When confronted with a storyline containing a serious moral, what is the best way to capture and maintain an audience? All you need to do is embed a little comedy within the terror and you have got it made. The authors of the guild plays knew and demonstrated this best. Contained within the episodes are the perfect ensemble of terror and comical wit. The guild (or Corpus Christi) plays were sombre lessons from the bible that were performed during festivals for the everyday people.
Some are still performed to this day. It is this combination of fear and laughter that make these stories appealing to its audience even after hundreds of years. It is through the change in emotion that the audience maintains its enjoyment for they know not what to expect. The example to be used, N-Town’s The Woman taken in Adultery exhibits this quality with ease. The juggling back-and-forth between evoking terror and then laughter is successful from the beginning of The Woman taken in Adultery right up to its conclusion.
It is noticeable soon into the episode with the introduction of the Scribe, Pharisee, and the Accusatory. Terror is first created through their plot to shame Jesus by “false accusation” (58).
This causes the audience to worry for the safety of Jesus and their attentions become drawn into the progress of the performance. Without this major design, The Woman taken in Adultery would claim little interest, and yet with too much seriousness, it would result in depressing the audience. The comical element shines through when the cowardice of the Scribe and Pharisee is brought to air.
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In “Much Ado About Nothing” Shakespeare captures many of the social standards in Elizabethan society whether they are fair or not. In Act 2 Scene 2 of the play, Don John plots to frame Hero and make it look like she has been unfaithful to her fiancée the night before they are due to marry. This then sparks outrage from the male characters, which in turn shows a male bias in their ...
“We ” ll be close behind” (118).
This is followed quickly with the fleeing of the half-dressed young man, which is immediately comical. Yet this humour is short-lived when terror makes a re-entrance with the young man’s threats to the audience. “If any one stops me tonight / I’ll give them such a deadly wound! ” (127-128).
Then all events turn comical again when the young man also learns of their cowardice. “I was really afraid of those three louts.
/ To tell you the truth / I rushed away at such a rate / I haven’t tied my pants up yet” (137-140).
This constant change in mood keeps the audience focused because they aren’t given the option of dullness. The Woman taken in Adultery and the other guild plays use this criss-crossing of the two genres to create an entertaining atmosphere for all their spectators. It is almost tongue-in-cheek humour because the underlying plot is of such a serious nature that one wonders “should they be laughing?” The humour, while tongue-in-cheek, also displays elements of farce. Such as when the young man demonstrates that his pants are down when it is already clear to see. This comedy is so appealing to the audience that instead of taking away from the value of the biblical story it in fact infuses it with everyday relevance.
The language used throughout the episode most probably was considered to be serious in context, and yet in today’s society, one cannot help but laugh at the words thrown at the woman. The three men refer to her as “slut”, “trollop” (145), “strumpet”, “stinking bitch-rag” (147), and a “stinking whore” (160).
This string of insults is so concentrated with obscenity that you laugh simply from being over-whelmed. Though in all truth, there are likely people, who, after having read these passages found themselves offended. The more farcical comedy would be much better suited to their tastes. The point here is simply that there are different forms of humour within The Woman taken in Adultery.
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You ” ll either find all of them funny, or some of them funny; but you will find something funny. The terror originating from the plot of The Woman taken in Adultery carries its message from the bible. The seriousness being, that one must “repent” (1) and “ask for mercy” (10) before they will “forgiven” (24) and “inherit heaven” (3).
The tone of Jesus’ teachings rings clear from the first line of the episode to its last.
The audience would watch this performance and take away the lesson it portrayed. Through this examination of The Woman taken in Adultery it is apparent that the mix of terror and comedy had a very entertaining effect on the audience. They were able to laugh while at the same time learn a valuable lesson. Their fear would be alleviated by laughter, and then their laughter replaced with feelings of suspense and dread.
This cycle would continue throughout the episode so that the emotions of the audience would not have a chance to settle until the closing words. After which, they could reflect on what they had just seen, consider its moral, and remember the humour.
