Comedy was certainly popular with Shakespeare's audiences. He wrote at least 38 plays, of which 18 were comedies. There is no question that most humour is topical, often related to a particular time and place, but Shakespeare's comedies seem to transcend time, remaining fresh even in the late 20th century.

Of course, the idea of "comedy" is different now. We do not expect them to contain the very dangerous, unfunny elements so prevalent in Shakespeare's plays. Maidens slandered, friends betrayed, shipwrecks, unjust accusations, death sentences, attempted rapes, anti-semitism do not usually make us laugh, and yet they are all elements of Shakespeare.

His comic style is not the "laugh a minute" modern idea of comedy. Rather the Elizabethan audience expected (1) a more-or-less happy ending for those deserving of it, and (2) the transformation or subjugation of those characters not deserving the ending allotted to the former.

I have not seen as many of the comedies as I have of the tragedies and histories. Some are clearly more popular than others. Some have fallen out of favor for political reasons, such as The Merchant of Venice for its anti-semitic sentiments. Some comedies are just never much done, such as Pericles (although for reasons passing all understanding my college opted to do this one -- I got to be the Voice of the Virgin Goddess Diana).

This page is very much still under construction with a number of plays quoted or mentioned, but not yet commented on. I will add my thoughts as they come to me.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

Had I been seized by a hungry lion,
I would have been a breakfast to the beast
rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
O, heaven be judge how I love Valentine,
whose life's as tender to me as my soul!
And full as much, for more there cannot be,
I do detest false, perjur'd Proteus.
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 4: Scene 1

I have seen one stage production of Two Gentlemen and enjoyed it very much. It is a very dark comedy, but nonetheless engaging and worth seeing.

A Comedy of Errors

We came into the world like brother and brother,
And now let's go hand in hand, not one before another.
A Comedy of Errors, Act 5: Scene 1

If the opportunity ever presents itself definitely see the Flying Karamazov Brothers' televised version (shown some many years ago on PBS). Shakespeare meets vaudeville and juggling. All survived.

A Midsummer's Night Dream

Having once this juice,
I'll watch Titania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes;
The next thing then she waking looks upon,
Be it lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
A Midsummer's Night Dream, Act 2: Scene 1

Merchant of Venice

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Much Ado About Nothing

I will teach you how to humour your cousin
that she shall fall in love with Benedick;
and I, with your two helps, will so practice
on Benedick that, in despite of his quick
wit and his queasy stomach, he shall fall in
love with Beatrice. If we can do this,
Cupid is no longer an archer; his glory
shall be ours, for we are the only love-gods.
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2: Scene 1

Two love stories, each twining in a different direction until manipulated by the villain Don John, whose character is much like that of Iago, and as problematic. We never really learn what his problem is, except that he is the prince's bastard brother and has in the past rebelled. His mischief doesn't seem very useful since it does little to advance his position. Wrecking Claudio's marriage does nothing to get rid of Claudio. However, making people miserable is clearly one of John's delights. After all, everyone should have a hobby.

So against this brutal subplot of the slander of Hero and Claudio's rejection of his beloved, we have Benedict and Beatrice trading barbs and falling in love at the same time. The beauty of the play is that it is very funny, but at the same time poised on the razor edge of violence. Even at the very end when Claudio and Hero and Benedict and Beatrice are ready to celebrate a double wedding, Don John is arrested. All we know of his future is Benedict's final line:

Think no more of him. I will prescribe brave torments for him tomorrow. Strike up, pipers!
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5:Scene 4

So it is not a happy ending for Don John, but everyone else is having a fine time.

Pericles

I really have no idea what this play is doing listed amongst the comedies. It is really grim most of the time, but it does have a happy ending with the no great pile of bodies littering the stage. This is clearly one of those "problem" plays.

I also have not figured out why my college chose this one for production, except that "it isn't often done."

The Tempest

I'll let Prospero have the last word about comedies with one of Shakespeare's loveliest and best-known speeches ...

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision;
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
as dreams are made on; and our little life
is rounded with a sleep.
The Tempest, Act 4: Scene 1