Comparisons and Contrasts between Ancient and Modern Comedies

Lysistrata vs. Goin’ to Town

The biggest similarity between these two pieces is that a female is cast as the comic hero in both. Both Lysistrata and Cleo Borden have very masculine characteristics and mannerisms. Lysistrata takes charge of the situation she is faced with and gives orders to the other women. Cleo is always in charge of every situation and she even walks, talks, and acts like a man. The difference between these two ladies is that Lysistrata is looking out for the good of the whole country while Cleo only cares about herself. Lysistrata wants peace for the country and she wants the men to return to their wives. Cleo only cares about what’s going to happen to her. Out of everything we have studied in the last month, these two women stand out because they are the only females who are comic heroes. They play an important role because they both prove that women are just as good at men in leading roles.

Dyskolos vs. Chaplin Comedies

In these two pieces we have very interesting comic heroes; Sostratos in Dyskolos and Charlie Chaplin in the short films. Sostratos is a typical comic hero in because he is portrayed as a love-sick young man desperately trying to get the girl. He asks for help in getting what he wants and finds out that he will only succeed if he does the work himself. Chaplin, on the other hand, does not get help from outside sources. He is also not portrayed as the love-sick man. The Immigrant is the only film where we see a strong love interest for in The Count and Easy Street he is working to better himself. Sostratos is a comic hero because he ends up doing hard labor to impress the girl’s father and eventually he succeeds. Chaplin is the comic hero because he’s portrayed as the underdog who always comes out on top. He does have hero characteristics such as when he helps the woman in Easy Street but unlike Sostratos his motivation is not love. Chaplin’s motivation seems to come from him wanting to make himself and society better.

Poenulus vs. Road to Morocco

Poenulus and Road to Morocco both have a strong theme of friendship. In Poenulus it’s between Boris and Igor, and in the film it’s between Jeff and Turkey . All four characters show a great deal of loyalty and cooperation at some point. The main difference in their relationships is that in Road to Morocco, Jeff and Turkey work against each other for a part of the movie. In Poenulus, Igor does everything he can to help Boris get his girl. Another parallel can be drawn between the Wolf and Princess Shalmar. Princess Shalmar is deceitful like a pimp; she leads on man after man, just as the Wolf leads on General Popoff and never produces. However, the Wolf ends up paying for his sneakiness in the end while Princess Shalmar gets what she wants. Both the play and the film have men cast as the comic hero but females have strong supporting roles.

Overall Conclusions:

Out of all the plays we have read and movies we have watched, males have been cast as the comic hero more often than females. When females are cast as the comic hero they are often times given masculine qualities. While females don't get the lead as often as men, they do play important roles. Most of the plays we read had females as strong supporting characters who were essential to the plot or to keeping the play moving along. When men are cast as the comic hero they are often times portrayed as the love-sick man who can’t live without his sweetheart. He changes very little from beginning to end but the motivation for his actions changes from piece to piece. The motivation is usually love but it sometimes shows up as a need to make himself and his situation better. The biggest and most interesting conclusion that we came to is that the roles of males and females have not changed from ancient to modern times. Males are still cast more as the comic hero while females play the supporting roles.

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song: romeo and juliet love theme-tchaikovsky