I believe that the best answer for this question is "are." You are referring to two parties here, both the lion tamer and the clowns. This would mean that your applicable verbs must also be plural. Since "are" is the plural version of "is," it is the most suitable word to use in this situation. Hope this helps.
If this is an excerpt from a story, I wouldn’t be of much help. But from a layman's perspective, it seems like the character is attempting to please the failed humorist or he or she would have been frank. This in turn may have triggered a chain reaction, prompting the humorist to continue with his jokes which would have further affected the character. He or she is also giving the former a false sense of happiness and appreciation.
This passage may not affect the whole story in a remarkably discernible manner, but it definitely proves the character's penchant for politeness. And that may be be a deciding factor in his or her further decisions that ultimately define the plot of the story.
The answer would be the second option
A soliloquy, similar to a monologue, is a speech, but it's a speech that one gives to oneself regardless of whose hearing, it is used as a tool to better help the audience to understand what the character is feeling internally. An example of one, and perhaps the most famous is this one:
To be, or not to be, — that is the question: —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
<span>And by opposing end them? (etc.)</span>
That he cares for him and doesn’t want him to feel unwell because he doesn’t want to see him in that state
Well, there are two answers to this question actually.
I believe that a medieval ballad would definitely please a Romantic poet, because it is all about love and all that.
However, in Romanticism, poets and writers were obsessed with the macabre, so they would probably enjoy Greek tragedies as well.
