31 The elements of farce can be seen in some of Shakespeare’s comedies
such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1595 and The Merry Wives of Windsor. In Sheridan and Goldsmith’s works also we can see the appearance of farce but only
as detached episodes. Sinha, 1977:127
2.1.3.5 Other Genres
There are miscellaneous genres of drama and theatre which can’t be categorized as the member of the four major genres above, but actually they are
the improvement of the major genres, they are as follow:
1. Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a genre of drama which generally defined as a drama that has a bitter or sweet quality, containing elements of tragedy and
also comedy. Tragicomedy has tragic themes and noble characters, yet
which ended happily. It is usually combines serious and comic elements.
As quoted by Sinha, the best definition of tragicomedy may come from Fletcher as the first English dramatist who cultivates the species of
drama. Fletcher in Sinha, 1977:125-126 states: “A tragicomedy is not so-called in respect of mirth and killing, but it
respect it wants death which is enough to make it no tragedy, yet brings some near it which is enough to make it no comedy which must
representation of familiar people, with suck kind of trouble as no life be questioned, so that a God is as lawful in this as in tragedy and mean
people as in a comedy.”
Tragicomedy can be seen in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Measure for Measure, and The Merchant of Venice.
2. The Masque
The masque is a form of dramatic entertainment which involves dances and disguises and in which the spectacular and musical elements
Universitas Sumatera Utara
32 predominate over plot and character. As defined by Saintsbury in Sinha,
1977:128 “is a dramatic entertainment in which plot, character and even, to a great extent dialogue, are subordinated on the one hand to
spectacular illustration , and on the other to musical accompaniment.” The masque has reached its glory in Jacobean period. The dramatic
writers such as Beaumont, Middleton and Chapman wrote masques. Johnson’s Masque of Blacknesse and Milton’s Comus also masques and
both were successful at that time.
3. Commedia dell’arte
Commedia dell’arte is a form of comic theatre which originated in Italy in the sixteenth century in which the dialogue was improvised around
a loose scenario calling for a set of stock characters, each with a distinctive costume and traditional name. Best known characters of this type such as
Zannis and Lazzis. Wilson, 1987:322
4. Morality Play
