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How to Read Shakespeare's Comedies (Patreon)

Published:
2022-06-14 17:41:54
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Shakespeare’s comedies are festive celebrations of what truly matters in life.

They take us back to the heart of nature, replenish us, and give us a magical new perspective on our place in the universe.

Today, in preparation for our deep appreciation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, and Much Ado About Nothing, we are discussing the genre of Shakespearean comedy.

Topics include: tragedy vs comedy, the problem of defining genre, the ritualistic function of drama, plays-within-plays, and the natural world as mirror.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 from tragedies to comedies
  • 3:00 a new dawn of Shakespeare appreciation
  • 4:00 tragedy vs comedy
  • 6:00 the medicinal power of comedy
  • 6:30 the Falstaff cure
  • 9:00 aligning our reading with the seasons
  • 10:00 inaugurating “Midsummer Magic”
  • 10:30 my personal connection to these plays
  • 11:00 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • 11:55 As You Like It
  • 13:35 Much Ado About Nothing
  • 14:00 Shakespeare the Comic
  • 15:00 Shakespeare’s artistic development
  • 16:30 the problem of designating genres
  • 17:20 Comedies, Histories, Tragedies
  • 18:30 the Shakespearean theatre scene
  • 20:20 comedy, clowning & laughter
  • 21:00 “speak the speech” (Hamlet)
  • 22:00 love and romance in the comedies
  • 22:50 Othello as corrupted comedy
  • 23:30 comedy is tragedy until the end
  • 24:00 how to prepare for the comedies
  • 25:00 rereading & “three reads” method
  • 26:00 comic vs tragic trajectory
  • 27:00 Othello vs A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • 29:00 the ritualistic function of drama
  • 30:00 Ancient Greek vs Shakespearean drama
  • 31:45 comedy as festive celebration
  • 33:00 Barber’s saturnalian pattern
  • 33:55 Elizabethan vs Jacobean plays
  • 35:30 Elizabeth’s Merry England
  • 38:00 feasts, festivals & holidays
  • 40:30 holidays vs workdays
  • 41:20 from release to clarification
  • 42:00 a heightened appreciation of nature
  • 43:00 fleeing the cities & mocking the unnatural
  • 44:00 the importance of rest & recovery
  • 45:00 on escaping the city to the countryside
  • 46:00 comedy & the power of perspective
  • 47:00 Barber on Shakespeare’s festive comedy
  • 49:50 comic genre as fertility festival
  • 50:00 Rosalind in the Forest of Arden
  • 51:40 Shakespeare and Aristophanes
  • 53:00 gods and rebirth in Shakespeare
  • 55:00 why Plato would ban Shakespeare
  • 58:00 animals, nature, and other selves
  • 59:00 man’s place in the universe
  • 1:02:00 Shakespeare’s environmentalism
  • 1:05:00 “All the world’s a stage”
  • 1:08:00 Shakespearean wild as mirror
  • 1:10:00 we are caught between worlds
  • 1:11:00 the play-within-the-play
  • 1:13:00 the magic of Shakespeare’s world
  • 1:14:00 the ultimate value of comedy
  • 1:18:00 why we read the comedies

Recommended Resource:

The Arden Series for Shakespeare’s Comedies:

Questions for you:

1) What is your current relationship with Shakespeare's comedies? Which ones have you experienced? And which ones are you most looking forward to?

2) Have you found any benefits to aligning your reading with the seasons? 

3) Which genre are you most drawn to: tragedy or comedy?  

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Ep 55 - Shakespeare's Comedies

If you're enjoying the Hardcore Literature Show, there are two ways you can show your support and ensure it continues: 1. Please leave a quick review on iTunes. 2. Join in the fun over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club: patreon.com/hardcoreliterature Thank you so much. Happy listening and reading!

Comments

Matthew Long

Great introduction to the Comedies. Listened to this in preparation for a Midsummer Night's Dream. Enjoying this exposure to the Bard which was noticeably absent from my life previously.

Ruth Kenny

I'm off Thursday and I can't wait to listen to this. Thanks Ben 😊

Ellen M

Great introduction Ben! I have very little knowledge of any of the comedies and this will be my first read for all. I’m very much looking forward to A Midsummer Nights Dream. But now that I know Much ado about Nothing takes place in Messina, I’m super interested in it as well since my mom is from Messina (I assume the real city will have no bearing on the play but interests me just the same) I loved the chat about how the weather/season has a role in our reading cycle. Now that the weather has warmed up here in NYC and I’m outside much more I’ve been thinking that Shakespeare seems ‘heavy’ and I’ve fallen behind on Othello and Antony & Cleopatra. Something about a chilly evening lends itself to a cozy night on the couch with a hearty tragedy. I haven’t been able to focus on Plato or the Bard and have spent more time moving ahead with Middlemarch and starting Clarissa. I hope the comedies will get me out of my Shakespeare slump!

hardcoreliterature
>>85833483

Thank you, Ellen! I’m envious that you get to experience the comedies for the first time. Very exciting stuff. How lovely to hear that your mother is from Messina. It’s a regret of mine that I’ve not visited, though I’ve been fortunate to have visited other parts of Sicily. Shakespeare’s Italy is more an Elizabethan Englishman’s idea of the ‘exotic’ Mediterranean, and would allow him to explore themes that weren’t too obviously close to home. I’m completely with you on the tragedies feeling heavy around this time of year. Now that the sun is shining, and the flowers are out, the comedies feel like the perfect companion. After the tragic procession, it feels like a weight being lifted. I have a feeling you’ll enjoy them 😊

Jack

I recently bought a hardback of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and can’t wait to read it after watching this video!

Ruth Kenny

I have just listened to this and thoroughly enjoyed it. I took notes as I went along and am excited to get reading and understanding. In school (Ireland in the 80s) when I was doing my Leaving Certificate Honours English, I studied King Lear. We had a superb teacher who had a cassette tape of the play and we used to listen to it (we had no video at that time!). Then he would explain it and we would discuss it. I loved those classes. I loved the play. Your podcast there, Ben, reminds me of being back in that class... bliss. Thank you. I read through A Midsummer Night's Dream last week and now will begin to read it again in depth. Thanks Ben 😊

Vicky

Thanks Ben I am looking forward to the comedies too as I really know nothing about them - I accidentally read Midsummer earlier in the year because I thought we were doing it then 🤣🤣 I liked it much more than I thought I would and went to see the Scottish Opera doing it locally so I know about that one a bit; but the others I have zero knowledge of! Still doing my last deep re read of Antony and Cleopatra anyway so prob best you’re all starting with Midsummer 😂

Vicky

Very interested in the bit about animals and nature etc I hadn’t picked up on that being a theme in comedies

hardcoreliterature
>>85919817

That's awesome, Ruth. I'm so happy to hear that! And thank you for the fabulous compliment - you've brought me back to my own time as a student. I was lucky to have an amazing English teacher who really made King Lear come alive. Even today, I cannot read that play without thinking about him. I can't wait to hear what you make of A Midsummer Night's Dream :)

hardcoreliterature
>>86008713

I'm thrilled to hear that, Vicky. That sounds like a very happy accident to me :) Speaking of musical adaptations, it's on my bucket list to attend a concert for Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Pure bliss. Fingers crossed I'll be allowed to included it in our appreciation/reaction video!

hardcoreliterature
>>86008730

As a lover of animals and nature, that's one of the things I find most interesting too. Comparing how Shakespeare's animals differ depending on whether we're reading/watching a comedy or a tragedy is a wild experience. It makes me wonder what Shakespeare would try to tell us if he were alive today.

Margaret McNally

Love the stories about your grandmother! Love hearing personal stories. So looking forward to the comedies. Comedies are right up my alley. I have seen Much Ado About Nothing around 20 times, yet have never read it. One of my favorite movies. I feel that Kenneth Branagh has done so much for the love of Shakespeare. It can sometimes take just one person. That's why you are definitely making a difference!

Jack

I recently bought a copy of Night’s Dream that I’m in love with, and that was before I knew that you’d be talking about it in the podcast! I bought it from my local Oxfam. It’s a beautiful green hardback, edited by Peter Holland. They have the same editions for various other plays, and when I can afford to I might go back and buy King Lear and The Tempest, if they’re still there. xxx