Comedy of errors

For other uses, see Comedy of errors (disambiguation).

A comedy of errors is a narrative work (often a play) that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.^[1][2]

Satire and farce

A slight variation of the "comedy of errors" discipline is farcical theatre, which revolves around humour caused by the foolish mistakes of unintelligent characters and the chaos that derives from it. Examples of farces include British sitcoms Fawlty Towers and Men Behaving Badly.

In Shakespeare

William Shakespeare wrote a play entitled The Comedy of Errors.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is another well-known Shakespearean example of a comedy of errors.

On television

Many modern television situation comedies use comedy of errors as a standard plot device, often in every episode. Three's Company is considered a classic example of such a sitcom.

Many episodes of the American sitcom Frasier exemplify the qualities of this sort of comedy.

References

1. ^ "Meaning in Comedy: Studies in Elizabethan Romantic Comedy" by John Weld, SUNY Press, 1975, ISBN 0873952782, 9780873952781, pgs 154-55
2. ^ "Tragedy and tragicomedy in the plays of John Webster" by Jacqueline Pearson, Manchester University Press ND, 1980, ISBN 0719007860, 9780719007866, pg 13