Nicholas Udall: Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1553)

Picture taken from "Famous Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual People Born in the 1500s." Ranker: Vote on Everything. (https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-gay-lesbian-and-bisexual-people-born-in-the-1500_s/famous-gay-and-lesbian. January 27, 2018.)

※ The following is taken intact from Figueroa-Dorrego & Larkin-Galiñanes's book, A Source Book of Literary and Philosophical Writings about Humour and Laughter (Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009. 200), without any of my personal critique. This blog post is therefore subject to immediate removal upon notice. ※

Moving now to England, comedy as a dramatic genre starts with Nicholas Udall's Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1553),  under the influence of Roman comedy, and with a prologue that states the author's intention to provide "mirth with modestie" and avoid any kind of abuse and scurrility:

Knowing nothing more commendable for a man's recreation

Than Mirth which is used in an honest fashion:

For Mirth prolongeth lyfe, and causeth health.

Mirth recreates our spirites and voydeth pensivenesse,

Mirth increaseth amities, not hindering our wealth,

[...] ("Prologue," ll. 6-10. Udall 1984: 101)*

This is certainly a hymn to mirth, understood as good-natured, convivial merriment expressed by laughter, following the most favourable views of humour from classical times to the Renaissance. Instead of linking humour with scorn, Udall associates it with health and friendship, and presents it as having an important role in human recreation, and as a good remedy against depression. The play is actually full of roistering and farcical actions performed by stock characters borrowed from Plautus and Terence, whose plays were well known by any educated person at the time, since they were part of their instruction. Burlesque, misunderstanding, and the clash of opposing parties that finally get reconciled are basic elements of this play that will later be developed by Shakespeare, for instance, in most of his romantic comedies.

* Udall, Nicholas. "Roister Doister." Four Tudor Comedies. Ed. William Tydeman. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984. 99-205. Print.

-- Figueroa-Dorrego, Jorge and Cristina Larkin-Galiñanes. A Source Book of Literary and Philosophical Writings about Humour and Laughter: The Seventy-Five Essential Texts from Antiquity to Modern Times. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press, 2009. 198-200. ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-4730-1; ISBN-10: 0-7734-4730-X.