Background to the Roman Comedy

 Menander (342 BC-290 BC) was a famous and prolific Greek comic dramatist. He is said to have written more than a hundred comedies, of which only one—Dyskolos—is available. Plautus was exposed to Greek theatre and Greek New Comedy, especially the comedy of Menander, when he joined the Roman army as a soldier and travelled across Southern Italy. Plautus chose to rework Menander’s plays instead of just translating them. He introduced local Roman colour in the plays. Though he borrowed the plot and characters from the original play, he would add his own brand of slapstick comedy and raucous humour to the play. Plautus also introduced music, song and dance in his plays. Today, this aspect of his plays is lost to us as very little of Roman comedy has remained for the modern world to study. He is said to have written more than 130 plays, but we have access to only 21 of them in the present age. They are written in Latin and are possibly the earliest works of Roman literature. Some of his most famous works are The Pot of Gold, The Menaechmi, Stichus, Amphitryon.

Plautus’ Name

A Roman citizen was entitled to three names. On attaining Roman citizenship, Plautus took the names Titus Maccius Plautus. Plautus means “splay-foot” or flat footed. The word is derived from “planis pedibus”—which means flat-footed.

Plautus and Terence [Publius Terentius Afer (195 BC-159 BC)] are counted among the two greatest dramatists of the Roman comedy—“Fabula Palliata”.

 

Menander was a huge influence on Plautus, and The Pot of Gold is thought to be inspired from one of Menander’s lost comedies. Plautus’ comedy is mostly situational, with a lot of complications in the action, which may arise from mistaken identity, deliberate concealing of information or the villainy of a wily character. It relies equally on surprises and the predictability of familiar characters and situations. The satire is genial in tone, and whatever the outcome, the characters learn something from the action of the play. His comedy plays give us an insight into Roman local life, because even though he is influenced by the Greek New Comedy, he places his own characters in his contemporary society and makes them speak Latin. Unlike Terence, who wrote his plays in Greek and set them in Athens, Plautus changed the settings of his plays to several places across Italy.

 

Greek Comedy first developed with Susarion, said to be the earliest comic poet. Greek Comedy was also influenced by the processions common in Greek society. The coarse humour at these festivals—where actors played out bawdy plays—was the origin of comedy. These village festivals were held in honour of Greek god of fertility, Dionysus. A band of young men would take out a procession while dancing and singing. They jested and indulged in comic banter, invariably parodying myths, legends and heroes. Such a procession was called a comus, the song was a comoedia, or a comedy. By Aristotle’s time comedy had been established as a branch of drama. Like tragedy, it did have a chorus and the actors wore masks. Plato saw comedy as anything that excites laughter in the audience. These plays were then regulated by the state, and comedy became an important source of our insights into Greek society. The Athenian drama was not spread across the whole year, but restricted to two seasons—the two festivals of Dionysus—the Lenaea and the City Dionysia. Plays, both comedies and tragedies, were performed from morning to evening, with no breaks. Thus, every performance was a contest. All the plays were competing for prizes offered by the state. A jury would take the final decision. Greek Comedy has been broadly divided into three phases—Old Comedy, Middle Comedy and New Comedy.

 

The Old Comedy began around 450 BC, from the bawdy revelry of the Dionysian festival. The comic genre allowed the actors to be audacious in their criticism. The writers and players had the licence to abuse or criticise any person or institution they wished. Since there were no restrictions imposed by the authorities, the playwrights picked subjects which the common people disliked and then proceeded to shower the most violent abuse on them, which the audiences enjoyed thoroughly. Comic drama drew some elements from tragedy—the masked players, the chorus, the scenery and the stage mechanism were quite similar. The earliest and most famous playwright of the Old Comedy was Aristophanes (446-386 BC). Aristophanes cloaks his bitter satire in humour and employs buffoonery to expose the hypocrisy of his characters. The commonest targets of his attacks were politicians, philosophers and writers. For instance, in The Clouds, Socrates is the target of his satire, while in The Frogs he ridicules Euripides.

 

The Middle Comedy can be said to have existed between the 5th century BC and the 4th century BC. Though there is no clear transition between the Old and Middle Comedy, there are three important features that differentiate the two. Middle Comedy did not have a chorus. Secondly, no public characters were represented on the stage, which had been common for Old Comedy. The last difference was in the theme. Instead of targeting individuals, the focus of ridicule was general human shortcomings or a general social class.

 

The Greek New Comedy was a satiric comedy which was prevalent in Athens from around 320 BC to 3 BC. The New Comedy took common people with familiar vices like miserliness, jealousy, pride and such like as the target of its satire. In contrast to the Old Comedy, which had for its subject public figures and events, the New Comedy took common people and their everyday life as a theme. With the change of the subject from the lofty to the mundane, the role of the chorus also changed. Instead of occupying a place of importance in the play, they were reduced to being a band of musicians and singers who would supply intermittent entertainment. The New Comedy relied on stock characters like the cruel father, the jealous husband, the cunning slave, the trickster merchant and the boastful soldier.

While the lyrical-burlesque (a burlesque is an absurd or comically exaggerated imitation of something, especially in a literary or dramatic work; a parody that causes laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects) plays of Aristophanes represent the Old Comedy, the New Comedy’s most celebrated playwright was Menander. The New Comedy plot is wittily constructed, using characters the audiences would immediately identify with. The New Comedy was a reflection of Athenian society—with characters like the conceited cook, the mercenary soldier, the cunning servant and the miserly father.

Even though no visual proof of the costumes of the Greek Comedy remains, one can surmise the costumes worn by the players. The actors wore a thin buskin and masks which were lighter than those of their tragic counterparts. The chorus wore costumes too, which were connected to the theme of the play. The Greek New Comedy was enacted with masks and readily identifiable costumes, which was a feature that Plautus and Terence continued in their plays. The braggart soldier is a typical New Comedy character which both Roman playwrights adapted—complete with mask, tunic, shield and sword.

The design of the stage also influenced the Roman comedy. The Proscenium, or wooden stage, was 5 feet high, and had an altar. The orchestra sat between the stage and the front row. The actor’s changing rooms were to the rear of the stage. The open stage had no fixed backdrop. The stage would usually represent a street in Athens and the action was fast-paced since no frequent change in backdrop was required. The wall behind the stage had three doors which facilitated the entry and exit of the players.

Women did not enjoy much freedom in Roman times. Their position can be gauged from Cicero’s statement, “Our ancestors, in their wisdom, considered that all women, because of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians” (www.theatrehistory.com). So, after the father, it was the husband’s duty to be the woman’s guardian. In the absence of either, the state recommended a male relative who would be appointed as guardian. Girls were given the same education as boys, but only girls from rich families continued their education beyond primary education. Marriages were arranged, and girls were given dowries. According to Roman custom, the marriages of girls were arranged at a young age, and the wedding took place when she became an adult. Interestingly, marriage gave the Roman woman immense freedom. A Roman wife would be her husband’s companion at all social ceremonies. She would be seated next to him at banquets and shared control over children, slaves and the household. Often it was she who supervised the slaves.

 Slave labour was common in Roman society. Slaves were either captured from the losing side of a war or bought from provinces like Turkey. Much of the Roman economy depended on the exploitation of slaves. The public works were managed by the slaves. Educated slaves helped in the administration and private industries. Slaves helped in the household chores. Slaves could also be gladiators, and most actors of the Roman stage were slaves. They were considered a sign of prosperity for the owner, and even people with modest means owned slaves. Some households even entrusted the running of the entire house on a free slave, or procurator. Slaves could buy their freedom. Some slaves took up small-time jobs like selling wares or offering services for a fee. This would allow them to have money of their own, with which they could eventually buy their freedom.