Comic Structure and Tonal Manipulation in Shakespeare and Some Modern Plays

Summary

In the final moments of Edward Albee’s The American Dream, the mother—a bit tipsy—begins to seduce The Young Man, who has just been adopted by her family to replace another young man, now lost. Mommy mumbles:

Something familiar about you. You know that? I can’t quite place it.

Then Grandma interrupts and speaks directly to the audience:

Well, I guess that about wraps it up. I mean, for better or worse, this is a comedy, and I don't think we'd better go any further. No, definitely not. So, let's leave things as they are right now—while everybody's got what he wants... or everybody's got what he thinks he wants. Good night, dears.

Albee's Grandma protests too much. Certainly she knows that, for a traditional comedy, the audience does not expect the kind of situation that has been developing. Although Albee tries to answer critics of his play by insisting in his brief preface that it is a comedy, he goes on to ask a few lines later:

Is my play offensive? I certainly hope so; it was my intention to offend—as well as to amuse and entertain.