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WHAT IS LIFE WITHOUT MIRTH AND LAUGHTER?
Kamlesh Tripathi
In Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’, Gratiano, a close friend of Antonio, while addressing him, says,
Let me play the fool; /With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;/ And let my liver rather heat with wine/Than my heart cool with mortifying groans./Why should a man whose blood is warm within/Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster,/Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice/By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio — I love thee, and ’tis my love that speaks — There are a sort of men whose visages/ Do cream and mantle like the standing pond.
In this address, Gratiano argues that a life without mirth is like living death. He prefers to “play the fool” and age naturally through laughter rather than grow emotionally cold through constant seriousness. Using the bodily imagery of liver, heart, and blood, Shakespeare contrasts warmth, passion, and circulation with ‘mortification,’ which literally means killing the spirit. Gratiano mocks men who, despite having ‘warm blood,’ sit rigid and joyless like alabaster tomb statues, alive in body but dead in feeling. Such people ‘sleep when they wake’ and even make themselves ill through peevishness, as suggested by the image of jaundice. Spoken out of affection for Antonio, the speech criticises cultivated melancholy and false gravity, asserting that true wisdom lies in emotional vitality, openness, and engagement with life rather than in frozen solemnity.
Although he speaks generally about a “sort of men” who cultivate solemnity. He directly names Antonio in the middle of the passage—“I tell you what, Antonio — I love thee, and ’tis my love that speaks”. This makes it clear that the speech is an affectionate rebuke of Antonio’s habitual melancholy at the beginning of The Merchant of Venice (Act I, Scene i). Gratiano urges Antonio to abandon his excessive seriousness and embrace warmth, mirth, and emotional vitality.
Excessive gravity dries up life, while laughter, warmth, and engagement are signs of true wisdom. Gratiano’s defence of mirth belongs to a long humanistic tradition. Numerous authors and texts have conveyed the concept of a fulfilling life. “Life is too important to be taken seriously”, says Oscar Wilde. L’Allegro (“The Cheerful Man”) and Il Penseroso (“The Pensive/Melancholy Man”) are companion poems by John Milton that explore two contrasting, yet complementary, ways of life: one embracing mirth, nature, and social joy, and the other favouring solitary contemplation, deep study, and serious thought, with both leading to profound insights and true happiness. They present a balanced view of a perfect life, showing the value in both active pleasure and deep reflection, often described as ‘twin poems.’
Gratiano’s defence of mirth and emotional warmth reflects a worldview strikingly close to that found in Hindu mythology, where life is understood not as grim endurance but as lila, the cosmic-divine play. Figures like Lord Krishna, who laughs, dances, and plays the flute even while guiding the world’s moral order, embody the belief that wisdom need not wear a solemn face. Similarly, Nataraja, the cosmic dancer, is a depiction of God Shiva, the great ascetic, suggesting that restraint and ecstasy must coexist. Both Shakespeare and Hindu mythology thus challenge the notion that gravity alone equals depth. They affirm that true understanding flows from warmth, movement, andengagement with life, where joy becomes not frivolity but a profound expression of spiritual and human vitality.
The Bhagavad Gita celebrates the Inner Cheerfulness, ‘Natushyati, na kanksati’ which means – The sthitaprajna (One with steady wisdom) neither grieves nor desires. He remains cheerful in himself. It rejects anxiety and gloom, valuing inner brightness and balance, much like Gratiano’s refusal to sit in sorrow. “Life itself is the greatest of gifts says Mahabharata – The epic repeatedly says that life, with all its struggles, is worth cherishing, and one should engage in it energetically.
Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi
Author, Poet, & Columnist
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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com
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