Plays

Visual Humor

As our experience with these plays has beeb entirely through reading and we have not actually seen performances of these plays, it is more difficult analyze and judge the visual comedy therein. As such, we only have stage directions and foot notes provided in our text to give us an idea of the visual humor employed in these performances. The first and foremost form of visual comedy to be found in these plays is, as best as we can tell, costuming techniques. After exiting the Hoopoe's house in "Birds," Makemedo and Goodhope appear in new costumes, both wearing wings and headcrests. In all of these plays the male characters are wearing large leather phalluses, and, in many instances, the phalluses are used as props for further comedic effect. In "Lysistrata" seeing the male characters walking around the stage with extremely conspicuous bulges would likely appear quite comical, and Strepsiades' 'affair' with the bed in "Clouds" would also have generated a few laughs. There are also several instances of slapstick humor in Aristophanes' works. Every instance in "Birds" where Makemedo beats away someone seeking to get into, or get something out of Cloudcuckooland certainly provided the actors with a perfect chance for some high-energy slapstick moments.

Verbal Humor

The majority of Aristophanes' verbal humor is derived from word play; primarily double entendre and puns. All three of his plays that we have read thus far, "Birds," "Clouds," and "Lysistrata" are overflowing with these two devices of verbal humor. For instance, the excessive use of the word 'pecker' in "Birds". While this first refers to the beak that the chorus members are wearing as part of their costume (being birds), it also refers to the large, leather phalluses that they would have had strapped to their waist. Alternatively, in "Clouds," there is a sort of word-twisting logic used by Socrates and the other members of the pondertorium as well as by Inferior argument and Pheidippides in the later portion of the play that relies on bending the meaning of words to get the better of the opposition. This 'logic' is directly spoofing some of the Sophists' techniques at convincing others of whatever they wanted.

Visual Humor

Visual Humor in Menanders' plays seems to be significantly downgraded in importance as opposed to Aristophanes.  Though there is little sense that the costumes had any particularly comical effect, some of the slapstick present in "Birds" seems to have survived into Menanders works.  In "Dyskolos," this is mostly present as someone, usually Knemon, beating Sichon and/or Simiche.  This trend of slave-beating as the primary source of visual comedy holds true across all three of the plays we have read by Menander.

Verbal Humor

The verbal humor in Menanders' plays differs greatly from that in Aristophanes'.  While the latter relies significantly on obscenity, puns, and word-play, Menander sticks almost entirely to comedy through miscommunication and misunderstanding.  While this is less the case in "Dyskolos," it is the primary comedic force in both "Samia" and "Perikeiromene."  Menander weaves a complex series of misunderstandings throughout these two plays, that build upon themselves until the mess is unravelled in time for a happy ending.  Rather than employ continuous one-liners and constant puns, Menander presents a situation which, from an informed outsider's perspective, is humorous.

Visual Humor

Typical visual humor in Terence relies on slapstick--namely acts of violence taken to the extreme. For instance, Act II, scene I in "The Brothers," wherein the slave Parmeno punches Sannio in the eye. Another type of humor we see is burlesque, for instance Ctesipho, the 'properly-raised' son, hides behind a slave when his brother, Aeschinus, comes on stage in Act II, scene III. Since Aeschinus is coming to tell Ctesipho that his love has been liberated for him, the scene makes a mockery of the more conservatively raised son as being cowardly and unable to do things for himself. Little else in the script dictates any particular visual humor, but, as is the case with all of these plays, it is set up for a certain amount of improvisation by the actors that is likely to create all kinds of further humor.

Verbal Humor

The verbal humor in this play is, rather than more interpersonal or some sort of wordplay, situational humor, wherein the situation that the characters find themselves in (and are oblivious to) is what is actually funny, while little that they say is humorous at all. This is similar to how Menander writes and means that the details of the situation are extremely important. Also quite important is that the audience be more aware of the situation than the characters. The primary source of situational humor in "The Brothers," for instance, is the fight between Demea and Micio over which of the two has the better parenting style. Since it is fairly clear to the audience that neither of them is a terribly effective parent, the existance of the argument itself is humorous.