Comedy

All forms of drama depict human psychology and relationships. Comedy is that form of drama which finds some aspects of mental and social conditions laughable. These aspects may include the humorously pitiable or frail nature of human virtue and will; the humorously improbable intercourse between widely separated social classes; and the comedic absurdity of the claims of people to wisdom, to talent, to fortune, or to sanctity or to secular power. The techniques and forms of comedy are numerous. The parody and satire make comedy a political weapon while burlesque has a social barb which catches on the prudery and pretensions of middle-class and upper-class life. In a deeper sense comedy is a mechanism of human play that has cathartic value. Laughter is a release for the tensions of muscle and synapse. Its paroxysms are a Dimysian conversion of the entire nervous system and a form of knowledge at the same time. It is unfortunate that, for these reasons, comedy is not taken more seriously.