Comic relief
Comic relief does not relate to the genre of comedy, as the name may suggest. Comic relief serves the purpose of providing the spectator a moment of "relief" with a light-hearted scene, after a succession of intensely tragic dramatic action. Typically these scenes parallel the tragic action that they interrupt. Comic relief was not there in Greek tragedy, but occurs regularly in Shakespeare's tragedies. Example: The opening scene of Act V of Hamlet, in which a gravedigger banters with Hamlet.