From the great English poet’s essay ‘The Globe’:
“[Comedy] is not only possible within a Christian society, but capable of a much greater breadth and depth than classical comedy. Greater in breadth because classical comedy is based upon a division of mankind into two classes, those who have arete [excellence] and those who do not, and only the second class, the fools, shameless rascals, slaves, are fit subjects for comedy.
But Christian comedy is based upon the belief that all men are sinners; no one, therefore, whatever his rank or talents, can claim immunity from the comic exposure and, indeed, the more virtuous, in the Greek sense, a a man is, the more he realizes that he deserves to be exposed. Greater in depth because, while classical comedy believes that rascals should get the drubbing they deserve, Christian comedy believes that we are forbidden to judge others and that it is our duty to forgive each other.
In the classical comedy the characters are exposed and forgiven: when the curtain falls, the audience is laughing and those on stage are in tears. In Christian comedy the characters are exposed and forgiven: when the curtain falls, the audience and the characters are laughing together” (Dyer’s 177).
For a slightly imperfect, but still relevant example, check out this classic episode from Friends:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3hn40NlrVk&w=600]
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5 responses to “W.H. Auden on Comedy and Christianity”
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Very interesting.
I think "classic comedy" abounds still; we're all supposed to take very seriously those who have "arete" according to the standards of our society (i.e., wealth and fame).
It would be interesting to do something with this idea in fiction or drama, actually….
Great find, Todd. Very interesting. Funny (!) how this inherent Christian facility with classical comedy doesn't translate very often/well into ha-ha comedy.
In the classical comedy the characters are exposed and forgiven: when the curtain falls, the audience is laughing and those on stage are in tears. In Christian comedy the characters are exposed and forgiven: when the curtain falls, the audience and the characters are laughing together"
Doggone, would that political discourse for self-professing Christians was a Christian comedy.
bls – Call me crazy, but at times there are elements of this in some romantic comedies, where the couple comically see each other's faults, yet still end up loving each other. I'm not a big buff in this area, so I can't think of any specifics.
dz – a shame really!
Ken – It's true (sigh).
I believe the quote in the last paragraph should begin like this, “In the classical comedy the characters are exposed and PUNISHED…”