Elements of a shakespearean comedy

Answer 1

A Shakespearean comedy, standing alone, is simply as it sounds - a play that's spends it's entirety on a happy note, and usually ends with a wedding. Much like today's romantic comedy's - the main couple will have a problem of sorts (mostly due to a relative). Most comedies now are based around jokes, or slapstick throughout the films or plays, whereas most Shakespearean comedies won't exactly be funny, per se, but happy. For example, most operas are written as tragedies, with the main couple either being murdered or takingn their own lives - but every now and then, you will see a comedic Opera (i.e. Don Pasquale). Throughout Don Pasquale, the characters are not making jokes; rather, it's just the way they hold themselves, the way the speak (or sing) and interact with the other characters.

There is also a lot of controversy over what exactly is a Shakespearean comedy - especially considering Hamlet. It is a very dark story, based entirely on revenge, loathing, and lost love, but everyone died. For instance, the King poisoned a drink, which was originally meant for Hamlet - but the Queen drank it by incident, therefore taking her life. As the play came to an end, every character had died. This can be taken as either a comedy or a tragedy; a comedy due to the fact that nobody survived in triumph, and a tragedy, because our hero Hamlet died with the rest of them.