Moral comedies all have either a sympathetic hero or an anti-hero. Sympathetic heros share the writer's and audience's beliefs and fight against what is wrong. Anti-heros knowingly engage in morally dubious plans and are ultimately thwarted, revealed, or taught a lesson. Occasionally a moral comedy will have an ambiguous hero, part good and part bad. The purpose of an ambiguous main character is to force the audience members to question and examine their own beliefs.
Satire is a form of social criticism often found in moral comedies that ridicule specific people, institutions or societies. Satire often embodies the morals it is mocking, using irony, sarcasm, parody, and exaggeration to make the unjust ideas seem even more ridiculous.
The comedies of Aristophanes mock a wide number of institutions, including religion, government, politics and the rich. "The Clouds," first performed in 423 BC, critiqued popular Greek politicians and philosophers of the day, suggesting that certain figures were undermining traditional values and were a danger to society. Shakespeare's comic plays "Love's Labour Lost" and "Much Ado About Nothing" use humor to highlight the difficulty of love and the battle of the sexes.
"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov is a dark moral comedy about sex, aging and values. Many of the films of Woodie Allen highlight the struggle of modern morality. The plot of "Crimes & Misdemeanors" follows several characters as they commit a series of illegal and immoral acts, and "Mighty Arphodite" parodies classic Greek comedies as in a contemporary comedy about adultery.