Lysistrata
by Aristophanes
and
Commedia dell'arte
The Comic
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
The Comic
Lysistrata
by Aristophanes
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
The Comic
Lysistrata
by Aristophanes
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
Aristophanes
(446-386 B.C.)
The Acharnians 425 BC
The Knights 424 BC
The Clouds 423 BC
The Wasps 422 BC
Peace 421 BC
The Birds 414 BC
Lysistrata 411BC
The Frogs 405 BC
The Comic
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
Lysistrata
The Comic
“Lysistrata (UK: /laɪˈsɪstrətə/, US: /ˌlɪsɨˈstrɑːtə/; Attic
Greek: Λυσιστράτη "Army-disbander") is one of eleven
surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally
performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic
account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end
The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata persuades the
women of Greece to withhold sexual gratification from
their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the
men to negotiate peace—a strategy that, consequently,
inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is
notable for being an early exposé of sexual politics in a
male-dominated society.” [from Wikipedia]
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
Lysistrata
The Comic
ENGL 2020 Themes in
Literature and Culture: The
Grotesque
Go here to find see Beardsley’s Lysistrata illustrations. X-Rated. Adults
only. You have been warned.
Commedia
dell'arte
ENGL 2020 Themes in
Literature and Culture: The
Grotesque
Commedia
dell'arte
Commedia dell’arte: a type of comedy
developed in 16th century Italy, whence it
spread to the rest of Europe. None of the
theories as to its origin is entirely satisfactory.
The essential characteristic of the type is that
it was based on a plot (scenario) outlined in
advance, but the dialogue was improved
during performance. For this reason the
emphasis was on complicated and absurd
intrigues, and the characters were merely a
group of stock types: the silly old man, the
braggart soldier, the pedant, the lover, the
various types of cunning servants, etc. It
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
Commedia
dell'arte
seems likely that each actor in a troupe regularly
played the same character in all the different
plots. The actors wore appropriate masks, and
thus the audience immediately placed each
character in his proper type.
Since a play is a literary work by virtue of its text,
it is not, strictly speaking, a literary form. It did,
however, exert a good deal of influence on
literary comedy, especially in 17th-Century
France.
—The Reader’s Companion to World Literature
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literture and Culture:
The Grotesque
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque
Commedia
dell'arte
Commedia
dell’arte on
the Grotesque
Blog
ENGL 2020 Themes in Literature and Culture:
The Grotesque