And it must be apparent that our analysis and citations have covered the
bulk of the plays.
We conclude then that the prevalence of inherent defects of composition
and the lack of serious motive, coupled with the author's constant and
conscious employment of the implements of broad farce and extravagant
burlesque, impel us inevitably to the conclusion that we have before us a
species of composition which, while following a dramatic form, is not
inherently drama, but a variety of entertainment that may be described as
a compound of comedy, farce and burlesque; while the accompanying music,
which would lend dignity to tragedy or grand opera, merely heightens the
humorous effect and lends the color of musical comedy or opera
bouffe.[192] Koerting is right in calling it mere entertainment, Mommsen is
right in calling it caricature, but we maintain that it is professedly
mere entertainment, that it is consciously caricature and if it fulfills
these functions we have no right to criticise it on other grounds. If we
attempt a serious critique of it as drama, we have at once on our hands a
capricious mass of dramatic unrealities and absurdities: bombast,
burlesque, extravagance, horse-play, soliloquies, asides, direct address
of the audience, pointless quips, and so on. The minute we accept it as a
consciously conceived medium for amusement only, we have a highly
effective theatrical mechanism for the unlimited production of laughter.
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