Aristophanes wrote and produced comedies in Greece from 423
BC to 405 BC. These plays and his techniques have had a lasting effect on the
future of comedy and its place in human life. This can be shown through
comparisons to other legendary comedy playwrights, Plautus and Shakespeare,
with a time period spanning more than 2000 years.
Theatre
Aristophanes
Plautus
Plautus’s plays were performed
during religious worship festivals as part of the celebrations called Ludi
(meaning festival games). Theatre was not a priority in these times (c. 205BC-184BC), a permanent
theatre would be expensive and a moratorium on building permanent theatres was
in place till 55BC, so a temporary wooden theatre would be erected for the days
of the festival in a public place and then dismantled quickly after. This put
some restrictions on the size of the theatre, making it considerably smaller
than the Theatre of Dionysus. This placed limits on both seating and action on
stage and changed the interaction with the audience. The set out of the theatre was very similar to
that of early Greek theatre. There was a long and narrow stage house at the
front and centre of the theatre. It was a lot smaller than Greek theatres again
because of the temporary nature of the performances. The stage house had 3
openings/doors, often a brothel, temple and hero’s house. The set was designed to imitate local
settings so that the audience could recognise allusions and easily identify the
characters and plot. For instance, in the play Amphitryon, there would
have been a god’s house for Jupiter, a normal house front for Alcmena and Amphitryon and a ship/pier setting for the plot line.
They would have been made in a style which showed the audience the setting in
ancient Thebes. The wooden stage in front of the stage house (Pulpitium) was also a lot smaller than
the Proskenian of Greek times. As copied from the Greek theatre, there was a
flat Orchestra, except it was altered to be a semi-circle. There was no chorus
in Greek theatre so this area was used as overflow for seating. Those who were
lower social class would stand in the orchestra, jammed up against the Pulpitium, influencing the nature of the
play. As the audience were a lot closer, (those sitting as well those standing)
there was no need for the dramatic action and over the top gestures of
Aristophanes’s plays. The actors could utilize their voices as the storytellers
and the audience felt more involved and a part of the play. For instance, in Amphitryon during Alcmena and Amphitryon’s fight, instead of using
large gestures and body language, words and tone would have been used to show each
of the character’s anguish. Plautine
theatres also had concentric tiers of bench-like seating, (called Cavea) as well as wings curving around
the back of the stage house. This helped carry and amplify the sound so that
everyone could hear the actors and prologue.
Shakespeare
Summary
We can see that Aristophanes’s theatres layouts had lasting
impact on the design and use of theatres through following years. This would
partly be because of the success of this set up and how effective the design
was at carrying sound and accommodating large audiences. In modern theatre and
stages we can see large similarities as well, especially with sloping seating
and backstage areas.
The images and details of the theatre remains almost constant
throughout the playwrights. All of them have a stage, a stage house and an orchestra.
Aristophanes and Plautus both use concentric tiered seating and Shakespeare
uses this but adds vertical privileged seating also. This is because the tiered
seating was very effective at holding many people who all have a view of the
stage, as well amplifying the word, song and music from the stage. The Globe
added the vertical seating because of the strict social status divisions. This
can be seen in the fact that people who stood on the ground were called
groundlings and also ‘stinkards.’ Apparently they were sweaty and dirty and
smelt awful. They often started fights and occasionally threw things at the
actors. The rich and high status people would have wanted to be separated from
this, and in order to make everyone happy, the vertical seating was added.
Aristophanes’s theatre could hold a lot more people because
his plays were shown once during festivals and the play would help the
population make important political decisions. Therefore, as many people as
possible had to attend. Plautus’s
theatre could seat less but his plays were more for entertainment and weren’t a
popular form of entertainment in his era. This is because the Romans preferred
things such as ritual fights in the infamous Colosseum. It was a society where
violence was valued over humorous plays. Shakespeare’s theatre could seat even
fewer people, but he put on plays every day and as many as 3000 people attended
each day. This means that a smaller theatre was sufficient.
Aristophanes’s theatre was constructed from a hollowed
hillside and utilizes the gradient of the slope, whereas Plautus and
Shakespeare showed their plays in built wooden structures. This was because of
the advances in technology over time and the unavailability of the perfect
hillside. For instance, to cater for the large city population, Shakespeare’s
theatre was built in London which is very flat.
The Stage House underwent some minor changes over time also.
In Plautus’s era it became smaller, because of the temporary nature of the
theatre. Roman society and culture did not value the theatre and so performance
venues had to be cheap and temporary constructions. In The Globe, it became
larger because of the availability of materials and the 3 story construction.
This is because the theatre had become a staple of entertainment in this
culture. There is evidence to suggest that in Aristophanes’s time, there was an
opening in the skene that looked into a scene or new setting called an Ekkyklema. This was not a feature of
Plautus’s theatre as the temporary theatre and stage house was only small and
did have the three sets (doors) opening onto the main stage. However, this is a
feature of the permanent structure The Globe. There was space and resources to
build this, and it allowed Shakespeare to provide more interesting and
multi-faceted plays.
The Orchestra also changed a little over time. The Orchestra
in the Greek theatre was a large circle, an adaption of the dancing circle from
Greek fertility festivals. There wasn’t a chorus in Roman plays and the idea to
make it a place for people to stand meant there was more room for audience
members. This continued in Shakespeare’s Globe where people stood in The Pit
which remained a semi-circle except the stage cut halfway into it. In both Aristophanes’s
and Plautus’s theatre, the stage was flush with the orchestra. I expect the
change in The Globe is because it meant the audience were more wrapped around
the stage, giving them a sense of involvement, as well as supplying a good view
to those in the second and third story.
In the Theatre of Dionysus there was a crane, called a
mechane which was used to lift gods onto the stage house roof in some plays.
This was not a feature in Plautus’s theatre because the theatre was temporary
and therefore simpler and cheaper in design. Also Plautus’s plays reflected real life, so
there was need for someone to be flying into a scene. However, there was a
crane-like structure in the Globe, where characters flew up and down through a
trap door from ‘heaven’ (the partial roof).
The social and wealth divisions seems to have carried
through the centuries. In Aristophanes’s theatre, those who were important
figures in the community such as priests and politicians sat in the first rows,
meaning they were closer to the action. Those less important sat further away,
where it was harder to hear and see the actors. There is little evidence that
women attended Aristophanes’s theatre, as men were of much higher status and
had political power, whereas women were restricted to home and domestic life.
In Plautus’s theatre those who were more valued in society were able to sit,
whereas people with lower social status stood. There are conflicting views over
whether women were allowed to watch Roman theatre, but if they were, they would
have a separated seating section. This was further perpetuated in Shakespeare’s
theatre where there were three different social and economic groupings. This is
because of changing view of class and women as time progressed.
Costume
Plautus’s costumes, much like his content, were copied and adapted
from those of Aristophanes. Actors wore traditional outfits of the time,
depending on their role. The stock standard outfit was a pallium, a piece of
cloth draped over and around an actor, similar to a toga with a tunic, a cloak
like piece over top. In Roman theatre,
different colours represented different characters. An old man’s was white and
a slave’s, woman’s and youth’s were brightly coloured. Old men also had a cane to show their
agedness. Men playing women wore the pallium equivalent, the palla, which was
longer, often fringed, thinner and decorated to show that the character was a woman.
Women characters also wore jewellery and the more jewellery she was wearing,
the richer and higher status the character was. Plautus also used masks, either
a full face mask like the Greeks, or a half mask which left the actor’s lips
and chin uncovered. (This was more comfortable for the jaw) By the features of
the mask, the audience could determine the type of character and in some cases,
the temperament of the character. Most were pale, with the more pale
representing youth or a young man. Slave’s masks were more ruddy, indicating
their working status. This can be seen in the mask on the right, which is what
Sosia in Amphitryon would have worn. A youthful man often had black or
brown hair, while a kind old man had white hair and a mean old man red hair. Women’s
masks were often made to be a bit more yellow, especially when creating an old
women. The mouths of the masks were wide to help to project their voices,
identically to the Greek Masks. Plautus utilizes the mask in plays such as Amphitryon
when Jupiter transforms to be identical to Sosia to trick him. Also in Menaechmi he would have
used identical costumes and masks to portray twins which would give a visual reality
to the mistaken identity storyline.
Shakespeare
Characters in Shakespeare’s plays wore clothes of the time
of the play that they were performing. For plays based in the 1500’s (then present
day) actors wore colourful dresses and tunics, padded in a way that created a
twisted version of the reality of a human body. The padding on shoulders and
hips as well as large ruffs around the neck were a trend in the 1500’s and these
costumes grew larger over this century. The aim was to wear as many fabrics and
colours as possible simultaneously as this showed status, so making the outside
of the costume larger meant that more could be fitted in and worn together. In
these days there were strict laws about clothes as they were a sign of rank,
and people caught dressing above their own rank could be put in the stocks.
Actors however, were the only ones allowed to dress out of their rank, which
let them play noblemen and women on the stage. Men wore a shirt called a
doublet and often had a padded belly underneath and puffy trunk hose covering
their pelvis. They wore ¾ tight pants and tights underneath this. You tell the
rank of the men apart because a gallant man always had a sword, and a lower
ranked man wore cheaper fabrics and did not have tights underneath their
outfit. Men acting as women wore wide dresses with huge padded sleeves and
hips. The more impractical the dress was, the higher rank the character was.
Woman characters covered themselves in jewels with necklaces, rings and
earrings. Very high ranked characters had diamonds and pearls sewn into their
dresses. However, the costume would have had cut glass rather than diamond, as
no one would lend their expensive jewellery. Women characters also wore perfumed
gloves. In Much Ado about Nothing, Hero says “these gloves the Count sent me,
they are an excellent perfume.” Gloves indicated femininity and that the woman
was very fashionable. Shakespeare occasionally spoke of costume in his pays and
used it as a comedic device such as in Twelfth Night, when a joker pretending
to be Olivia demands that Malvolio wear yellow stockings with cross garters. Stage
make up also gave the audience an idea about who the character was. Different
colours could be used to emulate dark skin or very pale characters. It was a
vital part of transforming a boy into a young woman. The boy would have a white
face, red cheeks and a blond wig. Crushed pearls were sometimes added to create
a shining affect for actors playing fairies, such as in Midsummers Night Dream.
Summary
Masks were used in Aristophanes and Plautus. Mostly, this is
due to their success at total and fast transformation from an actor to any
character. This device also meant that one actor could play many different actors
in one play, saving money and also ensured that the rules of how many actors could
be on the stage could be enforced, without sacrificing how many characters the
play had. The Greek and Roman theatres were huge and so the masks were used to
project the voice so that all audience members could hear the play and
therefore the playwright’s message. However, the Globe theatre was a lot
smaller in comparison and the projection wasn’t needed. The disadvantage of
masks were that they meant that the actor could show no facial emotion.
Shakespeare needed the characters to show many different emotions to make the
plays more relatable, so the use of masks was abandoned.
All playwrights used costumes of the time in which the play
was set. To the audience this would have made the play more lifelike and
therefore more interesting. The costumes were a big part of how visually
convincing the play was, so that the messages also became real and of
importance.
All playwrights also used costume as a way to show what
class or what type of person the character was. In all of the societies we are
talking about, the class of a person was an important part of who they were.
Therefore it was important that this was reflected in their costume. The
audience had more understanding of how they should feel about them.
Humour and Content
Aristophanes
Aristophanes used many different comedic devices to connect
with his audience, including bawdiness, parody, visual, scatology, satire,
surrealism, slapstick, puns, ridicule and verbal wit. Humour was a very
important part of Greek theatre as it captured the attention of the audience.
This meant that Aristophanes could draw the audience in and then tell them
important messages about political decisions and Athenian society. The humour
would help the audience listen to his messages about the Peloponnesian War,
Cleon and the aftermath of Arginusae. However, the sole purpose of the plays
was not only to speak Aristophanes’s thoughts, but to celebrate creativity and
theatre. He used bawdy humour often. Bawdy
humour reminds us of the fertility festival origins of Greek theatre and shows
the audience what joy and pleasure they have lost by going to war and leaving
the old Athenian ideas. He uses both verbal and physical bawdiness. For example
in The Wasps, when Philocleon exclaims “This is dreadful: what’s happening to
me? I’m softening.” And the scene with the slave girl when Philocleon says
“Hold onto this rope. Be careful, it’s a bit old and worn; but you’d be
surprised what it’ll stand up to!” In The Frogs, when the two poets are
arguing, Aeschylus comments that “No one can say that I have ever put an erotic
female into any play of mine.” And Euripides interjects with “How could you?
You’ve never even met one!” Visual humour was very strong in his plays. This
comes from the animal costumes of the fertility phallic processions that
theatre originated from. One example of this is the large ‘stings’ which the
jurymen wore in The Wasps. The naked flute girl in the same play would have
been funny because everybody would have known the actor was male. The sight of
Dionysos in The Frogs would have been funny because he was trying to disguise
himself as hero Heracles, but visible is his long feminine nightshirt. The
Wasps is also rich in satire in the Trial of the Dog, which helps Aristophanes criticise
the jury system, the jurymen and Cleon. The entire trial of the dog stealing
cheese scene is a satire of a current Athenian situation, where “the Dog of
Cydathenaeum” is Cleon and the dog is Labes. The guilty/ not guilty decision is
decided before the entire trial when Philocleon comments “Ha, wait till he
hears his sentence!” also, the jury infers guilt from the dog’s look,
Philocleon commenting “The filthy scum, look at his furtive look!” Also, in
Cleon’s opinion the greater crime is not sharing the stolen cheese. All of this
satire of the real jury system in Greece shows the audience how unjust and
corrupt the system and Cleon are. These ideas would challenge what audiences at
the time thought of their leader and their jury system.
Plautus
Plautus borrowed a lot of his plot line and stories from New
Greek comedy playwrights. Although most of his plays are Greek stories, he has
incorporated Roman concepts and terms. The New Greek comedy was different from
that of Aristophanes- it was more about home life and not about politics and Society
as Aristophanes was. Roman people would not have cared to see a play such as
The Wasps because it held many issues which did not concern them. Plautus wrote
in a lively way, most of his humour being slapstick, but also having puns,
irony, visual humour, and funny plot lines. However, he seems to have used
slapstick comedy the most. This is because this type of humour was what the
audience liked. An example of this in in the play The Swaggering Soldier when
the audience is told to watch the movements of Palaestrio very carefully, as
the actor is dramatically thinking. Another slightly bawdy example is in the
play Casina, a Chalinus (male servant) is disguised as the woman Casina so that
Casina will not have to have sex with two older men. The following "I put my hands on a... a... handle.
But now that I think about it, she didn't have a sword: that would have
been cold... It's so embarrassing!!" This would have been very funny and
with humour humiliated the old men that the audience disliked.
However, unlike in the time of Aristophanes, the audience
also needed to see violence to capture their attention. This is because
violence and bloodshed were the norm of entertainment in Roman society- because
of the amphitheatre. To capture audiences and make it popular, Plautus had to
bring this violence onto the stage. He involved energetic mimed action and on
some occasions real fights. Violent
fight scenes were common in his plays, and so were random acts of violence as a
way to solve problems or for no reason, punish others. For example in the play
Captiui, a slaveholder brutalizes a young man, who ironically is actually his
long lost son. Another man in the same play, Hegio, says that if the slave does
not do as he is told, he “shall at once have something to be giving to you.” In
the play Casina, the enslaved girl Casina is bribed for sex with presents but
these do not work so she is whipped and starved into submission. The violence
is a strong content in Plautus’s play because of Roman society’s values at this
time.
Shakespeare
Shakespeare wrote many different comedic plays, and used
many different comedic devices, such as irony, language play, verbal wit, visual
humour, mistaken identity, insults and bawdy humour. Shakespeare’s comedies
were mostly light-hearted romantic plays with a happy ending. Shakespeare wrote
comedy to entertain and amuse as well as to engage the audience so that he
could show important ideas. The comedy was used to involve the audience and
make them laugh. Audience laugh often because of the action, words and mistakes
of characters. If his plays were not entertaining, then he would go out of
business. Elizabethan people wanted to go to the theatre as a sort of escapism,
because of the hard working society that they were in. Many of his comedies had
fantasy settings or hard to believe story lines- which served as an escape for
both the characters and the audience.
One of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies is Midsummers
Night’s Dream. One example of humour is what happens between Puck and
Bottom. Puck replaces Bottoms head with the head of a donkey (ass) so that the
queen of the fairies who is under a spell will fall in love with him. The fact
that the character is called Bottom is funny, but Shakespeare also makes Bottom
turn into an Ass. Another humorous scene is when Tom Snout becomes a wall for
the play and must spread his fingers to symbolize a hole in the wall through
which Pyramus and Thisbe must kiss. Pyramus remarks “O kiss me through the hole
of this vile wall!” and Thisbe replies “I kiss the wall’s hole, not your lips
at all.” This is a mix of bawdy and visual humour.
Mistaken
identity and cross dressing is a plot line that Shakespeare often used for
comedy. An example is in the plays the Merry Wives of Windsor and Twelfth
Night. In the Merry Wives of Windsor the huge beast of a man
Falstaff dresses up as the Witch of Brenford and it’s very funny because he is
a huge man with a beard and the other characters are laughing at him. In Twelfth
Night, the girl Viola dresses up a boy and this causes a lot of confusion
and as she is mistaken for her twin Sebastian. That creates a lot of chaos
within the play because there are characters that mistake Viola for Sebastian
and Sebastian for Viola. The ensuing mix-up is amusing and the audience feels a
little superior because we know the real identities of the twins. This is a
technique called dramatic irony.
Insults are
also something that Shakespeare uses to unite the audience and they often have a
slapstick affect. One example is in the play Twelfth Night. When Sir
Andrew and Sir Toby Belch are talking about Andrew’s hair which is visually
flat and lifeless. Andrew says “but it becomes me well enough, does’t not?”
Toby says “Excellent; it hangs like a flax on a distaff; and I hope to see a
housewife take thee between her legs and spin it off.” Here, Toby is not only comparing
his hair to a woman spinning thread from flax. He is also insulting Toby by
saying that he hopes that a woman will take him between her legs and that he
contracts Syphilis, an STD which causes hair loss, hence the “spin it off.”
Summary
Many comedic devices have survived since Aristophanes and
have continued to make audiences laugh. All playwrights used bawdy humour,
visual humour and language wit.
Bawdy humour is evident in all of the playwrights’ work. It
would seem that humans over the course of history have found humour in sexually
suggestive jokes, no matter the society at the time, and humour found in women’s
and men’s sexuality looks to have always appealed to audiences. It did change a
little over time, with Roman bawdiness often involving more violent and
oppressive situations toward women. This is because of how the society treated
women and prostitutes at the time.
Visual humour has also lasted throughout all three playwrights’
work. Theatre is a very visual medium and it seems very natural for the writer
to make the actors do funny and comedic things to make the audience laugh.
Therefore, Aristophanes used it to appeal to his audience so that they would
also take in his messages. Plautus used it so that the audience would find
humour in the characters and be entertained. Likewise, Shakespeare used it to
amuse his audience and make them remember the play and its themes.
Also all playwrights have used witty language. All audiences
seem to have enjoyed this. It is a very entertaining form of humour and makes
the audience feel good as they feel they are clever enough to get the joke. It
connects the audience to the play and encourages them to listen closely to hear
the puns. In listening closely, they listen also to the messages of the plays.
Mistaken identity was something introduced by Plautus and
the comedy and confusion created by this was so successful and funny that it
became a large part of Shakespeare’s comedies.
Conclusion
As discussed, the comedies of Aristophanes had long lasting
impact on the works of Plautus and Shakespeare. Some things have hardly
changed, while others have adapted to the society and audience expectations of
the time. The theatre, costuming and comedic devices are just three aspects of
Aristophanes’s plays which have had significant impacts on the playwrights and
theatre which have followed him. It is due to the success and genius of
Aristophanes’s works that he has had such a lasting influence.
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