Classical Studies 3310F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Plautus, Sex Strike, Euripides
4 Apr 2017
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Smaller dramatic festival held early in the year. These plays are about the everyday people and they end on a happy note. Aristophanes: 485 385 bce, the most famous playwright of old comedy. Fantastic: sometimes that choruses are comprised of speaking animals. Erect phalluses attached to costumes: designed to make people laugh even before the actors opened their mouths. References to contemporary personalities: mainly politicians. Menander: 342 292 bce, the most famous playwright of new comedy. Social situations within the household: menander greatly reduced the role of the chorus. A parent objects or one of them is a slave. Conflict: between members of the family or members of the household. Stock characters: the noble born slave girl, the stern father etc. Similar characters show up in every comedy. Copied and adapted by romans plautus and terence. Citizen men performed all the roles in the plays.
