Abstract
This paper examines how William Shakespeare uses comic and tragic plots to explore the various means of human survival in his two plays "Cymbeline" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor". It looks at how comedy and tragedy are defined by each other and how the juxtaposition of emotions, pathos, close character work, comparisons and suffering and reconciliation are just a few of the topics covered.

From the Paper
"Innogen and Posthumus only have two scenes together, the first and the last, and the time between dramatizes both of their maturations. However although Posthumus undergoes harsh experience, not to the same extent as his wife, it is innogen who shifts the play towards a comic ending. Posthumus' soliloquy in Act two may arouse deep feeling and a hint of mental turmoil but does not touch on Pathos. His tone at the beginning of Giacomo's torment os of an unbelievable one: "Render me some corporal sign about her more evident than this." However he does not need a great deal of convincing from the deceitful Giacomo to believe his wife has been unfaithful and moreover has offered her "chaste" and "virtues' to another man."

Tags:cloten, giacomo, innogen, maturation, natural, order, pathos, posthumus, titus