Classical Model of Drama Flashcards
How did the Romans treat genre?
Clear cut separation of genre in Roman Comedy
How does Plautus’ The Menachemi relate to The Comedy of Errors?
Plot is indebted
But in what ways do they differ?
Shakespeare doubles potentilaity for mistaken identity and visual jokes by inserting an additional pair of twins
Pays close attention to character development
Fuses genre
Name the three convention for Drama as stated in Aristotle’s The Poetics…
- Comedy and tragedy are two diferent modes of writing
- Unities of time and place must be observed
- Actionand plot is more important than attention to character, usually used stock characters who teach moral lessons
What do the unities ensure?
Drama limited to duration of one day, one general locality
Solidity to plot
Creates consistency of time and place
Shakespeare treats genre differently to Plautus, how?
Uses genre as instrument because believes it to be generative.
Does Shakespeare observe the unities?
He does use the unities but he doesn’t attach himself to the tradition: someone is always trying to leave, involves men of high and lower fortunes, confuses genre
Comedy as a genre uses individual subjectivity. Where can this be found in the COE?
Act 2, scene 2.
Adriana encounters the wrong Antipholus whom she thinks is her husband - Luciana is shocked by Antipholus’ advancements - Dromio protests to have never met these women before - mater and salve united
Explain individual subjectivity in this scene
All four characters acting reasonably and honestly. But each is doubly wrong about what has happened and who talking to
How does Shakespeare differ from Plautine original in relation to character?
Characters are endowed with an inner life and dramatic autonomy. So does further than Classicism
Who does Shakespeare place greater emphasis on?
On the travelling brother and his quest for his brother
Plautus presents us with two characters who are alike and fit each others situation. What does Shakespeare do?
Creates two different characters who respond to error differently and reflects individual self
What is the relevant quote in Act 1, scene ii?
He that commends me to mine own/ Content/ Commends me too the things that i cannot get./ I to the world am like a drop of water/ That in the ocean seeks another drop,/ Who, falling there to find his fellow forth,/ Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself./ So i, to find a mother and a brother,/ In quest of them, unhappy lose myself”
What do all of Antipholus’ speeches convey?
Deepest fear of loss of self, fear of change
Before Antipholus’ soliloquy above, what happens?
Antipholus and Dromio part before speech just before occurence of comic error. Skilful preparation. Comedy quietens fears of change.
The transforming power becomes identified with women. What does Adrianna say about marriage in ii,ii?
“Oh how comes it/ That thou art then estranged from thyself?”
What are Adriana’s thoughts on marriage?
Transforms two into one. Restebalishes water drop image and argues amrriage is a confounding of self
So Antipholus is presented with two women who claim to know him. What does he do?
Respomds with monologuse cast as a dialogue, questions his identity
What does the monologue do?
Sets up series of rhetorical questions which set up dichotomy between ‘i’ and ‘you’
So the rehtoric conveys…
an inner consciousness
Antipholus talks about how he has been recreated because of his love for Luciana in iii,ii, 61…
It is thyself, mine own self’s better part…
What does Dromio’s arrival on the scene mean?
Provides description of Luce full of beastial imagery, provides effective counterbalance.
So both men…
Undergo a parallel transformation
So Shakespeare uses comic soliloquy how?
Dramatise character development
The Comedy of Errors is pervaded by tragicomedy, where can it be found?
Antipholus’ soliloquies
First scene pervaded by dark atmosphere. Second scene presents disunity of genre
How does rhetoric problematise character?
Rhetoric of consciousness, soliloquies, colloquial verse form and breaks in thought = character complex and lifelike
Name the ways Shakespeare differs from Classical conventions…
Character dev through confusion of genre, soliloquies + developed dramatic autonomy
Still set against comic backdrop and mistaken identity
Doubles potentialities for MI
Focus on one character: comedy quiets his fears
Twists conventions so as to encompass tragic and comic genre
How would the open air areans of Elizabethan age reinforce unities?
The sun actually setting as the play draws
to a close, the crowded, street-like area before the stage, and even the stationary
nature of observing a play all work to subtly reinforce the unities of time, place and
action
