‘I Laugh Because I Must Not Weep’: Humour and Existential Angst

While comic amusement is often valued for offering relief and shifting perspectives in challenging situations, it frequently arises from unsettling sources: repressed aggression, humiliation, or existential ambiguity. This paper explores the complex relationship between comic amusement and suffering, arguing that it is not merely a light-hearted response but a profound means of engaging with the absurdities and sorrows of human existence. It distinguishes between irony, which uses laughter to wound or distance, and humour, which processes pain to foster acceptance and resilience. Drawing on literary and philosophical works, the paper develops the idea that a sense of humour is a virtue, confronting life’s contradictions not with denial or despair but with clear-eyed, if bittersweet, amusement. Analysing classical and contemporary theories of laughter clarifies the nature of a humorous perspective on life, which offers a blithe yet lucid way of accepting and responding to life’s inherent contradictions.