Comic Relief
Definition:
A Comic Relief is the introduction of comic characters, speeches, or scenes in a serious or tragic work, especially in dramas. Such elements were almost universal in Elizabethan tragedy. Sometimes they occur merely as episodes of dialogue or horseplay for purposes of alleviating tension and adding variety; in more carefully wrought plays, however, they are also integrated with the plot, in a way that counterpoints and enhances the serious or tragic significance.
Example:
Examples of such complex uses of comic elements are the gravediggers in Hamlet (V. L), the scene of the drunken porter after the murder of the king in Macbeth (II. iii.), the Falstaff scenes in 1 Henry IV, and the roles of Mercurio and the old nurse in Romeo and Juliet.
A Comic Relief is the introduction of comic characters, speeches, or scenes in a serious or tragic work, especially in dramas. Such elements were almost universal in Elizabethan tragedy. Sometimes they occur merely as episodes of dialogue or horseplay for purposes of alleviating tension and adding variety; in more carefully wrought plays, however, they are also integrated with the plot, in a way that counterpoints and enhances the serious or tragic significance.
Example:
Examples of such complex uses of comic elements are the gravediggers in Hamlet (V. L), the scene of the drunken porter after the murder of the king in Macbeth (II. iii.), the Falstaff scenes in 1 Henry IV, and the roles of Mercurio and the old nurse in Romeo and Juliet.
