Download From Classical to Contemporary

A Comic Turn
HUM 2051: Civilization I
Fall 2009
Dr. Perdigao
September 21-23, 2009
Returning to History
• Persian Wars
• 490 BCE, Darius I, king of Persia, sends detachment; at Marathon,
Athenians defeat Persians (Perry 60)
• 10 years later, Xerxes, Darius’ son, sends force of 250,000 men and over 500
ships, to invade Greece
• Thermopylae=300, Spartans with training and “ideal of arete ” resist (Perry
61)
• Themistocles, Athenian statesman and general, lures Persian fleet to Bay
of Salamis, then they again defeat Persians at Plataea
• Leads to era of Athenian imperialism (Perry 61)
• 150 city-states organized Delian League to protect themselves against
Persian invasion, centralized Athenian power
Contextualizing Aristophanes
• Pericles—Athens (495-429 BCE), reforms during the Golden Age, court
system (Perry 65); oration reconstructed by Thucydides, reveals
“Athenian democratic ideal,” “civic and personal freedom” (Perry 65)
• Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta (431-404 BCE) ends the
Golden Age—fear of growth of Athenian power—fear of Spartans to
control (96), failed peace treaty negotiated by Pericles, plague in Athens
(430 BCE)
• Thirty Tyrants (404-403 BCE): Socrates (Perry 67)
• Herodotus (485-425 BCE), Thucydides (455-399 BCE)—as key
historians, establishing “Western civilization’s tradition of history
writing”; Herodotus as “father of history” (Perry 95)
• Herodotus’ Histories representing Persian Wars (clash between cultures
of the East and West) (420 BCE); Thucydides’ History of the
Peloponnesian War counters Herodotus’ approach to look at power
politics operating in history, “no place for myths, for legends, for the
fabulous,” “rejecting the notion that the gods interfere in history”
(Perry 96)
A Comic Tradition
• Aristophanes (450-385 BCE)
• Lysistrata 411 BCE
• Komoidia: song of a band of revelers
• Komos: revel, banquet
• Komos—revelers—like animals, perform wild antics, connected to fertility
rites
From Old to New Comedy
• Old comedy: mix of wild or antic and thoughtful; imaginary defeat of real
limits
• Reconciliation: (banquet, revel, marriage) reconstitution of society on
freer, more natural grounds
– “In Aristophanic comedy, the comic hero typically upsets the status
quo to produce a series of extraordinary results and a wish-fulfilling
ending” (721).
• Aristophanic—or old comedy—known through work of Aristophanes—
Clouds, Frogs
• New comedy: 4th century BCE; comedy of manners—love blocked,
obstructions overcome
Central Conflicts
• Lysistrata: performance on two levels: War between Athens and Sparta as
the supposed plot and then the chorus speaks in name of author on
contemporary issues
• Agon between Lysistrata and the state; issue of subversion: state’s
authority to conduct war vs. quarrel in smaller terms
• “Reversing the words of Hector to Andromache, which had become
proverbial, Lysistrata claims that ‘war shall be the business of womenfolk’”
(721).
• Female sexuality—subverts male warlike concerns
• Tragedy—hero challenges limits in knowledge but the limits can’t be
overcome
• Comedy—through imagination, limits can be overcome as it represents the
imaginary surpassing of limits
• But limits are given in each form
Role-playing
• (726): Battle call
• (740-741): Losing control of the women
• (743-747): Episode with Myrrhine and Kinesias
• (751-753): Reconciliation introduced
Grrrl Power
• Lysistrata: “according to the men we’re capable of all sorts of
mischief” (723)
• Kalonike: “But what can mere women do that’s intelligent or
noble?” (724).
• Lysistrata: “Oh what a low and horny race we are! No wonder
men write tragedies about us” (726).
• Men: “This behavior of theirs amounts to extreme hubris”
(739).
Oxymorons
• Chorus-Leader: “Hail, manliest of all women! Now is your
time: be forceful and flexible, high-class and vulgar, haughty
and sweet, a woman for all seasons; because the head men of
Greece, caught by your charms, have gathered together with
all their mutual complaints and are turning them over to you
for settlement” (751).
• Lysistrata: “Where’s Reconciliation?” (751)
Lysistrata: “I am a woman, but still I’ve got a mind: I’m pretty
intelligent in my own right, and because I’ve listened many a
time to the conversations of my father and the other men I’m
pretty well educated too” (751).
Comedy as Deus Ex Machina?
• First Athenian Ambassador: “Well! Now that everything else
has been wrapped up so nicely, it’s time for you Spartans to
reclaim these wives of yours; and you Athenians, these here.
Let’s have husband stand by wife and wife by husband; then to
celebrate our great good fortune let’s have a dance for the gods.
And let’s be sure never again to make the same mistakes!”
(755)
• Spartan Ambassador: “And sing for the goddess who’s won a
total victory, Athena of the Brazen House!” (756).