• All of the comedies and films represent many different class and status types.
• The lower class creates sympathy and often controls the plot action.
• The lower class characters are the heroes or the comic masterminds - the comic hero.
• Often, the lower class characters are shown trying to better their social status.
• Women have minor roles (except in It Happened One Night).
• Women are shown as dependent on male figures.
• The comedy comes from the class differences.
• The upper class is dependent on the lower class figures for stability in the society.
• Menander and It Happened One Night are similar because conflicts between lovers develop due to class differences.
• In Aristophanes and the comedies of Chaplin, the main hero is of a lower class, and attempts to better his situation by associating with or imitating members of the upper class.
• In Plautus, as well as in A Night at the Opera, the lower class hero is represented as clever and devilish, and is given a heroic attitude because he is not motivated by self-interest.
• As time progresses, slaves' roles become more influential to the plot of the literature.
• As time progresses, women are shown with more and more wealth, which reflects the changes in their society.

Patterns between the films:

• In each of the films, the male character is of a lower class than the female that he is trying to impress. (Groucho/Mrs.Claypool; Peter Warne/Ellen Andrews; Charlie Chaplin/Mrs. Moneybags)
• Conflict between lovers and other characters is motivated by issues involving class differences.
• Chaplin and It Happened One Night shows people of an even lower class than the hero, making the hero of a superior status at specific points throughout the film. (Chaplin stealing food for starving street woman, Peter Warne giving money to the boy on the bus)

Patterns between the literature:

• Aristophanes and Plautus use upper and lower class characters as a means of satirizing ancient society.
• Menander focuses less on the class and status of the community and society, and more on the status of the individual and family.