COMIC DEVICES - Yaggyslatin



COMIC DEVICES

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

One comic device that is a favorite in Roman comedy and in later comic dramas all the way up to the present day is mistaken identity, either as an intended act of deception or as accidental. A chance mistaken identity is the basic premise of the recent film, the romantic comedy The Trouble with Cats and Dogs starring Janeanne Garofalo. In The Braggart Soldier, there is an example of purposeful deception

when Palaestrio has Philocomasium pretend to be her own twin sister to confuse the slave Sceledrus.

COINCIDENCE:

The modern reader must learn to expect implausible coincidences as stock and trade of Roman comedy. For example, we are told by Palaestrio in the delayed prologue of the play that, when the soldier kidnaps the girl in Pleusicles’ absence, Palaestrio sets off by ship to Naupactus to tell his master of this turn of events. On his sea voyage, Palaestrio is taken captive by pirates and given by them as a gift to the soldier, who is back in Ephesus with Philocomasium (99-121).

A lesser coincidence occurs near the end of the play. Palaestrio thinks aloud that he needs the presence of Acroteleutium, Milphidippa, and Pleusicles and then points out how well Opportunity (personified as a goddess) supports his efforts, when he sees these very people coming (1132-36). Palaestrio seems to mock this happy coincidence in which the expression of a wish seems to bring about fulfillment. In fact, he might be ridiculing coincidence as an attribute of comedy. If this is what Palaestrio is doing, this would be an example of breaking the dramatic illusion because he would be calling the audience’s attention to the fact that the action of the play is a fictional creation of the author and not reality. The audience no doubt found this coincidence and Palaestrio’s remark amusing.

SURPRISE AND INCONGRUITY

A time-honored comic device is to set up the audience to expect one thing and then surprising them with the unexpected. A modern example of this device, which the ancients called para prosdokian (‘contrary to expectation’), was heard recently in a TV sitcom. A female character, who had had sex with a man on a first date and never heard from him again said: “No matter what, I will always remember him fondly - as an *&^%$!” Plautus uses this device several times in The Braggart Soldier.

HYPERBOLE (EXAGGERATION)

Since flattery is so important in this play, it is not surprising that there are many examples of comic hyperbole. In the very first scene of the play, the parasite Artotrogus throws himself wholeheartedly into his task of hyperbolic flattery in order to ensure his place at the soldier’s dinner table.

NAMES

The names of the important characters in this play are a significant name, that is, they have a meaning. This meaning most often seems to have a connection with the roles these characters play in the drama. For example, the name Palaestrio is derived from the Greek verb “to wrestle,” which should not be taken literally here. In this play Palaestrio “wrestles” intellectually with the problem of allowing his original master Pleusicles to meet with his girlfriend while she is in the soldier’s possession and then of rescuing the girl from the soldier. Pyrgopolynices, the name of the soldier, is a compound of three words: purgos (‘tower’), polu (‘much’), and nike (‘victory’). In combination, this name would mean something like “he who has enjoyed many a victory over cities (towers were part of city walls). The Moses Hammond edition of the play3 suggests “mighty conqueror of fortresses.”

Other significant names in the play:

Artotrogus means ‘bread-chewer’, an appropriate name for a parasite who spends all his time with the task of keeping himself well-fed at the expense of others.

Periplectomenus comes from a Greek verb that means either ‘to embrace’ or ‘to entwine’. If the name is from the verb ‘to embrace’, it may refer to his amatory propensities (637-41); if, ‘to entwine’, it probably refers to his supporting role in Palaestrio’s intrigue.

Philocomasium means ‘party-loving girl’, an appropriate name for a prostitute.

Pleusicles is made up of two words: the verb ‘to sail’ and the noun ‘glory’. The name probably refers to the young man’s disguise as a ship captain.

Acroteleutium means literally ‘the highest end’, i.e., she’s the top or the best. It may be a reference to her expertise as a prostitute.

Sceledrus cannot be definitely linked with any known Greek word. Some see a Latin derivation from scelus ("crime") and in fact there are puns in the play based on scelus (289, 330, 494). It, however, would be unusual for a character to have a Latin-based name and Sceledrus is not a scoundrel, just dumb.

There is also some comic point to the length of some of these names. Although Greek names tend to be long, names like Pyrgopolynices, Periplectomenus, Philocomasium, and Acroteleutium are a bit longer than usual. Long names have been used for comic effect even in modern times. For example, Preston Sturges, the master director of romantic comedies in the early 1940’s was fond of this device. Three of his characters are named "Trudy Kockenlocker," "John D. Hackensacker," and "Woodrow Lafayette Pershing

Truesmith." Besides their length, the first two names also sound funny and the third is incredibly pompous. We can see this combination of exaggerated length and comic sound when Pyrgopolynices mentions an enemy commander he fought against: Bumbomachides (son of roaring battle) Clytomestoridysarchides.4 The soldier, in order to amplify his exploits, gives names of heroic length to his enemies.

VIOLENCE

Violence as a comic device involves both verbal violence and representations of physical violence on-stage. Real violence only occurs at the end of this play, but there are many threats of injury. One comic device employed in this scene is the threat of violence to slaves (e.g., threat of breaking slaves’ legs in 156-57 or of death in 163) or the fear of capital punishment expressed by slaves (e.g., 180, 183-4).

Although we might not think violence to slaves as particularly funny, an audience of free Roman citizens no doubt found this subject hilarious. Slaves in ancient Rome were as a matter of course subject to all sorts of violence if they displeased their masters and could even be put to death by crucifixion for any attempt at rebellion. Holt Parker5 provides a plausible explanation of this obsession with punishment of slaves in Plautus’ comedies. Plautus was writing at a time (late 3rd century, early 2nd century BC) when there was an enormous influx of slaves into Rome as the result of various wars. At the same time, because adult male citizens were away in the army, there was a heightened fear of slave rebellion. The references to violent punishments for slaves in the plays of Plautus were designed to assuage this fear and remind the slave owners in the audience of the power they had to impose physical punishment on their slaves. The humor of these references is the result of the normal human tendency to mock what we fear.

It should, however be noted here that no slave in this play receives corporal punishment, not even Palaestrio who deceives and cheats a free man (the soldier). Paradoxically, only the soldier suffers physically when he is beaten at the end of the play and only avoids castration by paying off Periplectomenus’ cook, Cario. In the real world of ancient Rome a clever slave who outfoxed and swindled his betters would no doubt be subject to physical punishment. The world of comedy, however, is not the real world. Part of the fun of comedy is the reversal of everyday values and customs. In the playworld of comedy a clever slave is allowed to behave in a way that in normal circumstances would have outraged the audience. The slave is permitted to behave this way with impunity because he is a sympathetic character, who is not acting in his own interests, but on behalf of his young master against a villainous character like the soldier.

DOUBLE ENTENDRE

Plautus, relying on the superior knowledge of the audience, uses a device generally called by a French name: double entendre (double meaning), which produces comic irony. For example, when the soldier asks Pleusicles what happened to his eye (the young man is wearing an eye patch on his left eye as part of his disguise) (1306), he playfully answers: “I have an eye (referring to his right eye).” Since the Latin word for eye, oculus can also mean sweetheart, his reply can also be interpreted ironically by the audience as: “I am in possession of my sweetheart.” In another example of double entendre, Palaestrio tells the soldier to consider how faithful he has been to his master. Naturally the conceited soldier thinks that Palaestrio has been a good and faithful slave and says that he has often observed the slave’s fidelity (1364-66). But of course the audience understands the true meaning of Palaestrio’s words: he has not been faithful to the soldier and has bad intentions toward him. The soldier has been completely duped and does not understand the irony of Palaestrio’s following words: “You will know truly [how faithful I have been] both previously and especially today (1366-67) (i.e., not faithful at all).”

PUNS

Another typical Plautine comic device is the pun. Of course, it is virtually impossible to reproduce a pun in one language and translators often must change the language of the original if they are going to represent the pun in English. When Philocomasium (speaking to Sceledrus) claims to be her own twin sister, she says that her name is Dicea (436; in Greek, ‘the just woman’). This leads the slave to a pun. Sceledrus, not believing Philocomasium and accusing her of doing injury to the soldier by her love-making next door,

says that Philocomasium is not dicea, but adicea (= ‘the unjust woman’

BREAKING THE DRAMATIC ILLUSION

Usually comic and tragic dramas pretend to be reality and the audience in order to enjoy the performance to the fullest must suspend disbelief by temporarily accepting it as reality. Plautus, however, is fond of having his characters express in various ways an awareness of being in a play in a theater with an audience. In fact, A.S. Gratwick has claimed that a primary characteristic of Plautine comedy is a general awareness on the part of the characters that they are taking part in a play: 11

His [Plautus'] characters are not intended to deceive us uniformly into imagining that they are real or credible. There is a constant 'play' between the author and his audience on this point. The characters - or is it the actors? - know that we know that they are not real. As double and triple deceivers, they take pleasure in pretending to be what they seem, ever and again catching us out by reminding us that they are not, but never quite frankly admitting in the course of the action that they are really Romans like you and me.

Although Plautus, like all dramatists, does employ the illusion of reality, often he playfully destroys it. This technique is called metatheater (literally, "transcending theater"), a term defined by Niall Slater12as "theatrically self-conscious theatre, i.e., theatre that demonstrates an awareness of its own theatricality." The effect of metatheater is to allow the audience to share with the actors the sense of being in a play. Metatheater can be accomplished in various ways, such as a character referring to himself/herself as an actor in a play, or referring the action on-stage as a play, or by addressing the audience directly. An example of this comic device can be found in 861-2 when the slave Lurcio asks the audience not to tell Palaestrio where he’s going: "I’ll get away somewhere, by heck, and put off the evil day. Don’t tell him, will you?...Promise." Another example of this device occurs in Periplectomenus’ description of Palaestrio’s agonized deliberations discussed above (213): "Hah! Now that’s better…that’s a fine attitude…just what a slave in a comedy ought to look like." Of course, the joke is that Palaestrio really is a slave in a comedy.

DRUNKENNESS

The scene consisting of a conversation between Palaestrio and a fellow-slave named Lurcio does not advance the action at all, but it just an excuse for jokes about drunkenness, a staple of comedy from ancient to modern times.13 Palaestrio wants to talk to Sceledrus, but Lurcio informs him that Sceledrus is sleeping off a drinking spree in the wine cellar (818-24). Lucrio uses comic hyperbole in his description of the drinking scene in the cellar. Lucrio, probably in order to avoid involvement in the blame for Sceledrus’ drinking, says that the wine jars were falling over and being emptied of their own accord and the cellar itself was performing a Bacchanal (i.e. dancing ecstatically in the manner of the worshippers of Bacchus14).

CONVENTIONS

PROLOGUE

The dramatic prologue in which an actor (sometimes a character in the play, sometimes not) introduces the play to the audience is a device used in both tragedy and comedy. In The Braggart Soldier the prologue, which is normally presented at the very beginning of the play, is delayed until after the opening scene involving Pyrgopolynices and his parasite Artotrogus. The prologue is delivered by Palaestrio, the central character of the play. The effect of this prologue is metatheatrical because it is non-illusory. Palaestrio

acknowledges the existence of the audience and the fact they are present to attend a play. He even tells those in the audience who are unwilling to listen to leave so that those interested in the play can take their seats. The purpose of Palaestrio's prologue is on one level to explain the plot to the audience:

Now, folks, if you'll hear me out,

Then I'll be kind and tell you what our play's about.

On another level, however, Palaestrio with the metatheatricality of his speech makes the audience co-conspirators in the plot, engaging their sympathy for himself and his master and creating antipathy toward the soldier.15

MONOLOGUE

The monologue is a non-illusory device that allows characters to share with the audience their inner thoughts. In addition, a monologue helps define the character and often engages the audience's sympathy for the character. For example, see Palaestrio's monologue in 259-71 in which he establishes his cleverness and determination with his plan to find the slave who observed Pleusicles and Philocomasium together. The speech also has the effect of Palaestrio taking the audience into his confidence.

EAVESDROPPING

Eavesdropping is a convention of comedy in which characters listen to the conversation of other characters without their knowledge. One of the most frequent uses of eavesdropping in comedy is by sympathetic characters to obtain information that they can use to the detriment of the unsympathetic characters. Eavesdropping in The Braggart Soldier, however, does not have this function. Palaestrio and his allies never gain important information by eavesdropping on Pyrgopolynices. Instead, sympathetic characters in this play allow the soldier to eavesdrop on them to entrap him. For example, Milphidippa lets the soldier overhear her little soliloquy describing her mistress' "passion" for him (991-98) to confirm his belief in his own irresistability. Later in the play, Milphidppa and Acroteleutium further ensnare the soldier by allowing him to overhear her false declarations of overwhelming sexual desire for him (1216-66).

ASIDES

Asides are comments spoken by a character to the audience, but by convention are unheard by other characters. There are numerous examples of this device in The Braggart Soldier, e.g., the long aside of Periplectomenus describing the intensive deliberation of Palaestrio (200-18), discussed above. For example, the parasite Artotrogus in a speech that begins as flattery of Pyrgopolynices suddenly reveals

his insincerity in an aside (perhaps spoken in a lower voice, but still audible to the audience) (31-35):

Artotrogus: [Spoken to Pyrgopolynices] Of course, sir; you don’t need to tell me anything about your courageous deeds; I already

know them all [Aside] Oh dear, what I have to suffer for my stomach’s sake. My ears have to be stuffed lest my teeth should decay

from lack of use. I have to listen to all his tall stories and confirm them.

Asides are natural in eavesdropping scenes in which the listener(s) comments to the audience on what is being overheard. In the

Acroteleutium and Milphidippa eavesdropping scene mentioned above, the soldier and Palaestrio exchange comments on the

conversation of the two women (1216-66).

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