formed one of the most popular comedy teams in motion-picture history.
The elements and techniques of comedy are diverse and differ from culture to culture. More than tragedy or serious drama, comic entertainment is controlled by socialconventions that define the boundaries of acceptable humor and topics that are taboo or off-limits for humor. What is considered funny in one place and time may beforbidden culturally or viewed as infantile or in poor taste in another. Virtually every component of human behavior is subject to comic treatment. This includes bodilyfunc...
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Excerpt from The Comedy of Errors - anthology.
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE. Ay, sir, and wherefore; for they say every why hath a wherefore. ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE. Why first: for flouting me; and then wherefore:For urging it the second time to me. DROMIO OF SYRACUSE. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of season,When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme nor reason?Well, sir, I thank you. ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE. Thank me, sir, for what? DROMIO OF SYRACUSE. Marry, sir, for this something that you gave me for nothing. ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRA...
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Musical
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INTRODUCTION
George Gershwin
American pianist, songwriter, and composer George Gershwin was one of the most important figures in popular song in
the 1920s and 1930s.
C Extravaganzas Another predecessor of musical comedy, the extravaganza, evolved soon after the American Civil War (1861-1865) from traditional English pantomime. Extravaganzaswere typically based on fairy tales and Mother Goose. They introduced some of the elements—songs, dances, and comedy combined with spectacular stage sets andeffects—that American musical comedy later became known for. The first and most famous extravaganza show was The Black Crook (1866), often described as America’s fi...
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Dante Alighieri
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INTRODUCTION
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italian poet, and one of the supreme figures of world literature, who was admired for the depth of his spiritual vision and for the range of
his intellectual accomplishment.
Dante AlighieriOne of the greatest poets in the history of world literature, Italian writer Dante Alighieri composed poetry influenced byclassical and Christian tradition. Dante’s greatest work was the epic poem La divina commedia (1321?; The DivineComedy, 1802). It includes three sections: the Inferno (Hell), in which the great classical poet Virgil leads Dante on a tripthrough hell; the Purgatorio (Purgatory), in which Virgil leads Dante up the mountain of purification; and the Paradiso(Paradi...
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William Shakespeare
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INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists.
Shakespeare’s reputation today is, however, based primarily on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin toappear in 1594, when the theaters reopened with the passing of the plague that had closed them for 21 months. In December of 1594 his play The Comedy of Errors was performed in London during the Christmas revels at Gray’s Inn, one of the London law schools. In March of the following year he received payment for two playsthat had been per...
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William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s reputation today is, however, based primarily on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin toappear in 1594, when the theaters reopened with the passing of the plague that had closed them for 21 months. In December of 1594 his play The Comedy of Errors was performed in London during the Christmas revels at Gray’s Inn, one of the London law schools. In March of the following year he received payment for two playsthat had been per...
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Dante Alighieri.
illustrate the larger meaning of their actions in the universal scheme. Dante is guided through hell and purgatory by Virgil, who is, to Dante, the symbol of reason. Thewoman Dante loved, Beatrice, whom he regards as both a manifestation and an instrument of the divine will, is his guide through paradise. Each section contains 33 cantos, except for the first section, which has, in addition, a canto serving as a general introduction. The poem is written in terza rima (third rhyme), a three-line...
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Italian Literature
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INTRODUCTION
Italian Literature, literature written in the Italian language from about the 13th century to the present.
Dante’s Inferno and PurgatoryThis illustration comes from a late Gothic edition of The Divine Comedy by the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Lucifer,the devil, is at the center of Earth, and the mouth of hell, the inferno, opens below him. At the opposite pole is a mountainleading to purgatory. The manuscript is in the National Library in Florence, Italy.Scala/Art Resource, NY Dante is one of the great figures of world literature. He is remarkable for the loftiness of his thought, the vividne...
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English Literature
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INTRODUCTION
English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present.
evident. That feature is typical of other Old English literature, for almost all of what survives was preserved by monastic copyists. Most of it was actually composed byreligious writers after the early conversion of the people from their faith in the older Germanic divinities. Sacred legend and story were reduced to verse in poems resembling Beowulf in form. At first such verse was rendered in the somewhat simple, stark style of the poems of Caedmon, a humble man of the late 7th century who w...
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American Literature: Drama
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INTRODUCTION
American Literature: Drama, literature intended for performance, written by Americans in the English language.
American plays, while still a minority, began to appear in the theater repertory in the 19th century. Although American plays were still styled after British models, theirsubject matter came to be based on specifically American incidents or themes. In the United States as in Britain, many plays reflected the influence of romanticism , a European literary and artistic movement. Melodrama, with its outpourings of emotion, was the most prevalent dramatic form in the 19th century. Gothic melodramas...
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Theater
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INTRODUCTION
The Art of Theater
BBC Worldwide Americas, Inc.
Theater at EpidaurusAncient Greek dramas were performed in open-air theaters like this one in Epidaurus, Greece, which was designed byPolyclitus the Younger in 350 bc. A festival of ancient Greek drama is still held in the summer in this 14,000-seat theater.Roger Wood/Corbis Fundamental to the theater experience is the act of seeing and being seen; in fact, the word theater comes from the Greek word theatron , meaning 'seeing place.' Throughout the history of world cultures, actors have used...
- Dante Alighieri - Biography.
- Woody Allen Woody Allen, born in 1935, American motion-picture director, actor, and writer, many of whose films are humorous depictions of neurotic characters preoccupied with love and death.
- Woody Allen.
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William Shakespeare
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INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare
English playwright and poet William Shakespeare, who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s, is regarded as the greatest
dramatist in the history of English literature.
Avon, Warwickshire, a prosperous town in the English Midlands. Based on this record and on the fact that children in Shakespeare’s time were usually baptized two orthree days after birth, April 23 has traditionally been accepted as his date of birth. The third of eight children, William Shakespeare was the eldest son of John Shakespeare, a locally prominent glovemaker and wool merchant, and Mary Arden, thedaughter of a well-to-do landowner in the nearby village of Wilmcote. The young Shakespeare...
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Excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream - anthology.
BOTTOM: Well, proceed. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, the tailor? STARVELING: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: Robin Starveling, you must play Thisbe’s mother. Tom Snout, the tinker? SNOUT: Here, Peter Quince. QUINCE: You, Pyramus’ father; myself, Thisbe’s father; Snug, the joiner, you the lion’s part; and I hope here is a play fitted. SNUG: Have you the lion’s part written? Pray you, if it be, give it me; for I am slow of study. QUINCE: You may do it extempore; for it is nothing but roaring. BOTTOM: Let...
- Painful case
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Englische Literatur (Sprache & Litteratur).
Haus der Fama) und The Parlement of Foules (Das Parlament der Vögel) ist der Einfluss französischer Autoren deutlich spürbar. Chaucer diente zahlreichen Autoren des 15. Jahrhunderts in England und Schottland als Vorbild, und wirkte auf zahlreiche Künstler der Folgezeit, namentlich auf William Caxton, John Lydgate, Robert Henryson,William Dunbar und Sir David Lyndsay. In der Nachfolge Chaucers steht auch Sir Thomas Malory, der seinerseits mit Le morte Darthur (um 1460 bis 1470, Der Tod Arth...