White elephant- Albee

Essay by masasiCollege, Undergraduate November 2014

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English 1 Rutendo Masasi

Group L 07 March 2014

Tuesday 12:20 Karlien der Wielen

Discuss the effects of the comic elements in Edward Albee's 'Finding the Sun.'

According to "Abraham's Glossary of literary terms", a comedy is fictional work where the content is meant to be a source of amusement for the audience (Abrams 54). This play seems to be centred on comic relief which is when comic elements are introduced in order to alleviate tension that is created when the characters have to deal with something serious. This essay will attempt to explain the effects of these comic elements. Cordelia and Daniel's relationship is the most interesting because of the way they converse with each other. There is always an atmosphere of humour/teasing when they have a conversation. When Cordelia 'jokingly' questions whether Daniel still sees Benjamin secretly, Daniel jokingly replies "...I love you. I've got a very roomy heart" and he proceeds to laugh (Albee 24).

Although Cordelia laughs with him, there is a pause before she does. She chooses to ignore the suggestion in what he says, she laughs it off. This pause is an inconspicuous clue of her wariness before she decided to hide behind humour. Edmee is also another character who is quite humorous. Her rudeness is masked by her humour. However when Abigail, the most straight forward character, gets Edmee to say: "No! Iam! I'm rude" (Albee 37) the reader realises how rude Edmee actually is. Cordelia and Daniel's relationship, and Edmee show how one of the effects of the comic elements is that it masks the seriousness of what the characters say. The reader is forced to read with understanding one has to interpret a deeper meaning beyond the humour. It is important to note that before there are any explicitly...