In class on Wednesday we talked about the clowns that appear
at the end of every scene, and how they are the comic relief in a very dark and
confusing play. I’m fairly certain that Christopher Marlowe wanted the reader
to view the clowns like this:
<http://www.midlifecrisisqueen.com/2010/08/30/another-great-story-from-my-court-jester/>
While I know the clowns are meant to be seen as the above
picture, I can’t help thinking of them like the silly, not all there hyena from
The Lion King.
<http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/hyenas-from-lion-king/images/27969421/title/hyenas-fanart>
Perhaps it’s my childhood obsession with Disney movies or it’s
my way of subconsciously connecting anything and everything to Disney that has
brought me here. Anyone else see the clowns in a manner different from the way
they were intended?
I had not thought of them that way, but now that you mention it, I cannot imagine them as anything but! Originally, I was picturing them as Elizabethan, bawdy characters - a kind of contrast that equalized Faustus with themselves. While they knew what they wanted out of magic and were not ashamed that it was base, Faustus ends up worse in spite of his high ideals.
ReplyDeleteI see what you mean. I saw them as that comic line in a serious movie that everyone in the movie theater laughs at when the actor says it. Their appearances are quick and short and funny just enough to relieve you of the seriousness of the rest of the play.
ReplyDelete