Plautus’s comedy is a biting satire of Roman society that is partly softened by his use of a Greek setting and characters. The conventional class divisions that keep lovers apart and particularly the unfairness of the slave system are two aspects to which he draws attention. However, Plautus is not necessarily anti-slavery; like most people of his time, he seems to consider it socioeconomically inevitable. The patriarchal control of fathers over their children is another standard fact of Roman society, which the lovers try to manipulate rather than challenge outright.
The excesses of particular characters’ behavior are what give the satire its bite. Pseudolus establishes the Roman norms by focusing on the villains’ misuse of Roman institutions. Calidorus goes behind his father’s back to arrange a way to be with his beloved, Phoenicium. He loves her although she is a slave, but his father does not approve. This probably reflected common Roman beliefs and practices. However, Phoenicium’s owner, Ballio, violates social conventions by selling her to a man who is unlikely to be a good master. Calidorus, being of good family, tries to be noble; Roman audiences would have understood his plan to purchase his girlfriend as a valid way to rescue her from the evil Ballio and then from slavery.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
How does Pseudolus reflect the Roman worldview?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment