The Asides Turn the Play on Its Side

I know this is not a typical blog post, and does not specifically pertain to act IV, but I'm impelled to talk about the use of asides in this play. I haven't gone through all of the plays we've read and counted the number of asides used, but I feel pretty confident saying there are of them in this one play than in the previous three that we have read. Why is this important? Both reading the play and watching it performed, you have to suspend your disbelief in the moment of an aside; to not spoil the plot, you have to willingly believe the character standing right next to the speaker can not hear his words. However, Middleton asks the audience and reader to do this an immense number of times. For me, it becomes harder and harder to take this play seriously as I'm continually bombarded by these asides. Especially as we watch the film version, a ridiculous yet entertaining take on the play, I feel that like with Titus Andronicus, it's worth questioning the seriousness of the author's writing.