CLAS 360: Greek and Roman Comedy

CLAS 360-002: Greek and Roman Comedy
(Spring 2019)

03:00 PM to 04:15 PM TR

Aquia Building 347

Section Information for Spring 2019

Memorandum on CLAS-360 (Greek and Roman Comedy)

Olga Arans, Instructor

Framing the genre of comical drama in a broader context of the nature of laughter and ridicule, one has to realize that, while rooted in basic instinctual responses, these human emotions are highly intellectual in nature. Producing comical effect is a difficult task: indeed, it is much easier to make a person cry (that would be a property of tragedy), than to laugh (purported outcome of comedy). Moreover, incapacity to feel sorrow and sympathy is imputed as a moral flaw, while the lack of the sense of humor is regarded as an intellectual deficiency. Besides, there is a spectrum of individual perceptions of what is funny and what is not. In fact, comedy exhibits an inner proximity to philosophy, thus bridging the gap between the purportedly ludicrous, light-hearted, and the most serious genres.

Comedy is the most heterogeneous and diversified literary genre classical antiquity, combining the greatest variety of elements. Also, of all the dramatic genres of antiquity, comedy had undergone the longest chain of transformations and re-adaptations. While Attic tragedy practically died out with the fall of the Athenian democracy, Attic comedy has re-invented itself, developing into a new form of Hellenistic ‘comedy of manners’, surviving and flourishing in European literary tradition.

Thus, beginning with the traits of an archaic agrarian ritual (not merely traceable, but clearly enacted on the stage of earliest surviving comedies), classical comedy has evolved into the genre of popular sitcom as we know it today.

The course will begin with an excursus into the origins and meaning of the comic genre, its folkloric, ritual and religious roots, and proceed with the study of surviving literary monuments of ancient comedy in its two successively developing branches:

• The ‘Old Comedy’ (Classical period: political burlesque by Aristophanes as its sole extant author)
• The ‘New Comedy’ (Hellenistic period: ‘comedy of manners’ by Menander as the sole partially extant Greek author, as the trend continues by the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence, and beyond).

Discussion will highlight the evolution of the genre, its arsenal of symbolic imagery, semantic transformations and stock character-masks, and the ways of adaptation of the Greek legacy by the Roman tradition.

Attention will be paid not only to the literary merits of the comic dramas analyzed, but also to the genre’s reflection on contemporary social, political and intellectual issues of the day, as well as its inner dialogue with other literary genres (tragedy and philosophy). 

Also, the profound impact of ancient comedy on subsequent literary tradition (Renaissance Shakespeare, Neo-classical Moliere, Victorian Oscar Wilde, - to name a few pivotal authors, - all the way to modern comedy, built on and developing the ancient poetic techniques) will be discussed.

To give some examples of the course written assignments, - in addition to the interim tests, Bb posted quizzes and class exercises:

• Outline the essential Aristophanic values.
• Assess Aristophanes’ stance on education and demagogy.
• Evaluate the role of women in Aristophanes.
• Comment on Aristophanic social utopia.
• Analyze the motif of split and reunited families in New Comedy (children lost and found).
• Discuss the moral problems of family in New Comedy.
• Discuss the motif of “virgin birth” in New Comedy.
• Discuss the role of Slave persona in New Comedy. (Choose a specific play, or compare several plays.)
• Discuss the role of a Hetaera (courtesan) in New Comedy. (Choose a specific play, or compare several plays.)
• Discuss the character of Miles Gloriosus (vainglorious soldier) in New Comedy. (Choose a specific play, or compare several plays.)
• Compare the dramatic techniques of Plautus and Terence.
• Identify the motifs of the movie Oscar (1991, by Michael Barrie & Silvester Stallone, - modified after 1967 French original by Claude Magnier) as incorporating the elements of New Comedy.

Course Information from the University Catalog