Tragic Knowledge, Comedic Idiocy Ignorance is bliss. Shakespeare gives the idea that it is better to know nothing and be happy-go-lucky instead of knowing everything and dreading the future. The playwright knew that the majority of the audience were members of the lower classes. Therefore, Shakespeare enabled the masses to incorporate these philosophies via the lower class parts. In A Midsummer Night's Dream, a comedy, Shakespeare portrays the craftsmen as unenlightened and merry individuals who just serve as entertainment for the ruling classes, while the servants in Richard II, a tragedy, often know mor