Applying Bergson's Ideas: Absence of Feeling

On my last blog post and in our last meeting, I argued that Zanetto in The Venetian Twins was a pitiful figure, one of the truly honest characters. I failed to see the comedy in his tragic and untimely death. 

However, as I was reading Bergson's article on laughter, I realized exactly why I could not see Zanetto as anything but pitiful. 

"Here I would point out, as a symptom equally worthy of notice, the ABSENCE OF FEELING which usually accompanies laughter... I do not mean that we could not laugh at a person who inspires us with pity, for instance, or even with affection, but in such a case we must, for the moment, put our affection out of court and impose silence upon our pity..." Bergson, page 4b.

That was my problem. When I looked at Zanetto, I could not "impose a silence upon my pity" or feel anything other than affection for him. I only felt bad for the poor guy. But after reading the article, I went back and viewed portions of the play, and this time I shut my pity off. I viewed Zanetto with indifference and tried to think of him as nothing more than a clown. It worked. His mishaps were now funny, not miserable. Who knew making myself a cold bastard would change things unhappy things to funny ones? 

For kicks and giggles, I watched a video of people falling, slipping, sliding, etc. and tried to feel sorry for them the whole time. Somehow watching these people hit the floor was not very much fun when I thought about how they were probably injured afterwards. I watched the video again and attempted to stop relating to them. Suddenly I could not stop laughing. 

So I found through careful experimentation, that Bergson is correct in his assertion that "laughter has no greater foe than emotion." 

The Misanthrope: Character of Alceste and Excerpts from Bergson

In The Misanthrope there is a reversal of natural societal character in Alceste. He is criticizing, hating, and altogether impossible at praising which makes him the first laugh of the play. If people were to hear Alceste criticize people today no one would find it funny unless they were inside the "circle" as described by Bergson. "...[Laughter] can travel within as wide a circle as you please: the circle remains, none the less, a closed one." (p. 5a) The reason Alceste is funny is because he is so frank and his criticism so sharp as to almost be absurd. Bergson again comments on a person who's character is lacking in "tension and elasticity" (p. 8b) which is to be a person that has "the greatest in inadaptability to social life, which are the sources of misery and at times the causes of crime."(p. 8b) This is especially true for Alceste since he is called to account for his actions toward Oronte in criticizing his poem so harshly, and considering there is some unsolved court matter that is unknown to the reader or observer.  In essence Alceste fits the character described by Bergson to be the cause of much laughter.

Another thing I find immensely funny about this play is that it is all in rhyme. The words are strung together so as to provide a fluidity but not for something pretty and complimenting. Criticizing and making fun of others is the purpose, as well as to provide confusion for the reader. Bergson says that in order for comedy to exist there must be some, "…mechanical inelasticity…" (p. 6a) While reading poetry we expect the poem to describe something beautiful or of worth, but instead we find disgust and distaste in The Misanthrope. This fluidity amongst inelastic conversation is like the stumbling block to the runner described by Bergson; it is unexpected and creates something at which we direct our laughter.