The Principles of AestheticsParker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Philosophy
The Principles of Aesthetics
Parker, De Witt H. (De Witt Henry)
Aesthetics
Hence, contrary to the theory of Bergson, the spontaneous as well as
the mechanical and rigid may be comical. Sometimes the same object may
be comical from both the points of view which we have specified; this
is always true, as we shall see, in the most highly developed comedy.
For example, we may laugh at the child's prank because it is so absurd
from the point of view of our grown-up expectations as to reasonable
conduct, and at the same time, taking the part of the child, rejoice
at the momentary relief from them which it offers us. Our scorn is
mixed with sympathy. And oftentimes the child himself will hold both
points of view at once, laughing at his own absurdity and exulting
nevertheless in his own freedom. This is the essence of slyness. It
follows, moreover, that a thing which was comical for one of the reasons
assigned may become comical for the other, by a simple change in the
point of view regarding it. For the behavior which first pleased us
because it was unconventional tends itself to become a new convention,
with reference to which the old convention then becomes the object of
a laughter which is scornful. The tables are turned: the rebel laughs
at the king.
The foregoing explanation of why we find the comical pleasant also
explains why so many of our other pleasures are intermixed with the
comical--why so often we not only smile when we are pleased, but laugh.
For, in the case of all except the most elementary enjoyments, our
pleasures are connected with the satisfaction of definite expectations
regarding the actions or events of our daily lives. But, owing to the
dulling effect of habit, the pleasure attendant upon these satisfactions
gradually becomes smaller and smaller or even negligible; until, as
a result, only the novel and surprising events which surpass our
expectations give us large pleasure; but these are comical. With the
child, whose expectations are rigid and few in number because of his
lack of discrimination and small experience, almost all pleasures,
like almost all events, are of the nature of surprises. The child
almost always laughs when he is pleased. The slang phrase "to be highly
tickled" expresses with precision this close connection between laughter
and pleasure. Moreover, as the complexity of life increases, its strains
and repressions are multiplied, with the result that any giving way
to an impulse contains a slight element of the mischievous or
ridiculous; whence, for this reason too, the pleasant is also the
comical. In fact, most of the pleasures of highly complex and reflective
persons are tinged with laughter.
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