Download (ii) What is the purpose of this part of the play?

EXTRACT B 2005
WASPS: Parabasis
PHILOCLEON: How can I ever look myself in the face again? I have aquited a prisoner! Oh gods above, forgive me, it was an accident,
it wasn’t like me at all.
BDELYCLEON: Now listen , there’s nothing to get upset about. From now on I’m going to look after you properly: I’ll take you out with
me to all kinds of places, we’ll go out to dinners and drinking parties and shows, and you‘ll be able to have a really good time
now: and no Hyperbolus to trick you and laugh at you up his sleeve. Lets go in.
PHILOCLEON: (meekly) All Right, if you say so
[Bdelycleon leads his father in the house while the slaves clear away the courtroom props, leaving the chorus on stage]
CHORUS:
Now, ye countless tens of thousands,
Seated on the benches round,
Do not let our pearls of wisdom
Fall unheaded to the ground.
Not that you would be so stupid,
So devoid of common sense –
What it is to have enlightened
People for an audience
[the leader comes forward]
LEADER:
Now once again spectators, if you love
To hear plain speaking, pay attention, please!
The author has a bone to pick with you
For treating him unfairly, when, he says,
You've had so many splendid things from him. (p. 75)
a) (i) Give the Greek term for the part of the play that this extract
is taken from.
(ii) What is the purpose of this part of the play?
Ques
Evidence
tion
(a)
(i) parabasis
(ii) To allow the playwright / poet
to address the audience / state the
point of the play (through the
chorus about an issue of political or
social concern). OR Aristophanes
tells the audience that the old
jurymen, although vindictive, are
responsible for Athens’ glory.
(Other answers are possible.)
Ach
BOTH
answer
s are
require
d.
Mer Exc
b) Describe in detail what happens in the comic episode that
follows this part of the play.
Qu
Evidence
Ach
(b) • Anticleon replaces his
Any
father’s worn clothes with
TWO
fashionable but foreign
points.
garments.
• He teaches him how to walk
like a rich man, with “a
plutocratic swagger”.
• He gives advice about how to
converse at a dinner party.
• He shows him how to recline
at a dinner party, “pouring
himself into the cushions”.
Mer Exc
(c) i) How many performers were there in a comic chorus?
(ii) Explain ONE reason why the chorus members are old men.
Qu
Evidence
(c) (i) 24
(ii)
• Eg the play is about jurymen
and only the old had time to
serve on a jury
• Eg Wasps was produced
during the Peloponnesian War
and the young men were on
military service. (Other
answers are possible.)
Ach
BOTH
ans are
required.
Mer Exc
(d) (i) What historical event is referred to in the phrase
“smoke us from our nests” (line 10)?
(ii) In what battle were the Persians “walloped … at sea”
(line 27)?
Qu
Evidence
Ach
(d) (i) (Following the defeat of BOTH
ans are
Greek forces at
required.
Thermopylae), the
Persians advanced on
Athens and sacked the
(evacuated) city.
(ii) The Battle of Salamis.
Mer Exc
(e)
What complaint has the Leader of the Chorus made
earlier about the audience’s unfair treatment of
Aristophanes?
Qu
Evidence
(e)
The audience has not
appreciated the heroic efforts he
made in their interest (attacking
the greatest monster in the
land). OR The audience has not
been intelligent enough to
understand the point of his
previous play (Clouds).
(Or similar.)
Ach
Mer
Exc
(f) Explain in detail THREE ways in which the jurors resemble wasps, according to
the Leader of the Chorus. Provide evidence from the play to illustrate your
answer. You may refer to this extract and / or elsewhere in the play. (1) (2) (3)
Qu
(f)
Evidence
• They look like wasps swarming in a nest as
they are crowded together in the law courts.
• They behave like wasps, as they are quicktempered (“savage and irate”), and hurt those
they dislike.
• They have the appearance of wasps, in their
coloured costumes with wasp waists and
appended stings.
• Like worker wasps, the old jurors have fought
for the city.
• Like drones, the young men of Athens have
not fought, but enjoy what “they can get”.
(Other answers are possible.)
Ach
Mer
Any 2 Any 3
pts.
detail
ed
pts.
Exc
(g) (i) Who accompanied the chorus of old men when they first entered the
theatre?
(ii)
What did this group contribute to the play? Explain in detail TWO reasons
why they were included.
Qu Evidence
(g)
(i) A group of small boys, the jurymen’s sons.
(ii)
• The boys help the old men, who are
somewhat decrepit, as they walk through the
streets on their way to jury service.
• They indicate by their torches that it is
supposed to be before dawn, even though the
play is performed in the daytime.
• As dependent children, they remind the
audience of the financial importance of jury
service to the poor.
• As the real chorus consists of old men, the
boys might provide the dance component
conventional in comedy. (Other anss possible.)
Ach
Mer
(i) and
any 1
point
of
explan
ation
about
the
role of
the
boys.
(i)
and
any
2
pts
of
expl
anatio
n.
Exc
(h) (i) Explain in detail ONE criticism made by the Chorus about the
younger generation in this extract. Provide evidence from the extract to
illustrate your answer.
Qu Evidence
(h)
(i)
(i) Criticism in this extract: The
youth of Athens are regarded as
being keener on talking like Sophists
and informing than in serving the
state by proud endeavour. This is
something the old, their parents,
were scornful of – “not one of us
could make a speech” – because it
did not contribute to a unified and
purposeful state.
Ach
Any
ONE
point.
Mer
Any 2
points
with
textual
evidence.
Exc
4 points
with textual
evidence.
BOTH
parts of
the
question
must be
answered.
(h) (ii) Analyse the relationship between Procleon and Anticleon as it is
revealed in the rest of the play. You must refer to at least THREE other
episodes and provide evidence from the play to illustrate your answers.
Comments elsewhere in the play:
• They would rather get dressed up than fight, eg “the ringlets and
the fashions and the pederastic passions of the namby-pamby
youngsters” implies that they are cowardly and not real men like
their fathers, who made Athens great by their service in the Persian
Wars.
• They are unpatriotic as they don’t mind wearing non-Athenian
clothing styles. Anticleon wants his father to wear a Persian gown
and Spartan shoes. The Persians had invaded Greece and sacked
the Acropolis; the Spartans were the city’s current enemy.
• They are superficial and devoted to a life of leisure. When Anticleon
offers his father an alternative to jury service, it involves the selfindulgent pleasures of the symposion. (Other points are possible.)