GK1005, Menander 1 Introduction Old Comedy 5Th C. BC Athens

Home , Alexis (poet), Diphilus, Eupolis, Menander, Philemon (poet)

GK1005, Menander 1 Introduction

Old Comedy 5th c. BC Athens: Magnes, Cratinus, Eupolis (only fragments); Aristophanes. Part of the city-festivals in honour of Dionysus: City Dionysia, Lenaea (from 440 BC), and Rural Dionysia in the 4th c.

Characteristics • Chorus: 24 members, central element and of primary importance in Old Comedy (cf. Acharnians, Birds, Frogs), intervenes and participates in the events portrayed. parabasis: the chorus steps out of character, speaks directly for the poet and addresses the audience to deliver advice. • Plot: the context is the contemporary situation in Athens and the plot is usually fantastic (e.g., Acharnians, Peace, Birds); festive ending. • Personal attacks: use of obscene language; targets: prominent men of contemporary society, politicians, intellectuals, artists

Middle Comedy Between Old and New Comedy, i.e., c. 404 - 321 BC: Alexis, Antiphanes, Eubulus, Timocles (only fragments). Changes in the form of comedy are evident already in the last two extant plays of Aristophanes, Assemblywomen (393) and Wealth (388), esp. in the role of the chorus.

Characteristics: • Chorus: gradually loses its significance; no parabasis • Plot: the topical element declines and material is no longer taken from contemporary reality in Athens; choice of more universal themes. Great variety of subjects: political themes (without, however, outright personal attacks), mythological burlesque (travesty of a myth or parody of tragic versions of myth), comedy of mistaken identity, love affairs. • Interest in ordinary life and everyday experiences, and presentation of contemporary types and manners.

New Comedy 321 - c.250 BC: Philemon, Menander, Diphilus, Posidippus.

Characteristics • Chorus: takes no part in the plot. • Plot: universal themes, subjects taken from human experience. Social tensions, love affairs, personal relationships (⇨ adapted for the Roman stage, Plautus, Terence ⇨ comic theatre of Europe from the Renaissance onwards) • Five-act structure. • Political references and personal attacks/obscenity are rare. • Stock characters and situations: cooks, parasites, pimps, boastful soldiers, courtesans, angry or avaricious old men, young men in love.

Menander (344/3 - 292/1) Less successful in his own time (8 victories) than Philemon, but generally recognized as the outstanding comic poet of New Comedy. Allegedly a student of Theophrastus (associate and successor of Aristotle at the Lyceum), and Alexis (Middle Comedy playwright), and a friend of Demetrius of Phalerum (the pro-Macedonian governor of Athens, 317-307 BC).

• Transmission of the text: Menander's plays were in wide circulation until the 7th c. AD and then they were completely lost. Re-discovery of Menander in the 20th c. through papyrological findings containing parts of his plays. Until then our main source of knowledge for Menander and New Comedy in general was the Latin adaptations by Plautus and Terence. Surviving works (in large or scanty portions): Dyscolus (first prize at Lenaea, 316; almost complete), 'The Bad-Tempered Man' Epitrepontes, 'Arbitration' Perikeiromene, 'Rape of the Locks' Samia,'The Girl from Samos' Aspis, 'Shield' Sikyonios, 'The Man from Sikyon' Misoumenos, 'The Man she Hated' Dis Exapaton , 'Twice Deceiver' Georgos, 'Farmer' Heros, 'Hero' Theophoroumene, 'Girl Possessed' Karchedonios, 'The Man from Carthage' Kitharistes, 'Harpist' Kolax, 'Toady' Perinthia, 'The Girl from Perinthus' Phasma, 'Phantom' Ancient authors have also preserved collections of quotations and maxims, some of which may belong to Menander, but most have wrongly been attributed to him. • Plot: private, domestic problems and personal relationships between families; love affairs; tension between generations; comedy of situations (problems created by ignorance or misunderstandings and mistaken interpretations of evidence). • Five-Act form: exposition -- complication -- resolution; developments not limited to specific acts. • Sophisticated technique, elegance and economy, master of plot-construction and of representation of real life. • Stock characters: slaves, cooks, courtesans, soldiers, parasites, old men, young men in love. Ordinary people (rich or poor), not public figures. • Variety and suspense, playing with the audience's expectations, e.g., by adding new elements to traditional figures, or developing usual traits in new directions. • Influences: o Old Comedy: flatterer (kolax → parasite), slapstick, festive ending. o Tragedy (esp. Euripides): family conflicts, reversal of fortune, moralizing tone, recognition scenes, divine prologue where the audience is provided with facts, details and information still unknown to the characters ⇨ dramatic irony. o Philosophy: Theophrastus Characters, general philanthropy, middle course.