Abstract

Joking is an incongruous behavior that emerges from within a social framework and is considered a violation of social order. Freudian psychoanalysis sees joking as the revealing of the downside to a socially constructed “reason.” Jokes lead to an involuntary action called laughter, which paves the way for the outburst of intellectual tension, and laughter is a shared emotion that results in deepening communal bonds, providing a relief from those intellectual tensions. This article will explore the dramatic actions and comedy inherent in farces that challenge ideological social codes through a reading of W. H. Andrews and Geoffrey Dearmer’s one-act play, The Referee, using Freud’s relief theory. The analysis is based on Freud’s study of jokes in his essay, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, where he addresses laughter as an act of disposing of unwanted thoughts like a waste to maintain mental health. This article examines the play in accordance with the Freudian idea of jokes being an unconscious action that comes from the unconscious mind, a brief release of mental anguish, and lastly a parallel conversation that occasionally tries to interrupt the reason in front of it.