Comic tension Essay Example for Free

Comic tension EssayTaming of the Shrew is the only known play write by Shakespeare to have an Induction. This Induction was written by Shakespeare to introduce the idea of a play within a play to the audience.The Induction to the play is quite a complex structure at the start of the induction the audience is introduced to a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly, caught in a fight with the Hostess of what is presumed to be a tavern or alehouse.thither is an immediate sense of comedy to the opening of the Induction as the audience is shown Sly cussing the Hostess with foul language, Ill pheeze you, in faith. In return the Hostess threatens to put Sly in a pair of stocks. This is an example of Shakespeare trying to create comic tension as this drama is clearly com workforceting on the sexist inequality between both genders during this time. Sly perceives himself as quite noble, stating to the Hostess that he came in with Richard Conquer. Being drunk this would probably be discredi ted as he is clearly trying to exert power over the hostess as she is a woman.Shakespeare has created this argu ment involving Sly to capture the guardianship of the audience, the language used by Sly and the Hostess, the swearing and the anger, this causes a lot of tension between the characters and additionally, this scene was created by Shakespeare to present Sly as a fool to the audience.However, when the Lord is introduced, the audience is given an image of what seems like a descendants of royalty, the way the lord orders the huntsman to tender well my hounds, it gives the audience the true(a) impression of someone who holds great power over others as he is of a higher class.When the Lord finds Sly in the street, he describes him as a monstrous beast, how like a swine he lies, this reference insinuates that Sly should be depicted as a lowly creature, of whom the upper classes should be disgusted of his type, that men like Sly are feeble and not worthy of anyones time. This pa rallels with Katherine in Act 1of taming of the shrew where the audience sees that Katherine has no tolerance over men as she sees them all feeble and not worthy of her presence and time.The lords idea to trick the tinker into believing that he is really a lord is an idea that is reflected in the taming of the shrew where Petruchio plays a trick on Kate, the purpose of this is to add to the comedy of the original play by making explicit parallels between the induction and the taming of the shrew.The lord speaks of all the deeds that must be carried out before Sly awakes from his sleep, giving commands as to what his servants shall say to him when he awakes, prove him of his hounds and horse, and that his lady mourns at his disease. The extent of the planning of which the lord is going makes it easy to predict what is going to happen in the play ahead of the characters themselves. in any case the element of disguise creates tension between the characters as when Sly is presented wi th his wife, he genuinely believes everything despite previously suspecting that he was being fooled. However, the Lord has instructed that his pageboy act as and dress as a woman to fool Sly into believing the trick is real. This then makes the trick more elaborate, thus present how Shakespeare is managing to create comic tension on Sly, the audience can see that Sly is clearly being fooled by the lord, however the character Sly himself has no awareness of what is happening.Shakespeares plays were well known for their drama and the comic tension he managed to create between them, the comic tension displayed in this play, plays a grown role in how the comedy is perceived by the audience.