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Appearance Vs. Reality

The Point of Ritual Death is important to comedy, as it is when the reader experiences a brief moment of tragedy and is not so sure that the laughter previously enjoyed will continue.   Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism's essay on comedy briefly discusses the different faces of this turning point in the plot.   In Much Ado About Nothing and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, both plays follow the typical script of comedy and yet deal with the Point of Ritual Death in unique ways.   The similarities that link the two stays true to the genre, while the differences open up doors to interesting and exciting possibilities within the comedy plot.   Exploring these similarities, differences and the treatment of ritual death, will explain the techniques used to entice the reader and keep them wanting more.   Slight changes in tone are what strike me as most important in the plot, and how the characters react to the change is what makes for an interesting story.

In Much Ado About Nothing and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, both follow the boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back plot and both deal with the Point of Ritual Death in ways that are typical of a comedy genre.   In Northrop Frye's section on comedy in the "Third Essay", he describes the point of ritual death as "a potentially tragic crisis near the end".   This ritual death is what usually causes the audience to speculate as to how the hero will win her back.   In both plays, I believe that there are at two kinds of ritual death played out throughout the story.   One that the audience is made aware of before it develops with the characters, and the other as it develops in the play with everyone involved.

The first moment of ritual death in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is when Hero realizes that the woman he loves is promised to another man. Philia is one of Lycus' girls and was sold to a violent warrior named Miles Gloriosus. She will not break her word to...