The Idea of the Ludicrous
In this post Alexander Bain offers definitions and examples of the ludicrous.
108. The Ludicrous and the Laughable are names for what
excites laughter.
Among the causes of laughter we may name abundance of animal
spirits, any sudden accession of pleasure, the special elation of power and
superiority, or an unexpected diversion of the mind when under excitement.
109. The Ludicrous in composition is for the most part based
on the degradation, direct or indirect, of some person or interest—something
associated with power, dignity, or gravity. It is farther requisite that the
circumstances of this degradation should not be such as to produce any other
strong emotion, as pity, anger, or fear.
Comedy took its rise from the jeering and personal
vituperation indulged in during the processions in honor of the god Dionysus,
or Bacchus. In the regular comedy, and in every kind of composition aiming at
the laughable, the essential in gradient is the vilifying and degrading of men
or institutions commanding some degree of veneration or respect.
The pleasure thus afforded is very great, and has a strong
affinity with that feeling of exalted energy entering into the sublime. To
throw down anything from a height is a signal manifestation of power, and, as
such, gratifies the agent and those that enter into his feelings. Even where
the prostration is not designed by a conscious agent, as when any one tumbles
in the mud, or takes fright at an unexpected appearance, we experience a degree
of enjoyment corresponding to the greatness of the effect. When our sympathy is
with the object thrown down, the tendency to laughter is arrested, and some
other feeling takes its place.
The following are examples of this degradation. When Moliere
introduces the celestial messenger of the gods, sitting tired on a cloud, and
complaining of the number of Jupiter's errands, Night expresses surprise that a
god should be weary; whereupon Mercury indignantly asks, "Are the gods
made of iron?" This degradation of divine personages is ludicrous and
delightful to unbelievers. Accordingly, in the decline of Paganism, the gods
came to be a subject of mirth in such compositions as the Dialogues of Lucian.
A Frenchman, disappointed with English cookery, exclaimed, 'Behold a land with sixty religions, and only one sauce.' The
putting of religion and sauce upon a level partly degrades religion, but still
more degrades the speaker; and there is a complex effect of the ludicrous.
The lines of Hudibras,
And, like a lobster boiled, the morn
From black to red began to turn,
From black to red began to turn,
contain an obvious degradation of a dignified subject,
although belonging to the inanimate world. Whatever inspires us with lofty
feelings of admiration or awe can be a subject of ludicrous prostration, if we
are disposed to exult over the fall. We usually enjoy the laugh at something
that we observe other people respecting, but do not ourselves respect.
The incident of Queen Sophie Charlotte's taking a pinch of
snuff during the pompous and protracted coronation ceremonial of her husband Friedrich
I., of Prussia,
is intensely ludicrous. The rules of decorum were treated with contempt, and
the splendor of a pageant suddenly dashed by an act suggestive of ennui.
The Burlesque, the Mock-heroic, Parody, Travesty,
Caricature, are modes of composition answering to the general character of the
ludicrous. Either some elevated object is treated in a low and vulgar style, or
a mean object in the style of things dignified; in both cases, there is an
effect of degradation.
110. The circumstances of the laughable may vary between two
extremes :—
For the one extreme, we have the pure pleasure of power
shading into malignity, as seen in the laugh of victory, derision, ridicule,
scorn, contumely, contempt.
In composition, this is exemplified in the writings of Swift
and Voltaire, in the letters of Junius, and in the comedies of Aristophanes.
Unmeasured denunciation, abuse, sarcasm, give this pleasure, provided they do
not rouse sympathy towards the victim.
(English Composition and Rhetoric: A Manual, 1867.)
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