Comedy elements are often said to be an integral part of both the films Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker and The Tempest by William Shakespeare. In The Tempest, the characters of Trinculo and Stephano are questionable almost entirely for comedic effect, even having their own subplot of a comedic nature. This can also be said about "shitty" Meg in Our Country's Good, and in both plays most of the characters participate in some form of comedy. Whether included in dialogue or stage direction, comedy creates light and shadow in both plays and thus reinforces the importance of themes such as love, power and class divisions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayOne of potentially the most obvious ways in which Wertenbaker and Shakespeare use comedy is through the use of arguably crude sexual innuendo. Not only do these provide slight relief to the audience after a more intense and darker scene in both plays, but also reveal the transition from innocence to experience in Miranda in The Tempest. In act 1, scene 1 of The Tempest, Gonzalo says: "I will guarantee him for drowning, even if the ship were not stronger than a walnut shell and as leaky as an unsealed girl", the words "unsealed girl" referring to menstrual bleeding and "leaking", implying sexual incontinence. A violent storm risks the lives of everyone on the ship in this opening scene, providing the audience with a three-dimensional atmosphere from the start of the play. As Gonzalo is an "honest old councilor", such a manner of speaking would seem out of place in relation to his class position, reinforcing the element of danger in his situation while remaining humorous. In Our Country's Good, Wertenbaker also uses this technique in a similar way, with the "shitty" Meg telling Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark that she will "play him" "tight as a virgin" and "play with any role that you want.” This rather crude but amusing metaphor of a penis (like playing an instrument) occurs at the beginning of Act One Scene Five; the preceding scene, called by the rather solemn title "The Solitude of Men", consists entirely of an intense dialogue between Ralph Clark and the midshipman Harry Brewer. Thus, the "shitty" Meg, whose purpose is apparently only for comedic effect as she is only present in this scene and only talks about sexuality-related topics, is placed appropriately in the play and again offers slight relief. However, comic sexual references are not always of a crude nature, as demonstrated by the speech between Miranda and Ferdinand in The Tempest. In Act Three, Scene One, she asks Ferdinand to be her wife immediately after saying "the more he seeks to hide, the more mass he shows". This not only refers to pregnancy, as is automatically perceived, but can also refer to an erection. Miranda is a virgin (she has never seen a man apart from her father and Caliban for twelve years), thus indicating her desire to come of age, to mature and to offer herself to Ferdinand. This courtly love is of the purest nature, and the fact that she leaves her role of “puppet” by asking Ferdinand to marry her foreshadows the future harmony which will establish the characters. References to love are equally prevalent in both plays; Miranda and Ferdinand experience "love at first sight" and Miranda's response when she sees Ferdinand for the first time in "Whatis it a spirit? ... He wears a brave form, but "he's a spirit" not only emphasizes the fact that he is the first man she has met of her age, but is also humorous because she mistakes him for a magical being. Ferdinand replies: "No, girl, he eats and sleeps and has such senses, like us - such." He speaks of himself in the third person, which the audience may have found rather amusing. The fact that the two characters appear to form a relationship immediately after meeting gives the audience a glimpse that their love will blossom, ultimately contributing to their relationship's outcome of reconciliation and forgiveness. As these are two of the main themes of Shakespeare's play, it seems that the pure and courtly relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand acts as a means to achieve these ends. Additionally, the prevailing "love triangle" between John Wisehammer, Mary Brenham, and Ralph Clark in Our Country's Good and its associated complications can be seen as having comedic elements. In Act One, Scene Eleven, "Wisehammer steps forward impatiently" when given the opportunity to read Plume (Mary's "captain" in the play) because he thinks it would bring her closer to Mary. Here, the audience could understand Wisehammer's desire while still finding his almost childish enthusiasm amusing. The comic aspect here develops when Ralph suddenly realizes that he has "competition" and so immediately changes his mind by saying "no, I'll read Plume myself". One could imagine this scene playing out as if there were two male animals competing for their potential mate! However, Wertenbaker uses this comedy not only to entertain the audience, but also to show the problems associated with Ralph, an officer, dating Mary, a prisoner. Although a relationship between Wisehammer and Mary would be one between two equals, there would be a potentially damaging divide if Ralph were her partner. Although love is certainly important to a successful relationship, in the 18th century, equality of status was universally considered a determining factor in marriage. The fact that Miranda and Ferdinand in The Tempest both believe that Prospero is against their budding relationship, but in fact is all part of his cunning plan, revealed by his "aside" speech to the audience, and is another tool effective used by Shakespeare for comic effect. Prospero indicates his apparent disgust with their relationship, for example by saying to Ferdinand in Act One, Scene Two: “My foot, my guardian? Raise your sword, traitor... For here I can disarm you with this staff and make your weapon fall. In doing so, Ferdinand is unable to raise his "weapon", or sword; the dramatic visual effect of this is humorous as it humiliates Ferdinand in a light-hearted way. Furthermore, the term "weapon" can be inferred to also refer to his penis, Prospero's threat therefore indicating an emasculation of Ferdinand. This is also a clear assertion of power over Ferdinand, with power in relation to both colonialism and language being another theme addressed in both plays through the use of comedic elements. In The Tempest, the second scene of act two shows a clear distinction between the "superior" Italians Trinculo and Stephano and the "savage" Caliban, whose name is an anagram of "cannibal". When Trinculo first sees Caliban, he mistakes him for a fish and says, “What do we have here? A man or a fish? Dead or alive? A fish: it smells like fish, a very old smell close to fish. If I were in England now... and I had this fish painted, there wouldn't be a fool on holiday there who wouldn't give a piece of silver... when they won't give a must to get a.