1.why does Bergson think laughter cannot be defined?
He thinks defining laughter would be like making comic a prisoner to a single definition. Bergson wants to watch comic expand and grow. It is baseless if one decided to confine laughter to a single definition.
- What are the three “fundamental observations “Bergson assigns to laughter and comic spirit?
He thinks that the comic should not exist outside the human expectation. He means that you can look at a landscape and see it to be ugly, but that is not something to love, but we can look at an animal and see an expression in it that makes it laughable.
He also points out that symptoms were also crucial and needed to be noticed. He advises us to be interested in listening to keenly and feeling with those who felt and relate with them. Further, Bergson states that we should look at life like disinterested spectators. Furthermore, he says that comic requires temporary anesthesia of the heart.
- What does Bergson mean by “Something mechanical encrusted on the living”?
Bergson means that comic was a central image whose branches pointed in different directions. He says if you want to contrast the comic elements, you had to go back to the primary object. The mechanical tampering of life possesses funny themes.
- What examples does Bergson use to support his claim that “we laugh every time a person gives us the impression of being a thing”?
He uses the example of Sancho Panza, who is tumbled in a bed quilt and tossed up in the air. We also have an example of Baron Munchausen, who turns into a cannonball. He used the models to imply that we should do away with tricks performed in the circus and come up with amplification of the central theme being portrayed by the clowns.
- What does Bergson mean by claiming that tragic poets look inward and comic observation is directed outward?
Bergson means that those interested in comic features should look for them in points where these remains are hidden from the individual’s consciousness. The comic elements should be portrayed outwardly.
- What does Bergson mean by comic absurdity, and what is its relationship to dreams?
He claims that there is a state of mind that makes one resemble a mad concerning how this peculiar logic is an idea. The behavior of intellectuals, according to him, is like the state of mind discussed above. He means that what makes us laugh is absurd that we realize when we look at something from our point of view, even if this absurdity can be explained by a natural explanation from others’ points of view.