Ridiculous comedy

Lots of seemingly comic things, almost ridiculous, things happen throughout these chapters.  The duke and the dauphin come up with all kind of schemes that make you laugh, like dressing Jim like an Arab, impersonating English accents, doing plays with crazy (or no) costumes, but really it is pretty sad because all they think they are so cleaver and suave, but really they are seen as con artists and are just using their comic acts to hurt others.