Laughter on the Stage, Laughter at Court, and Laughter in Public Spaces During the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time

This article will bring to light the extensive misunderstanding of medieval culture, literature, and arts in modern times concerning the topic of the comic and will illuminate the truly human dimension of pre-modern societies characterized also by the element of the comic. Laughter, as countless scholars have already confirmed, is one of the basic human expressions of a more or less happy mood; it often erupts involuntarily or is triggered by specific rhetorical strategies. We can easily confirm that laughter reflects or exposes fundamental issues in human life mirroring transgressions, foolishness, misunderstandings, confusion, or various forms of aggression. When we examine medieval plays, romances, short verse narratives, and other types of texts, we come across a vast storehouse of relevant examples that confirm that the pre-modern world was fully aware of the common experience of laughter and did not shy away from reflecting on it in many different media. In short, we can confirm that laughter is one of the universal human expressions regarding political, economic, or religious issues. Alleged religious arguments against humor in the pre-modern world are nothing but retrograde fantasies mirroring highly conservative ideologies from our modern time lacking any serious scholarly evidence

Comics · Human condition · Ideology · Laughter · Middle Ages · Mirroring · Nothing · Rhetorical question · Early Modern Spanish Literature · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · Medieval Literature and History

• Perspicuity, Acuity, and Illuminating Vision

  Open Access•Albrecht Classen•Humanities•2026

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