Comedies! Flashcards
How many chrous members are there in a comedy?
24! They’re split into two choruses of 12.
What do comedy choruses often wear?
Animal costumes! Though, not always.
What do Choruses do?
They comment on events and wear grotesque masks.
Who were the choruses in ‘Frogs’?
1) Dead swan frogs. They are thought to have made beautiful sounds.
2) The chorus of initiates. They’re based off the Elysian mysteries, but Aristophanes was careful not to mock it, or reveal their secrets.
Comedy is more participatory (is that a word?) than tragidies. How?
The characters break the fourth wall, the audience can get involved in the action.
What was a ‘Parabasis’ in comedy?
It’s a section in comedy in which the chorus addresses the audience directly, speaking the voice of the playwright. It means ‘stepping aside’ as the chorus ‘step aside’ and speak to the audience. In ‘Frogs’, it’s line 674 - 737, pages 49 and 50.
Who was Aristophanes?
1) He may’ve been writing for specific actors.
2) He belonged to a new generation of comic playwrights (emerged in the 420s). But he’s still considered to write ‘Old Comedy’.
3) He rejuvinated the genre. He was very good at taking a simple premise and turning it into a plot.
4) All his plays have a bit of a fantastical element to them where he would take the real world and tweak the logic a little.
What are some of the humour type used in ‘Frogs’? Can you define them?
Slapstick, sexual humour, scatalogical, irony, visual humour, contemporary refrences, farce and meta.
1) Slapstick - physical comedy (the reason why they had padding! - think the beating contest!)
2) Sexual humour/innundos: “a little booby peaked out”.
3) Scatalogical - jokes about poo and farts.
4) Irony - humour created by contradictions.
5) Visual Humour - phallus, padding, changing of the Herakles costume, the slapping scene.
6) Contemporary refrences - exaggerated and paradied humour against politicians.
7) Farce - making things up!
8) Meta - breaking the fourth wall, being aware of your own humour.
What were some Comic costumes like?
1) Comic masks - grotesque to create humour and showed character’s ages.
2) Body suits - padding to create humour (and also act as a protective layering in slapstick scenes).
3) Phallos - part of the costume.
How many actors were there in a comedy?
Four!
Who was Cleon?
A contemporary politician. He attempted to prosecute Aristophanes for mocking him in Frogs.
Who was Alcibiades?
A politician who betrayed Athens. He also features in Plato’s Symposium.
What are some literary devices?
1) Satirisation of well-known politicans as well as parodying societal conventions in general (master-slave relationships, sexual relationships, treatment of slaves).
2) The chorus use the PARABASIS to break the fourth wall.
3) The AGON is the climax of the play, a formal debate between two sides, mimicking a legal battle.
4) Aristophanes employs imagery known to his audience - the imagery of coins to denote the worth of politicians - “I’ve often thought our city treats her finest like vintage coins and the new gold.” Page 50.
Who was Aristophanes?
“The Father of Comedy”
- c. 450 - 386.
- Wrote forty plays, but only eleven survive.
- Very satirical.
- His first recorded play was presented in 427.
- He’s the only comic writer whose plays survive, so he’s our only example of what complete comedies were like.
