Some comedies feature a protagonist strongly reminiscent of the archetypal hero as described by Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and Paul Radin. Thus various principles taken from their writings coalesce into a model which helps to elucidate characterization, plot, and theme within such comedies. / In those plays which conform to the model, character development for the protagonist follows a pattern analogous to psychological development through the process of individuation, while the protagonist's activities parallel the monomythic journey of the archetypal hero, exhibiting motifs of separation, initiation, and return. Thematic implications center around redemption for the hero or the salvation of his society. However, the significance of a protagonist's actions varies according to the type of hero portrayed in a particular comedy. Some heroes merely grow in rudimentary self-awareness; others attain full self-sufficiency and coincidentally provide fundamental benefits to others. Another form of hero protects his society from threatening external chaos while a fourth type learns to temper his ability at altering the environment thus preserving a beneficial existing order. Heroic comedies also have a special sort of humor. This humor emanates from the observer's initial feelings of superiority which shift to a realization of incongruity as a protagonist's substandard behavior at the beginning of the comedy turns towards increasingly commendable demeanor as the comic action progresses. / Aristophanes' Wasps provides a detailed illustration of the application of the model for heroic comedy. Other comedies by Aristophanes also correlate well with the model, including the Birds, Clouds, and Knights, but the Women in Assembly and Wealth do not. Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer is also an example of heroic comedy. / Finally, to delineate clearly heroic from non-heroic forms of comedy, a comparison of both types is provided, relying on examples taken from the broad spectrum of western literature. Non-heroic works include comedies by Menander, Moliere, Anton Chekhov, William Wycherley, and George Bernard Shaw. In contrast, certain other plays by Plautus, Moliere, George Etherege, Oscar Wilde, and Shaw conform well to the model for heroic comedy. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-06, Section: A, page: 1784. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75110 |
| Contributors | WILLIAMS, KATHERINE GAMEWELL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 292 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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