MacDonald achieves farce in Act III, scene iv by pitting the high comedy of verbal innuendos and overstated ironic wordplay against the low comedy of successful slapstick physical bustle.
The verbal innuendo “I’d have thee penetrate my secret source,”(III.iv.125-127) uses the double-entendre for penetration as a farce to produce simple hearty laughter. The sexual humour operates as a comedy of manners. Juliet’s repartee, her witty conversational fencing match with Constantine, violates the standards of appropriate social interaction in a time idealizing conservative ideals of female chastity.
Constantine’s comment, “It was a ball.”(III.iv.204) is another verbal comic device as this expression of satisfaction is ironic in light of the ludicrous interactions she endured. This word play exemplifies high comedy and evokes intellectual laughter. It draws attention to the highly exaggerated and caricatured weeping dramatized by Romeo and Juliet. The folly allows the spectators to remain emotionally detached and to laugh upon thoughtful reflection.
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Constance Ledbelly attempts “the merging of unconscious selves,”(I.13) through her dream journey to merge Shakespeare’s tragedies Romeo and Juliet and Othello with their comic counterparts. Tragedy and comedy are “unmingling opposites”(I.4) that must be reconciled. The “archetypal shadows come to light”(III.x.6) as Constance takes on the role of the wise fool, and intervenes in the action to subvert the tragic results and turn “Shakespeare’s Othello to a farce” (2.1.49). Gender binaries are explored as another pair of “unmingling opposites”(I.4) as Constance pulls Juliet and Desdemona into the lead roles to balance the patriarchal structure of the original plays. The strength of these “amazons” bolsters Constance’s confidence as a woman and allows her to step fully into