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Molière's Preface to "Tartuffe"
This preface to "Tartuffe" perfectly summates the attitude towards comedy that pervaded many different artists throughout European history. An emphasis on satire and taking on all people with comedy is something that can be seen in all of the following primary sources. -
Joke From "Joe Miller's Jests"
"Joe Miller's Jests" was a very popular jest book in England in the 1700s. Pictured is a scan of one of the jokes in this book that demonstrates the type of humour present in jest books from this period. Notice the emphasis on rural people and rural situations as jest books often contained content that was too racy for the middle or upper classes, leaving the lower, more rural classes their own specific jest books. -
Johann Joachim Kändler's "Harlequin with Jug"
This sculpture is from 1740 and depicts a harlequin who would've appeared in the German theatre of the time performing the Italian Commedia Dell'Arte which was a greatly influential form of comedy that focused on the lower class clown in spite of the bourgeois. -
Charlie Chaplin's Speech in "The Great Dictator"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20] Linked above is the youtube video of the speech. The photo attached is a press photo of Chaplin in character as Herr Hynkel, the film's stand-in for Hitler. The speech is particularly moving and in the film is spoken by a Jewish barber who has been mistaken for Hynkel. This is a more contemporary example of comedy being used to give political voice to a marginalised party.