Humor
Humor In literature, the quality that makes a character, dialogue, or situation amusing, funny, or comic. It emphasizes the incongruous, absurd, or ludicrous aspects of life.
Humor implies a sympathetic recognition of human values and deals with the foibles and incongruities of human nature good-naturedly exhibited
Humor relies upon… Exaggeration Misunderstandings Mistaken identities 4. Juxtapositions and incongruities
5. Repetition 6. Wit and wordplay 7. Stock characters 8. Physical antics, pratfalls, etc. 9. Irony
Different Forms of Humor Parody Satire Anecdotes Caricature Farce
Parody A humorous imitation of a serious work
Satire The use of humor or ridicule to reveal the faults or weaknesses of humans and human institutions
A simple narrative with humorous elements Anecdote A simple narrative with humorous elements
Portrait in which physical or personality features are exaggerated caricature Portrait in which physical or personality features are exaggerated
Farce Genre designed to produce simple, hearty laughter – belly laughs! Involves: highly exaggerated or caricatured character types Ludicrous situations Broad verbal or physical humor Most sitcoms could be considered farce
The Humors A “humor” was a bodily fluid (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) thought to control one’s behavior.
Allegedly, a proper mixture produced a well-adjusted individual. Too much of one fluid produced a distorted personality.
The old sense of the word is seen in the phrase: “He’s in a bad humor.”
Some surviving terms… Sanguine – warm, passionate, cheerful in temperament Choleric – quick tempered (yellow bile) Phlegmatic – calm, cool, stolid (from dull to sluggishness) Bilious – bad tempered, cross, melancholy (black bile)
Comedy of humors A term sometimes applied to plays in which the characters, though somewhat individualized, obviously represent types or moods
fable A tale with animals as characters and with allegorical and satiric implications
allegory Story, poem, play, etc. in which setting, characters, actions represent abstract concepts or moral qualities (or historical figures) and a particular doctrine/thesis/moral is presented
Story of the lives of saints and martyrs Stories for the moral and spiritual edification (improvement) of Christians and the conversion of unbelievers Deal with virtues of fortitude, chastity, devotion
Courtly Love Doctrine and manner of courtship and love that evolved during the Late Middle Ages and is found foremost in French poetry of that time.
Based on stories such as the Roman de la Rose (French, 12th Century)
Courtly lover is plunged into a secret, illicit, or adulterous passion for an unattainable and pedestalized lady
Love was “the most beautiful of absolute disasters”…love is a blinding, bewildering force
The knight or man must prove himself worthy of his lady by doing noble deeds…love purifies him but may doom him to lifelong woe because the woman is unattainable
This was not the typical attitude of a man toward his wife This was not the typical attitude of a man toward his wife. The husband commanded, the wife obeyed.
Fabliau(x) Humorous tale popular in Fr. Medieval lit. Written in verse, humorous satires on human beings Often bawdy Sometimes dealt with clergy, ridiculed womanhood Might have moral but lacked serious intention of the fable