what are the best comedies written by shakespeare

[rodanho]

the best tragedies of shakespeare i already know,and i have read most of them. but i think it is more difficult to appreciate the comedies,isn't it? they are not as touching,and the wisdom is often uneasy to discover.name the best shakespearean comedies in your opinion.and if you like ,tell me:are the comedies written by shakespeare inferior to those tragedies in quality? why or why not ?

[Helga]

My favourite is 'Midsummer night's dream' and 'Much Ado about Nothing' both funny and just great! I love Shakespeare and have read all of his work and most of his sonnets and poems, so I would also recomennd 'The Phoenix and the turtle' it's a poem by him and it's so sweet and sad and all that!

[mono]

Hello, rodanho, welcome to the forum. :)
As with Helga, I very much enjoyed A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. I love all of his comedies, but others that come to mind immediately: Twelfth Night, A Comedy Of Errors, and The Taming Of The Shrew (though most feminists would strongly disagree with me on this one).
To answer your second question, I do not necessarily think that Shakespeare's comedies seem inferior, or superior, for that matter, to his tragedies or historical plays. True, some of his comedies tend to have less complexity in plot, and more simplicity, not including A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's Lost, for example, but this comment comes from someone more in love with Shakespeare's tragedies, especially Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Titus Andronicus. Shakespearean humor, I think, can still continue as intelligently and attention-getting as any tragedy or history, but this, of course, really depends on the reader.
Happy reading! :)

[Molko]

I loved A Midsummer Nights dream too! It's a great play

[mono]

I loved A Midsummer Nights dream too! It's a great play
Yes, I can confidently call A Midsummer Night's Dream on of my favorite plays of all time. With this specific play, surprisingly, the movie adaptation I enjoyed also. :)

[per·func·to·ry]

I'm not a big fan of Midsummer. I prefer Much Ado followed by 12th Night

[JBI]

As You Like It, and The Merchant of Venice if you consider that a comedy. A Midsummer Night's Dream has exhausted itself to me, being that I have seen over 10 productions, and have read it as many times.

[mortalterror]

Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, in that order. A Midsummer Nights Dream is probably as well written as his tragedies, I just don't think it's very funny. He makes me laugh here and there, but the only playwright who's consistently made me laugh is Aristophanes. Most of what is known as comedy is genteel wit and not vulgar humor. I used to think Plautus was pretty funny, but his plays have lost a lot of their original luster for me over the years.

Part of the reason Shakespeare's plays are not funnier is probably due to the noble nature of most of his protagonists. Falstaff is funny, but he comes from a very low background. His tastes are base, his motives plebeian. He is not like the rest of Shakespeare's cast of nobles. He has a dignity all his own, but he can lay it aside at leisure. I think Shakespeare knows that his characters are confined in this way so he injects clowns into his tragedies for comic relief. We have Sir Toby Belch, and various fools, but they are usually the minority and act as counterpoint in his plays. This has a charm all it's own and I especially like the fluctuation between high and low in Henry IV. I have tremendous respect for the way his dialogue can turn on a dime and make a poignant remark about life after a bawdy sex joke. I just think that if you really want to be funny, then you have to commit totally and pander to the baser elements of human nature. That means violence, that means sex, that means obscenity, and toilet humor. Shakespeare is too classy a dude to wallow in that at length.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

name the best shakespearean comedies in your opinion.My absolute favourite is the taming of the shrew.


are the comedies written by shakespeare inferior to those tragedies in quality? Not in my opinion. I actually prefer the comedies, but that may depend on the kind of person I am: I usually prefer a comedy to a tragedy.

/Claes

[amalia1985]

I've always enjoyed The Taming Of The Shrew, Twelfth Night, and Love's Labour Lost immensely. I've never thought that the Comedies are inferior to the Tragedies. Shakespeare had a purpose for writing the Comedies, they are two unique "categories", if I may use the term, equally worthy, in my opinion.

[Vincent Black]

Twelfth Night has always been my favorite, with A Midsummer nights dream coming in a close scond

[superhero99]

Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It. I'm usually not a big fan of his comedies (I tend to prefer his tragedies) but I loved both these plays. I actually found them funny. I also really loved the characters of Kate and Rosalind. Unlike the majority of people here, I honestly wasn't too keen on Midsummer's Night or Twelfth Night..

[kevinthediltz]

Im not so much about his comedies, but Much Ado About Nothing was fairly good. I like his tradedys much more.

[Equality72521]

I am in love with A Midsummers Night Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Those are my favorite comedies by him, also, I'm very fond of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, more so because I spent weeks with it on vacations. Those three are defintely ones that I would prefer.

[shakespeare87]

I love Much Ado About Nothing I played in an adaptation of it last year, but I played the Sexton - only four lines in that adaption! I love Branagh's film of it.