With its origins in ancient Greece, comedy is one of the four original literary genres as defined by the philosopher Aristotle in his work Poetics. The other three genres are tragedy, epic poetry and lyric poetry. Not to be confused with comedy associated with television and cinema which focuses entirely on humorous speeches generally intended to amuse; literary comedy is characterized by general humor, happy endings, and community celebration. This assignment will critically analyze the comedies of William Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw and examine what characteristics they share and how they differ. It is also important to fully understand the comedy genre, exploring its origins, definitions, and subdivisions. Literary comedy can be subdivided into “Burlesque” (associated with ridicule), “Comedy of manners”, “Satiric” and “Farce”, among others (Stott, 2005). The comedies of Shakespeare and Shaw take the form of dramatic comedies and can all be associated to some extent with the above criteria. The dramatic comedy begins with difficulty and quickly leads its characters into amusing situations to end in happiness; but it should be noted that not all comedies are humorous and light-hearted. Comedy drama differs from slapstick and farce in that it has a more tightly knit plot, more sensible and intelligent dialogue, and more plausible characterization. The term "comedy" comes from the Greco-Latin "comoedia" which is formed by combining "komos', which means "to rejoice" and "aeidein", which means "to sing". Both are hallmarks of Shakespearean comedy and are evident in A Midsummer Night's Dream, particularly in reference to Titania, who delights in his singing; and Bottom, who delights in his singing...... middle of paper ......the in contemporary society still seeks comedy to evoke laughter and pleasure as their counterparts in the Middle Ages did. Thus, the goals, purpose and values ​​of comedy remained unchanged from those initially established in Aristotle's ancient Greece. In conclusion, the comedies of Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare are both relevant to their specific time periods and linked to their respective societies. However, the similarities they share show how much the genre has remained unchanged. It is understandable that plays may differ in some aspects because despite the consistency of the genre, audience expectations have changed over the centuries. The bottom line being that the comedies of Shaw and Shakespeare are identifiable by a majority of the same characteristics outlined by Aristotle and developed by Shakespeare himself..