Begin by reading an introductory lecture.
Who is the blocking figure in this play and which character or characters is/are affected by his actions? In other words, which of the play’s young lovers are subjected to adversity, and what is the nature of that adversity?
Briefly sort out the multiple plots introduced in Act 1. If you are confused, do not despair. You should be, for the play’s complications and busy-ness of action are part of its aesthetic design; trying to keep everything straight is part of the entertainment.
The play, as we have seen, is comedic structurally and topically. It is also very funny—or, to use a term current in the period, “witty.” The word “wit” has a complex history in English usage. (Look it up in the Oxford English Dictionary online.) Several relevant meanings: sharp intellect; the capacity for keen observation and utterance; verbal dexterity, including the use of puns and other forms of irony or double entendre.
Choose a brief passage or two and explain in some detail the ways in which wit is deployed.
©Robert Whalen, 2024