Study Guide to The Plays of Aristophanes

Intelligent Education

• Publisher: Influence Publishers
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781645424437
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for selected works by Aristophanes, is popularly known as the Father of Comedy. Titles in this study guide include Plutus, The Ecclesiazusae, The Frogs, The Thesmophoriazusae, Lysistrata, The Birds, Peace, The Clouds, The Wasps, The Knights, and The Acharnians.As a playwright of Old Comedy, his work explores the limits of comedy. Moreover, his work was pivotal in the progression and popularity of comedy. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Aristophanes' classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons they have stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work
- Character Summaries
- Plot Guides
- Section and Chapter Overviews
- Test Essay and Study Q&AsThe Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.

INTRODUCTION TO ARISTOPHANES

 

Aristophanes was born between 450 and 444 B.C., the son of Philippos, in the Athenian deme of Kudathenaion. This deme is outside the city of Athens, so Aristophanes was mainly raised in a country atmosphere which was in contrast to the effeminate and sophistic climate of the city. His family must have been cultured, for Aristophanes shows a fine knowledge of Greek literature. While he was a teen-ager, the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and their allies, began. In 427, Aristophanes produced his Daitales against the city climate and culture which he thought unmanly. It won a second prize. The following year, he produced The Babylonians at the Festival of the Great Dionysia, in which he attacked all the authorities in Athens, but particularly Cleon. Both of these plays were presented under the name of Callistratus. Cleon objected to The Babylonians, since the audience contained foreigners, and he prosecuted Aristophanes for treason. Fortunately, Aristophanes escaped.

In 425, Aristophanes produced The Acharnians under his own name, and it won first prize at the Lenaean Festival. The next year, he produced The Knights, which also won the first prize at the Lenaea. This was followed in 423 by the lost Holkades, presented at the Lenaea, and The Clouds, which won the third (and last) prize at the Great Dionysia. In 422, Aristophanes attacked the juries’ savagery in The Wasps, winning second prize at the Festival of the Lenaea, and produced the Georgi, probably at the Great Dionysia. That autumn, Cleon died. In 421, Aristophanes’ Peace won the second prize at the Great Dionysia, produced just before the Peace of Nicias was signed. It is thought that the Geras, on old age, was produced between 421 and 414. In 414, Aristophanes produced the Amphiaraus at the Lenaea and The Birds at the Great Dionysia, for which he won second prize.

In 411, Lysistrata, one of Aristophanes’ best-known plays, was presented at the Lenaea. The next year saw the first production of the Thesmophoriazusae, probably at the Lenaean Festival. In 408, Aristophanes produced the first version of Plutus, and the Thesmophoriazusae in its present version, as well as the Triphales. During this period he also wrote the Lemniai, the Gerytades, and the Phoenissae. The only plays surviving are Lysistrata and the second version of the Thesmophoriazusae. During this same period, in 406, the tragedians Euripides and Sophocles died.

In 405, Aristophanes produced the prize-winning The Frogs at the Lenaea, as well as the Niobos. After a hiatus until 392, Aristophanes’ next known play was produced. But this interval witnessed the Fall of Athens in 404, the changes in types of government in Athens, and the trial and death of Socrates (399 B.C.). In 392, The Ecclesiazusae was produced in parody of Plato’s Republic. In 388, the new version of Plutus was produced. After this date, we know only that Aristophanes produced the Kokalus and the Aiolosikon. He is generally believed to have died in 388 B.C.

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMIC DRAMA

ORIGINS

According to Aristotle’s Poetics, Greek poetry derives from imitation and the delight in imitation. Poetry, however, soon broke up into two kinds: graver poets would represent noble actions, and those of noble persons; meaner poets would represent the actions of the ignoble. The first is tragic drama, the second comic drama. Aristotle’s discussion of tragic and epic poetry is contained in his Poetics, that of comedy in a lost second book to the Poetics. From what we have, however, we can deduce that comedy was considered by Aristotle to deal with the lower classes of society. This division was carried on in the Renaissance to include the following characteristics:

1. The characters of tragedy are kings, princes, or great leaders; those of comedy are humble and private citizens.
2. Tragedy deals with great and terrible actions, while comedy deals with familiar and domestic actions.
3. Tragedy begins happily and progresses to a terrible ending, but comedy begins rather turbulently and ends joyfully.
4. The style and language of tragedy are elevated and sublime, while those of comedy are humble and colloquial.
5. Tragedy generally deals with historical subjects; comedy deals with invented situations.
6. Tragedy deals with exile and bloodshed, but comedy deals largely with love and seduction.

When we compare these criteria to Aristophanic comedy, we find that Old Comedy’s characters are humble people or private citizens; the actions are sometimes domestic, but often they have important and great meanings; comedy ends happily, usually in a festival; the style is humble and the diction is not only colloquial but obscene; comedy deals with fantastic, invented situations, but also with contemporary problems disguised by surface fantasy; and love and seduction are incidental and a small part of Aristophanic comedy.

Comedy ultimately derives from the komoidia, the song of the komos or revel, particularly the revels which took place at the festivals of Dionysus, the god of the vine and, more importantly, of fertility. According to Aristotle, comedy’s origin is with the leaders of the phallic performances. The phallic komos developed in primitive times when it was discovered that the phallus and the female genitalia were directly related to the production of children. Even today, for example, the Australian aborigine believes that reproduction occurs from the influence of particular nature and totem spirits, not from sexual intercourse. The phallic ceremony took place at festivals, particularly those of Demeter (a grain goddess) and Dionysus (the god of the vine), and it consisted of a religious procession of the revelers and dancing and singing to ensure the fertility of the crops. Occasionally, the phallic rite included intercourse in the fields so that the fertility of the participants might affect the fertility of the land.

Old Comedy, or Aristophanic Comedy, modifies the ritual into art. But Aristophanic Comedy still retained vestiges of the old ritual. The phallus plays a prominent part in the costuming and staging of the play; the play ends generally in a gamos or festive union of the sexes, either at a party or in marriages; and the off-color references to male or female genitalia are not so much obscene as carry-overs of the old ritual. With later Aristophanic Comedy, these elements tend to disappear or be played down.

In 486 B.C. comedy was officially recognized in Athens and became a part of the Dionysian celebrations at the Great Dionysia as well as the less formal lenaea. By the time Aristophanes wrote his first play, Old Comedy was well established, but the only examples that have survived are the first nine of Aristophanes’ eleven extant plays.

THE THEATER

Both tragedies and comedies were presented in the open-air theater (theatron or koilon), semi-circular in shape. Tiers of seats ranged upward from the lowest seats, frequently taking advantage of sloping ground to form a natural amphitheater. Their size attests the popularity of drama: the Theater of Dionysus in Athens could seat 17,000. In fact, the Greeks invented the theater building.

A flat place at the bottom of the hillside was circumscribed by a circle on which was constructed the orchestra, where the chorus danced and performed. In its center was an altar to Dionysus which was also used as a stage property in many plays. Facing the altar, in the first row center, sat the priest of Dionysus. Forming the flat end of the semi-circular orchestra was the skene (“tent” or “hut” from which we have the word “scene”). It was a wooden or stone structure which could represent the front of a house, palace, temple, or row of houses. Most of the action occurred on a low platform at its base (the proskenion). The three doors of the skene were used for the actor’s entrance or exit, as required. The skene itself was used inside for the actors’ dressing room. The Chorus did not enter through the skene, but from entrances on both sides called the parodoi. The orchestra was used for the opening prayers of the festival, as well as the choral dances and whatever action might require the actors to move forward. The top of the skene was also used for scenes set on the roof of a building. From there descended the deux ex machina (“god from a machine”) which Aristophanes used for the passage of gods, for Socrates’ basket, and for Trygaeus; ascent to heaven. Since gods were expected to descend from above, it was necessary to have a mechanical contrivance (also called the “machine”) to lower them to the acting area. The device is, of course, less important than the dramatic use made of it.

Another important stage device was the eccyclema, a platform which could be rotated or rolled out to reveal a scene inside the house. Euripides, for instance, appears to Dicaeopolis in The Acharnians in an eccyclema.

As drama became more established, two wings were added to each side of the skene to frame the acting area. These are the paraskene (“beside the skene”).

OCCASIONS FOR THE DRAMA

Plays were primarily produced at the Great Dionysia, held in March to April, in Athens, for the Festival of Dionysus. This feast was originally reserved for tragedy, but eventually came to include three days of tragic production and one day of comedies. The tragedians had to present four plays, three of them tragedies, and the fourth a lighter piece, usually a satyr play. The satyr play derived its name from the Chorus, which always consisted of satyrs. The satyrs were mythological attendants of Dionysus, and were represented as men with pointed ears, short horns, and goat legs. The three tragedies might or might not be related to one another. At the beginning of tragic production, this “trilogy” did revolve around a common story. By the time of Sophocles and Euripides, a common motif was no longer required. The satyr plays were offered as a light diversion after a day-long attendance at the theater, seated on hard benches. Three tragedians competed for prizes, each presenting a set of three tragedies and a satyr play on each day. Comedies were submitted singly by three playwrights on the fourth day, also in competition for a prize for comedy.

Comedy was the production staged at the Festival of the Lenaea (“Wine Press”), held January to February. A third festival was the Rural Dionysia held between December and January in various towns within the Greek peninsula.

DRAMATIC PRODUCTION

All plays were presented during the day, thus very rarely does the action call for a night scene. The actors themselves were always men and always wore masks so that everyone could readily recognize the type of character or characteristic being portrayed. The number of speaking actors on stage at any one time did not exceed three, for the individual actors would change masks and costumes off-stage and re-enter as a different character. A certain larger-than-life appearance was given the actor by the use of the cothurnus, the high-soled boot. Comic actors customarily wore a short tunic which could expose the large phallus each carried. Since the roles of women in Aristophanic comedy were played by men, it is obvious that the nude or exposed women in the plays are really costumed representations of the female body.

STRUCTURE OF COMEDY

Unlike Greek Tragedy, Old Comedy has a typical plot which has an organic relationship with its formal structure.

Prologue

In the Prologue, the leading character conceives a “happy idea,” extravagantly imaginative or absurdly impractical, which will solve some problem.

Parodos

The entrance of the Chorus, which frequently personifies non-humans such as clouds, wasps, frogs, etc.

Agon

The debate in which the “happy idea” is opposed and defended, thus establishing the main subject of the play. Those opposed to the idea are always defeated.

Parabasis

The actors retire and the Chorus comes forward to address the audience directly. The Chorus expresses the poet’s ideas on a variety of subjects, and normally states the theme of the play and its implications in plain language. Occasionally the Chorus defends the playwright.

Episodes

In the episodes, the “happy idea” is put into practice. The consequences of the idea are dramatized in a series of scenes, interrupted by stasima or choral songs commenting on the scene, which show the leading character and typical figures who would be affected by the idea. The episodes usually have no sequential connection with each other; they do tend, however, to rise to an emotional climax.

Exodos

Plays frequently end with a feast or some form of male-female union (the gamos), as might b...