Roman and Medieval Comedy
...are also a major entity in the involvement of the confusion and comedic air of the play. For example, Laches, Pamphilus’ father, who is the old man whom becomes detective as to finding out why exactly his son has not had sex with his wife since they have been married and why they aren’t together. In addition, there is also Bacchis, the persuasive prostitute who constitutes much of the confusion in the play as to whether or not Pamphilus has been cheating on his pregnant wife. These stock characters are the exact remedy for the circus-like elements that provide constant perplexity and boisterous humor. When exploring the characters of The Second Shepherd’s Play, one would have to do a complete turn around when understanding the difference between the characters of the previously mention plays and those of this play. The first, most obvious and probably most important contrast in the characters is the real and familiar tendencies that the characters have in this play. These are more calm reserved characters that lose the essence of the boisterous stock characters, but gain reality and familiarity with their audience in their relation to real people. These characters are less likely to stir drama and encourage disillusionment. Also, when the comedy is displayed in this play, it is displayed in a more natural and coincidental way instead of extravagant and obvious in-your-face comedy. Furthermore, this play deals with a life lesson and a historical event that affects religion in our culture. The social views contain a more Christian air in that the sinners in the end do not receive the privilege of meeting baby Jesus, but the honest shepherds do. The play gives a more soft and life lesson tone off to its audience at the conclusion. When looking at the structure of these three plays, one can see how it contributes to the comic relief and story line. For example, Terence and Plautus wrote their plays in episodes where people are constantly coming in and out of the scene and their shorter and rapid to-the-point scenes with plenty of entrances and exits to contribute to the swift slapstick comedy. When looking at The Second Shepherd’s Play, one reads it in scenes that are much longer and relax with only one or two entrances and exits within to slow down the pace and make it more natural and familiar. As far as the social views and attitudes towards society and how they are shared throughout these three plays, there seem to be rare instances where views seemed to be similar. However, when looking at the way people can be ever so petty and dishonest over small treasures and the values that become more important when they are me...