SOURCE: "Impact," in Crispin rival de son maître and Turcaret, Grant & Cutler Ltd., 1987, pp. 76-84.

In the following essay, Evans explores the comic impacts of Crispin, Rival of His Master, and Turcaret, finding the former primarily a farcical piece, and the latter an ironic social commentary.

If in previous chapters we may have seemed to stress similarities of method in Crispin rival de son maître and Turcaret, this should not lead us to forget that even plays using broadly similar structures and techniques can have quite different overall impacts. In general terms, the nature of the comic impact will initially depend on whether the laughter is felt to be more or less an end in itself or whether it is harnessed to other purposes, whether we simply delight in watching the comic sparks fly or whether, as in satire, we are called upon through the laughter...