To What Extent Does Tony Lumpkin Repres
How does Tony Lumpkin fit into the comedy genre of Lord of Misrule
In Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ follows the structure of a traditional Shakespearean comedy beginning with a sense of harmony which progressing into disorder and misunderstanding, finally resulting in a resolution of all the problems which occurred in the play. The root of the chaos in the play is orchestrated by Tony Lumpkin, Mr Hardcastle’s step son. In the late medieval and early Tudor period a figure was appointed to orchestrate the entertainment, Tony Lumpkin can be seen as a self appointed Lord of Misrule. The Lord of Misrule was also given a limited time scale in which they ruled; Tony Lumpkin’s time to rule is limited as Goldsmith set the play only across one night. This brings across a comedic side to the play as all the chaos that comes about it mae in such a limited space of time. Shakespeare used the character of a fool to bring about comedy in his plays. Shakespeare’s fools fall into either a licensed fool, whereby the fool is a ‘professional jester’ who is ‘paid’ to sing and dance……... On the other hand, Shakespeare’s second category for a fool was that of a ‘natural fool’ the only element of a natural fool that Tony exhibits is his desire to be ‘country bumpkin’….
At the beginning of the play we might expect that Tony Lumpkin is a natural fool because in Act 1 Scene 1, before Tony’s entrance, Mr Hardcastle expresses that Tony is a ‘a mere composition of tricks and mischief’. The fact that Hardcastle explains that Tony’s ‘composition’ is mainly made up of ‘tricks and mischief’ suggests that is his nature to be a fool. This relates back to Tony being a natural fool as he can only be a fool and has no other elements to his character. Mrs Hardcastle also says that ‘a school would be his death’. This metaphor implies that Tony has never been educated which reinforces the idea of him being a natural fool because it suggests that he has no knowledge. However, there
In Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ follows the structure of a traditional Shakespearean comedy beginning with a sense of harmony which progressing into disorder and misunderstanding, finally resulting in a resolution of all the problems which occurred in the play. The root of the chaos in the play is orchestrated by Tony Lumpkin, Mr Hardcastle’s step son. In the late medieval and early Tudor period a figure was appointed to orchestrate the entertainment, Tony Lumpkin can be seen as a self appointed Lord of Misrule. The Lord of Misrule was also given a limited time scale in which they ruled; Tony Lumpkin’s time to rule is limited as Goldsmith set the play only across one night. This brings across a comedic side to the play as all the chaos that comes about it mae in such a limited space of time. Shakespeare used the character of a fool to bring about comedy in his plays. Shakespeare’s fools fall into either a licensed fool, whereby the fool is a ‘professional jester’ who is ‘paid’ to sing and dance……... On the other hand, Shakespeare’s second category for a fool was that of a ‘natural fool’ the only element of a natural fool that Tony exhibits is his desire to be ‘country bumpkin’….
At the beginning of the play we might expect that Tony Lumpkin is a natural fool because in Act 1 Scene 1, before Tony’s entrance, Mr Hardcastle expresses that Tony is a ‘a mere composition of tricks and mischief’. The fact that Hardcastle explains that Tony’s ‘composition’ is mainly made up of ‘tricks and mischief’ suggests that is his nature to be a fool. This relates back to Tony being a natural fool as he can only be a fool and has no other elements to his character. Mrs Hardcastle also says that ‘a school would be his death’. This metaphor implies that Tony has never been educated which reinforces the idea of him being a natural fool because it suggests that he has no knowledge. However, there