He Is Not Funny


So how do we make a thesis statement?

To make a kick ass thesis statement, answer the question asked by the teacher. No is an answer. So if the teacher asks "How does Shakespeare develop a humorous situation in Twelfth Night?" The answer can be "He does not." If the teacher asks "How does he use humor to make his point?" The answer once again is "He does not."

Unfortunately just saying "he doesn't" is not going to make a good or strong thesis statement. So the anti-Shakespeare writer must lure the teacher with a disarming thesis statement. For example: Shakespeare's humor in Twelfth Night depends on the reader's knowledge of footnotes, for understanding the puns, the social mores, and the motivations of the characters. Without this knowledge of footnotes Shakespeare's humor and the play fall flat. The essay just writes itself, because Shakespeare is such a smelly piece of effluent.

Supporting evidence

Puns

To write a strong essay requires evidence from the source. I am not going to find the puns that don't make sense. They are easy to find. Use the footnotes in a copy of the play. The English language is a growing and developing language. Shakespeare's puns depend on the audience understanding the usage of the day. The best example is "get thee to a nunnery" from Hamlet. If the reader doesn't know that "Nunnery" was slang for "brothel" then the joke doesn't work. Look through Twelfth Night and find these puns that don't work today. To make it a stronger argument contrast Shakespeare with Moliere's "The Miser." Note that Moliere is translated into modern English and is still funny.

Social Mores

Twelfth Night like all Shakespeare plays depend on the reader/viewer knowing the social customs of the day. The Duke Orsino is introduced sighing for a woman he loves that has vowed abstinence for seven years while she mourns the death of her brother. WHAT!! This opening does show the stupidity of Romeo and Juliet. This sighing for a love or mourning for seven years would have saved lives at the end of Romeo and Juliet. If Romeo had just waited a few minutes or had just shaken Juliet then he would have learned that she wasn't dead. If he had declared his love and made some vow of eternal mourning, then she would have woken up. Romeo and Juliet spend a lot of time during the play talking without doing anything. Yet at the end of the play they suddenly become action figures. Shouldn't Romeo have made one of those long boring Shakespeare speeches, so Juliet would wake up just to shut him up.

In Shakespeare's comedies there is a heavy dose of courtly manners. He makes a good argument for ignoring and eliminating these customs. They get in the way of doing things. They get in the way of love. Shakespeare's characters spend a lot of time worrying about what will happen to social status, or what society will think or what will happen to their name. If a person gives everything for a love then who cares about anything or anyone else. Many times the modern American finds the social mores of Shakespeare's day silly not funny. That could be part of a thesis statement, "Shakespeare is silly not funny."

Motivation

Why are they doing all this stuff? It is like bad soap operas. If people would just tell each other what they feel and what they think the problems would be solved. Occassionally Shakespeare draws a strong intelligent woman. Yet she chases some spineless twit. Unless this is some bizarre introduction to Macbeth, it is hard to understand why good women chase twits. It might be that Shakespeare really doesn't know how to draw a good man and a good woman in the same play. Being English it may be that Shakespeare never saw a good man.


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