The Greatest Comedies Reveal How Small We Really Are

I am no fan of Aristotle's. I vastly prefer Plato as a thinker and theorist in the Western world. But since we are here to discuss literature and not the widespread mental illness known as philosophy, I must recognize the impact Aristotle had in shaping the compositions and interpretations surrounding Western literary works.

For this post, I am supposed to either defend or dismiss the dramatic Comedy as Aristotle defines it. I believe that Dramatic Comedy can be a meaningful form of art just as a Tragedy is because our lives are simply not tragic. If art always depicted an Aristotelian Tragedy, then it would mostly invite pity parties and crocodile tears, nor would it deepen our insight about the world around us. In other words, art would be quite limited if it only depicted Tragedies. There are aspects of life that are above the notions of a Tragedy. If my story was about a man sitting alone in silence in a meadow while doing absolutely nothing except for staring at a blade of grass for a long time, then smile at the end, it would be a meaningful art form that is a not a Tragedy, but a Comedy. What I think is great about meaningful Comedies is that they can move us not through poignancy as Tragedies do, but through compelling us to look at the beauty around ourselves and simply be happy about it.   

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is one of the most elegant works of Western literature, and it also happens to function as a Comedy. The entire poem is separated into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. At the very start, Dante is "lost" both literally and metaphorically, but he is rescued by the poet Virgil. In Inferno, Virgil guides Dante into the underworld, where people suffer in a form of poetic justice. In Purgatorio, Virgil guides Dante as they ascend the Mountain of Purgatory. In Paradiso, Dante is guided by Beatrice, a woman he deeply admired, through Heaven. In the last lines of the Divine Comedy, Dante meets face to face with the Trinity God. As he finally understands the mysteries of the universe, Dante's soul is aligned with the love of God in such a way that is so awe-inspiring he cannot express in words.

Although the idea of Divine Comedy being a Comedy is disputable since it does not fit any of its sub-categories, it does fit Aristotle's requirements. Hell, the title even gives it away for those not convinced. It begins in a state of loss and danger, then ends with the soul's journey to Heaven, and we know that it was going to end this way to begin with. Now as for whether this is a contemporary work, I do not think that it should be an issue. It still is an important work of modern Europe, more so than any of the romantic and slapstick Comedies, be it foreign or domestic, that spawn nowadays. That is not a knock on those other works as much as it is my way of praising Dante's work. I will explain why it should be held with such high regard in the West.

What frustrates me about current trends in literature is the heavy focus on humanity more than everything else. What I mean is that stories, conflicts, and thoughts have been largely humanitarian for the past two hundred to three hundred years, especially now since human rights are now a greater concern now than ever. Most Comedies, let alone all works of art, center around humans. Perhaps I am just being closed minded or "full of shit" as my aunties would jest, but I think that older works of literature are usually better because they tend to either focus on the world itself with humans sidelined or they integrate said material as powerful influences in human dramas. Mythologies from around the world are based on higher powers, spirituality, and the beauty of life itself. The older that a story is, the less likely it will portray humans on their own as the greatest points of interest whenever they are present. This is why I am picky towards most - but not all - contemporary works of art.

This is where a modern work such as the Divine Comedy steps in. Not only does it deepen our insight of the world, but the Divine Comedy attempts to delve into realms that are beyond our knowledge, comprehension, and material existence. It should not matter if we never come across such planes of existence exactly as Dante described them. So the poem in its entirety does not demand for its readers to be Christians, as pagan motifs are depicted throughout it. However, this is not to say that Dante thinks we as humans are insignificant, because all Renaissance thinkers emphasized the powers of men in their poetry. We tend to believe that everything revolves around ourselves, and yet it does not. We also tend to believe that we know many things about the world, and yet if science and religion have taught us anything, it is that we know next to nothing about the universe and our placement in it, and I think Dante wanted to get that point across to readers as long as his work remains. We see this theme prevalent throughout both Inferno and Paradiso. Ultimately, I see the Divine Comedy as the journey of the soul through something much larger than ourselves. This "something larger than ourselves" can be many things; in Dante's perspective, it is an entire universal order and our placement in this order. Just as how it was like with Dante at the end of his Comedy, we should feel delighted once we come face to face with something so vast, mysterious, beautiful, and divine.

Other works that this can be compared to are The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana, though I chose not talk about those because they are much older than Aristotle, and therefore were not written to be Comedies. I would also include Shakespearean plays such as The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream to compare to Dante's grand poem, but I did find his Comedies (albeit only the ones I've read) to pale in comparison to his tragedies.