Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)
STUDIES - Judit Kádár: The Figure of 'Everyclown'in Jack Richardson's Gallows Humour
like original parables did. One can find some more indications to this direction in the play, for example Walter's story of the Gogarty Case. I found a parallel between this story and Chekhov's famous grotesque short story entitled The Death of the Chinovnik (1883). Everything went fine with Walter, the lawyer, defender of law and truth until the point when, at a trial, the person he defends with due right started to hiccup. This natural action turns out to be nonsensical, the whole courtroom fills with uncontrollable laughter and it changes the minds of the jury for worse. The ironical undercutting serves as a safety valve releasing the tension, and also shows the absurd nature of things in a time when law has turned into a 'fooling game' because of the "over-the-shoulder" (GH 84) attitude of society. One can associate the whole 'Gogarty phenomenon' with the changes in the world around us. Direct indications prove its truth, for example the change in Walter's personality and fate (he becomes a number patch and nearly looses his identity). It was law, the organizing and justifying power in society, that he represented. Originally it was "untouched by human beings" (GH 84), but "it is the nature of law that has been abused" (GH 84) in our age when the absurdity can happen that even airconditioning in the courtroom can change the verdict on people's lives. The legal case at this point turns into a social paranoia, a parable of the existing status quo. Hie comparison with Chekhov's work lies in the correspondence of the plots. Cherviakov's sneezing seals his destiny —the unretainable biological action stresses the role of accidentally just in the same way it happens in Gallows Humour. The grotesque is present in both works of art as a dramatical element (hiccups and sneezing) and also as a quality of life where pain finally gains over the laughter of the outsider. like the grotesque, paradox is also a trait of humor which is based on the duality of elements in life emphasized throughout the play. The dialogue of Martha and Philip is especially rich in paradoxical features, since Philip's illusory speech and the down-to-earth opportunist actions are its sources, just taking an example: 55
