Farce and Melodrama

FARCE

Farce is an exaggerated form of comedy. Its aim is merely to provoke laughter and to do this it employs all resources of absurd characters, situations and dialogue. It is a lovely caricature but not the real representation of man and matter. Now-a-days, farce contains elements of satire which is purely incidental. Farce belongs to the area of nonsense. Hence the characters are free from everyday cares and restraints. There are always elaborate deceptions. The characters flee from angry wives, husbands, creditors, and the like and sometimes even from the difficult law. The serious and respectable people are dragged down to the most undignified positions. They are often got involved in certain amount of horseplay. There is always love affair to create or increase the confusion.  At the end, nobody is heavily affected or lost or gained. Farce is the named that has come from a Latin word meaning “to stuff”. There are strong farcial elements in Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Merry Wives of Windsor”

As a separate form of entertainment it came into vogue towards the close of the 17^th century with the staging of “The Rehersal”. Farce has a much place in the anti-sentimental works of Goldsmith and Sheridan. The full length farce appeared during Victorian period. “The Private Secretary” by Charles Hautry and “Charley’s Aunt” by Brandon Thomas won a great success. Even George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man,” “You Never Can Tell”, “Androcles and the Lion” are still now entertains the audiences for the farcial elements  that they contain

MELODRAMA
Melodrama was a debased form of tragedy.  Originally an important place in it was assigned to song. But now the term is reserved for a play of crudely sensational type which depends on the effect of physical action, theatrical language, and naïve sentiment.  The characters are only puppets in the extravagant story of crime, revenge, the evils of drink and gambling, lost wills missing heirs and so on. Villainy is foiled and virtue triumphed in melodrama. This type of plays came into prominence in the 18^th century and was popular with the low-class  in the 19^th century. However, melodramatic elements were found in earlier plays also. For example, Kyd’s “Spanish Tragedy” and Webster’s “Duchess of Malfi” in which the authors piled up horror on horror. These plays have permanent place in literature.  In Victorian melodramas wonderful scenic devices such as  representation of railway accidents, shipwrecks, fires, floods, earthquakes, and other calamities were beautifully represented on the stage. This type of melodrama attracted even the educated audiences of Victorian period. Now melodrama has lost its spirit because in cinema all these are more naturally and convincingly  brought out on the screen.