ABSTRACT
Francois Rabelais reminded his readers of the basic definition of Man in the verses placed at the beginning of Gargantua:'Tis better to write of laughter than of tears, since laughter is the property of Man. The doctrine goes back in a general way to Aristotle, although it was more strictly formulated later. Aristotle wrote that 'no animal laughs save Man'. That was the starting-point for those who used the commonplace formula adopted by Rabelais, 'laughter is the property of Man'. Laughter for Ysaac is firmly confined to the human species In the Renaissance, Christian laughter swept into prominence, aided by the conviction that Man is a laughing animal. Laughter thus personified is neither the derision of malice nor the smirk of ill-will or lasciviousness: embodied Laughter bears herself with gravity, a modest countenance, uttering no deforming guffaws but 'laughter, corrupted by no abuse, appropriate to cause, place, time and person'.
