Greek & Roman Comedy – Final Review – Flashcards

Play: Girl From Samos Stock Character: Old Man

Play: Girl From Samos Stock Character: Young Man

Play: Girl From Samos Stock Character: Prostitute/Courtesan

Play: Girl From Samos Stock Character: Slave

Play: Girl From Samos Stock Character: Old Man/Friend

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Parasite

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Twin

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Twin

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Slave

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Prostitute/Mistress

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Cook

Play: Menaechmi Brothers Stock Character: Nagging Wife

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Clever Slave

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Young man in love

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Pimp

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Old Man/Master

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Old Man

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Soldier

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Loyal friend

Play: Pseudolus Stock Character: Clever Slave

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Braggart Soldier

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Parasite

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Clever Slave

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Wise Old Man

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Clever Slave

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Young man in love

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Slave

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Young woman

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Prostitute

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Maid

Play: Swaggering Soldier Stock Character: Cook

-Aristophanes -Two Athenians convince the birds that they are the rightful kings of humanity and that their kingship has been stolen by the gods. The birds create a sky city in response. The city blocks the gods from humanity, depriving them of the sacrifices from humans. The Athenians grow wings to help build and protect the city. Peisetarios becomes king of the city after arranging a deal with the gods.

Date: 414 BC Festival: City of Dionysia Competitive placing: Second

Euelpides (meaning good hope) and Peisetairos (meaning persuader) are fed up with Athens and all of it's rules/laws. They have grown tired of the high prices, the stresses due to debt, the juries, and want to avoid paying up. Both men are hoping to find a 'happier' place to live than Athens -- a place where political and legal business are not a burden, essentially, where they do not have to abide by any laws. The men also state that they are searching for a place with power, but not power from the Gods. In fact, they want the Gods to have to pay for and fix human problems.

The birds initial reaction is unfriendly and they threaten to attack Euelpides and Peisetairos, the leader telling the other birds to "Pluck out their hair and bite!" (line 353). However, the Hoopoe reasons with the leader and convinces them to listen to what the two men have to say. Peisetairos informs the leader that birds were once kings of everything and delivers two important speeches to win them over. In one speech he addresses the Persian bird and in another he argues that the birds current lifestyle is depressing and that humans only use them as a source of food. Peisetairos recommends that in order for the birds to reclaim sovereignty they should first found a city and build a great wall around it. He then suggests asking Zeus to give back power and says that if he refuses they should declare a war, ban the gods from traveling, and restrict the gods from receiving sexual pleasure.

The play ends with a wedding between Peisetairos and Basileia (Zeus' girlfriend), as well as Peisetairos becoming king of the gods -- essentially taking over the role of Zeus, a very powerful god. The ending is similar to Lysistrata because in both plays the people rejoice and celebrate their successes. It is different to Lysistrata because in Birds they celebrate men's success while in Lysistrata they celebrate women's success.

The element of fantasy is very prevalent throughout Birds. One of the most obvious forms of fantasy is the imitation of birds -- their ability to talk and ultimately overthrow an entire city, including Gods, is simply ridiculous. Peisetairos transformation to 'part-bird' where he grows wings is another example of outright fantastical thinking. Another slightly less prominent example of fantasy is the gods in general as there is no certainty regarding their existence.

Euelpides and Peisetairos left because they were growing tired and somewhat afraid of the laws and rules enforced in Athens. I think Peisetairos did achieve some sort of utopia in the amount of power he gained and Euelpides did as well because of the new society he became a part of in the sky -- no longer bound by the laws and restrictions of Athens. It's interesting, however, and somewhat ironic because the men were leaving Athens because they were fed up with the tyranny but in the end they turned out creating an entirely new tyranny.

Back in the nineteenth century, MacDowell states that the play Birds was sometimes interpreted as a 'political allegory.' From this point of view, it is argued that the play is a metaphor for the over-ambition of the Athenians in their hopes of conquering all of Sicily and that the isolation of Gods is synonymous with the Athenians plan of isolating the Peloponnesians. There is also a more cautious political interpretation of the play where specific characters are not directly compared to historical figures but the entire play itself is considered to be a representation of the Sicilian expedition -- however, this interpretation is not very convincing. A newer interpretation describes the play as response to the very recent religious scandals, including the mutilation of the Hermai and the profanation of the Mysteries. Two other interpretations include a literary perspective which suggests that the play resembles the Gigantomachy (myth in which Giants attempt to overthrow the Gods) and finally that the play is simply a presentation of an ideal city. I agree with this interpretation because the play seems to portray Aristophanes thoughts about Athens and what he thinks needs to be changed.

a crane like device mounted on the roof of the skene (scene house) to lower a god into the action to solve the character's problem.

Before 400 BCE -Comedy of the absurd: fantastical -No apparent uniformity

After 400 BCE -dealt with domestic affairs: Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy get's girl back again -Stock characters

427 - 385 BCE Wrote Political satire, high comedy. He is best remembered for the four plays titled after the chorus.

342 - 290 BCE

They were a character in the play, usually the townspeople. This character was sympathetic to the protagonist. They presented the writer's point of view. They were the ideal spectator, their reaction to a scene would cue the audience on how they should react. They broke the drama into dramatic scenes (or episodes), each scene was separated from the next by a choral interlude (or ode).

254 - 184 BCE Most of his plays were based on New Greek Comedy

They cut the orchestra in half, from a circle (in Greek times) to a semi-circle.

A theatre has a stage on one side of the orchestra and the audience (cavea) on the other. An amphitheatre has the audience completely surrounding the "stage space".

-Menander Moschion is adopted by Demeas. Plagon, his girlfriend, is pregnant. She is the daughter of Nikeratos, who is on a business trip w/ Demeas. During the trip they decide their kids should be married. Demeas is dating Chrysis, a girl from Samos. Chyrsis has a miscarriage, and nurses Plagon's child to keep the death secret. Demeas returns & thinks his adopted son has impregnated Chrysis. Moschion reveals the truth and Plagon & Moschion get married.

Similarities: -Happy ending (marriage) -Setting (Athens) -Greek -Music -Comedies Differences: -Type of humor: very different Aristophanes: obscene/vulgar Menander: realistic -Standard layout Aristophanes: somewhat chaotic (more action-packed) Menander: structured -Period Aristophanes: old comedy Menander: new comedy -Characterization Aristophanes: random (fantastical) Menander: stock characters -Costuming Aristophanes: phalluses; masks Menander: no phalluses; masks

Light: When Moschion dresses up to play a prank on his father which actually starts out light but gets a little more serious due to his father's reaction Serious: When Demeas and Nikeratos are fighting about what really happened Tragic: The death of Chrysis' baby which sets the foundation for the rest of the play Comic: The comedic aspect of this play stems from the fact that there is an easy resolution to Moschin's mistake but it is dragged out and causes far more problems than it originally should have because he lied about it

I do not think that this play is essentially a story about love because that is not the main focus and it also does not follow the plotline of a classic love story. Today, romantic comedy consists of sex jokes and a plot structure where a man consistently pursues a woman. Rather, I think the play is about familial relationships and the importance of trusting one another and admitting to mistakes. When Moschion realized he made a huge mistake he at first tried to hide it and cover up what he did but this clearly did not work. Later, when he was able to admit to his mistake and tell the truth, things worked out for the better -- proving the importance of honesty and familial trust.

Menander's comedy does not contain the vulgarity and obscenity that we saw in previous plays. By looking at Girl From Samos it is easy to see that Menander's plays are far more realistic. The use of stock characters makes the play both relatable sensible. The protagonist is an ordinary man who has a familial controversy as many normal families do. Menander was most likely successful because he was not satirical as many other playwrights were -- instead he was realistic which allowed the audience to connect with and understand his stories.

-Aristophanes Lysistrata convinces women to withhold sex from men until war is over. Lysistrata arranges for Acropolis to be taken over by older women. The Chorus of Old Men tries to smoke the women out but the Chorus of Old Women retaliates with water. The Comissioner attempts to arrest them, but fails. The Spartan Herald arranges for discussion of a peace treaty. Lysistrata convinces the men to end the war.

Date: 411 BC Festival: Lenaia (early February) Competitive placing: unsure

The story was produced two years after the Athenians defeat in the Sicilian expedition and the twentieth year of the Peloponnesian War. Land access to Attica was limited by a Spartan military post at Dekeleia and several Athenian allies had withdrawn. At the same time, the Spartans were building up their army (with support from the Persians) and there was little indication for the restoration of peace. Also, the city of Athens had voted to utilize a financial reserve that was deposited to the Akropolis in 431.

Acharnians and Lysistrata were both written by Aristophanes and both propose an end to the Peloponnesian War. Acharnians is centered around a man named Dikaiopolis who forms a treaty with the Spartans and is concerned with putting an end to the war. This is similar to Lysistrata, as both protagonists are concerned with peace and ultimately wanting a treaty to be formed. Both characters are passionate about putting an end to the war -- The women in Lysistrata are fed up with being away from their husbands and Dikaiopolis is angry that he had to move from the country to live in town. However, the two plots seem to differ in that Lysistrata is fighting for the entire community and concerned with the well-being and happiness of everyone while Dikaiopolis seems to be selfish in that he only made a peace treaty for himself and his family (MacDowell, 46).

The central theme of Lysistrata is peace. Essentially, Aristophanes is speaking to a bigger problem with an emphasis on women and citizenship and a central focus on ending the war. The war leads to suffering as women lose their sons, husbands do not see their families and the financial state of individuals and the country as a whole worsens. In proposing a solution for ending the war, Aristophanes is portraying the prosperity that would come about due to the restoration of peace. We see this at the end of the play when all rejoice upon declaring a treaty: "Alalai! Cry for joy! Lift up your legs to dance, To dance for victory! Shout out in ecstasy!" (Page 141, line 1291). Here, all parties are happy and celebrate the relief of finally putting an end to the war.

-Women's discussion of "the prick" (Page 100, line 126). At first the women repulse Lysistrata's suggestion of refusing sex simply because they are not willing to give it up -Somewhat pornographic oaths that the women take (Page 103) -Discussion and jokes surrounding female genitalia (Page 125) -Kinesias pleads for a prostitute or some sort of relief after his wife's seduction (Page 130) -Men all have erection (Page 137)

1. Mistaken Identity Mistaken identity is the central comedic aspect of the entire play and stems from the fact the Menaechmus and Menaechmus II (Sosicles) are identical twins. Examples: -Cylindrus confuses Menaechmus II for Menaechmus while he is in town buying groceries for the dinner he is supposed to prepare (Page 88). -Erotius confuses Menaechmus II for Menaechmus and has him in for their feast (Page 91). -Peniculus, angry at Menaechmus for eating without him, confuses Menaechmus II for Menaechmus and starts yelling at him (Page 97). -etc. 2. The Working of Chance The fact that Menaechmus II and Menaechmus don't cross paths for such a long time is the working of chance and the numerous times that the twins happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or the right place at the right time. Example: -The fact that the twins show up wearing the exact same outfit -When the father goes to fetch a doctor, Menaechmus II then leaves but at the same time Menaechmus shows up (Page 116). 3. The Trickery of the Characters Themselves The characters are all very clever and use the unusual situation to their advantage in several different instances. Example: -When Menaechmus II has been acting insane as a way to leave his current predicament (Page 115). -When Messenio saves Menaechmus and says he will go fetch the purse with their money, Menaechmus is confused but does not hesitate to agree (Page 122).

Plautus seems to portray the master-slave relationship in a positive way. Messenio is extremely loyal to his master and is ultimately rewarded for his brave actions. The husband-wife relationship, however, seems to be portrayed a lot more negatively. Having a mistress was not against societal obligations at the time and was actually considered completely normal but Plautus illustrates the negative outcome of such an arrangement. Menaechmus, trying to balance two different women is ultimately kicked out of both households. The parasite-patron relationship also seems to be portrayed in a somewhat negative way as well because Peniculus and Menaechmus constantly fight thorughout the play and completely turn on one another. The prostiute-client relationship does not seem to be portrayed negatively or positively. Menaechmus treats Erotium very well and they seem to have a good relationship but Plautus does depict the consequences that can come about as a result. The father-daughter relationship seemed to be pretty cynical to me, possibly because I have such a close relationship with my own father. The relationship Plautus exhibits can be described by the follwing quote "a daughter won't send for her dad. Unless there's some cause, and her husand's been bad" (line 770).

Aristophanes could possibly be mocking women, however, he also offers sympathy towards them. In order to fulfill the genre of comedy and satisfy an audience of men, he mocks women in certain instances -- however, I do not think he has a negative view of women. He characterizes the men as superior and assigns women as housewives but that is simply because of the cultural obligation of the time. He consistently portrays women to be far more witty than men and often makes the men look foolish. We see this through the metaphor for how the city should be conducted: the same way women deal with wool (Page 116, line 566). Here, Aristophanes is suggesting that if society were run similar to the way women do things it would be much more successful. The women in this play (especially Lysistrata) are both intelligent and clever, using their sexuality to their advantage in order to bring Peace back to Athens. The strength of women is portrayed when the chorus' of women and men are bickering and the leader of the women is able to deliberately speak out and attack the men: The leader of the men says "They should, like Boupalos, have had their jaws both broken for them. That way, they wouldn't have the voice to be so impudent" and the leader of the women replies "Well here's my jaw! Just throw a punch! I'll stand and let you try. But if you do, you'll find this bitch will grab your testicles" (Page 107, line 359). As this clearly shows, Aristophanes portrays women as powerful figures who are able to speak out and overcome even the most powerful men in charge.

There were many times throughout the play in which I questioned the logic of Menaechmus II. Upon reaching Epidamnus people almost immediately seem to recognize him as Menaechmus. When strangers are coming up to him, knowing his name, Menaechmus II simply deems them to be insane. This seems somehwhat ridiculous given that he came searching for his twin -- whom he knew by Menaechmus.

The ending was somewhat frustrating to me. Obviously, the twins are at some point going to cross paths, which seemed to take far longer than necessary in my opinion. I do not think the ending was satisfactory. The twins finally cleared things up among themselves, however, neither of them thought to explain the situation to the several other people involved. Menaechmus' wife, her father, Erotium, Peniculus, Cylindrus, the maid... and everyone else involved. The only person other than the twins who found clarity was Messenio and that's simply because he was with them upon their meeting. The plot involved many other characters than the two twins and the ending did not do them justice.

-Plautus Moschus has 2 twins: Menaechmus & Sosicles. Menaechmus goes with his father on a business trip, is separated, and kidnapped. He is then adopted and taken to Epidamnus. The father dies of a broken heart. The grandfather renames Sosicles as Menaechmus. Menaechmus II goes on a search to find the lost twin. Menaechmus I fights w/ his wife & gives her mantle to his mistress Erotium & tells her to make food. Menaechmus II then meets Erotium who insists he eats, gives him the mantle, & tells him repair it. Meanwhile, the wife realizes it is gone & becomes so upset that Menechmus I tries to get it back. The twins finally find each other & an auction is arranged to sell their things so they can live together in Syracuse.

Plautus most likely did this to create suspense. It's uniqueness makes him stand out and it is also very bold, which adds dramatic effect. I think it takes a lot of confidence which draws the audience in but also sets high standards for himself. It also lets the audience live through the play together rather than knowing all of the events that are going to happen.

-Plautus Calidorus is in love w/ Phoenicium. She is owned by Ballio & was sold to an officer who made a down payment. Ballio agrees to give her to Calidorus if they pay the rest of the $. Pseudolus tricks Harpax; pretending to be Syrus, slave of Ballio. He intercepts the transaction letter. He borrows the payment which he gives to Simia w/ the letter. Simia, pretending to be Harpax, finishes the deal for Phoenicium. Harpax appears & is angry. Ballio thinks he isn't really Harpax, but realizes he has been tricked & has to pay a bet to Simo and $ to the officer (Plautus)

-Pseudolus warns Simo that he will get the money from Simo himself and tells him that he should be on his guard -Pseudolus tricks Harpax into thinking he is Ballio's slave so that he gives him the letter -Simia tricks Ballio into thinking that he is Harpax and finishes the sale of Phoenicium

This is true for this play. The love between Calidorus and Phoenicium is hardly talked about, rather, it is used as a driving force for the entire play. Instead, the play consists of deception, planning and trickery organized by Pseudolus in order to retrieve Phoenicium. Even the title of the play itself alludes to this idea, as it is named after the master behind all of the clever deceit.

-When Pseudolus talks to himself about the situation he has gotten himself into (Page 233) -Pseudolus addresses the audience and says: "I imagine... that you good people imagine... that I have no intention of doing what I've just said I'm going to do... Well, you're wrong. I shall keep my word. (Page 238). -Slave boy speaks to audience about the money he needs to get for Ballio or else he will be tortured (Page 247). These moments further the dramatic action because it gets the audience directly involved with the plot

The name Lysistrata ('dissolving armies') is almost interchangeable with Lysimakhe ('dissolving battles'). Lysimakhe was supposedly priestess of Athena Polias for sixty-four years. Similarly, a woman named Myrrhine served the temple of Athena Nike in the second half of the fifth century (MacDowell, 241). The synonymity of these names suggests Lysistrata and Myrrhine in the play can be identified with two real priestesses. This sheds light on the plot because Lysistrata is able to gather a large meeting of women and assemble them towards one common cause -- something only a priestess would be able to do. Furthermore, when Myrrhine seduces her husband she retrieves belongings from somewhere close by -- most likely the temple of Athena Nike, which would make sense as a place for the priestess of that temple to store her belongings.

Greek culture revolved around the phallus as a religious symbol of fertility and also for comedic effect

-comedy of the absurd: fantastical -comedy of the "great idea": a non-sensical, unrealistic solution for a real problem -from low-brow (farce, slapstick, obscenity, sexual inuendo) to sophisticated

the god of comedy, god of the vine (wine), often drunk

Non-political, domestic comedy Menander

one or more scenes introducing "plot" and main characters

False (Parados)

formal debate between two characters

chorus directly addresses audience, sometimes in persona of playwright; actors off-stage; dramatic illusion is broken

concluding scene; did the "great idea" work?

The play begins with a short dialogue between Pyrgopolynices and Artotrogus. Palaestrio then delivers a somewhat lengthy speech similar to that of a prologue. Essentially, Pleusicles and Philocomasium are in love, however, Pyrgopolynices abducts Philocomasium while Pleusicles is away on a business trip. Palaestrio, a servant, hears about what happened and immediately embarks to inform his master. However, Palaestrio's ship is taken by pirates and he is brought to Pyrgopolynices as a gift. Upon his arrival, him and Philocomasium recognize each other but keep it a secret. Palaestrio then writes a letter to his master telling him to come to Ephesus in hopes that he will save Philocomasium. When Pleusicles gets there, he is welcomed by Periplectomenus, the neighbor of Pyrgopolynices, whose houses are actually adjoined. Realizing the situation, Palaestrio cuts a hole in the wall allowing the lovers to see one another. Later one day, Sceledrus (one of Pyrgopolynices' slaves) is caught on the roof by Periplectomenus looking into his skylight. Sceledrus claims he was only chasing a monkey but Periplectomenus believes that he saw the two lovers together. Palaestrio, the clever slave, then develops a plan to convince Sceledrus that he did not actually see the two together by saying that Philocomasium has a twin sister named Honoria that is visiting and staying with Periplectomenus. After Philocomasium returns through the hole in the wall, she tells Sceledrus about a dream she supposedly had in which her twin sister came to Athens. Philocomasium then pretends to be Honoria by giving order to slaves inside of Periplectomenus' house and Periplectomenus becomes angry with Sceledrus for how he has treated his guest. Palaestrio then comes up with another plan, in which he will find someone to act as Periplectomenus' wife, who wants to be with Pyrgopolynices. Pyrgopolynices falls for the trick, taking Palaestrio's advice to let Philocomasium go but also to leave her with gold and jewels so that she is not upset. Acroteleutium and Pyrgopolynices then meet and go back to Periplectomenus' house, where Pyrgopolynices is beat up for kidnapping a married woman. Pyrgopolynices offers them money to make them stop, realizing that the entire thing was a scheme and that he has been tricked. He does not seem upset, however, and the play ends with the soldier asking for the audience's applause.

The brief dialogue at the beginning introduces the flaws of the main characters and particularly highlights the boastfulness of Pyrgopolynices. It is important because it allows the audience to understand the characterization of Pyrgopolynices, a driving force for the plot. It anticipates the end of the play by alluding to the fact that his own arrogance is going to lead to his own fall. Metatheatre engages the audience a little bit more and allows the audience to see the characters thoughts. It also adds more personality to the character by giving them more dimensionality.

Artotrogous addresses the audience in the very beginning regarding Pyrgopolynices as a boastful man (Line 21) and again on line 34 saying that the only reason he is there is because Pyrgopolynices beats him -This statement alludes to the personality of Artotrgous and why he continually feeds the ego of the Braggart Soldier Palaestro addresses the audience to inform them of the events of the play, like a prologue but not at the very beginning (Line 79) -This helps the audience to understand the events of the play in the same way a prologue would Periplectomenus addresses the audience saying that the neighbors are now aware of what goes on in his house (Line 158) -This lets the audience into the characters thoughts At the end of the play when Pyrgopolynices tells the audience to applaud These instances of metatheatre occur often throughout the play and are most likely used in order to explain any confusion to the audience and more directly involve them by allowing them to feel and see what the characters themselves are experiencing

-It's pretty illogical to just make a twin up out of nowhere -When are two houses adjoined? -Wouldn't you know if your neighbor had a wife or not? -The soldier believed his slaves really easily (extremely gullible) -The timing that characters enter and exit seems to be all too perfect -Also when Pyrgopolynices realizes he has been tricked he does not seem upset at all There are a lot of logical inconsistencies in the play and the entire play as a whole is obviously logically inconsistent but that is because it is a comedy and the audience is expected to use their imagination and suspend realism for the duration of the play

The happy ending in this play is constituted by the entire town working together to overthrow Pyrgopolynices. Philocomasium is released and Pyrgopolynices gets what's coming to him. This leads to a happy ending for the townspeople but not for Pyrgopolynices as he did not get the girl he loved and was tricked and beaten in the end. However, because of the nature of a comedy, Pyrgopolynices shrugs off the fact that he was tricked and asks the audience for their applause.

His plays are concerned with everyday people and although the stories are unrealistic, the reactions and emotions of the characters hold some truth. Also, the use of stock characters make it easy to assume some of the stereotypes/generalizations that were in place at the time.

chorus enters, establishes its identity

Instituted c.530 Comedy from 486 on