Lecture: The origin of ancient Greek comedy. Features of ancient Attic comedy

According to Aristotle, the art of constructing comic action, developed in Sicily, had a certain influence on the development of comedy in Athens. Nevertheless, fundamental to the general direction of the “ancient” Attic comedy are precisely those moments whose absence in Epicharmus we have just noted. Attic comedy uses typical masks (“boastful warrior”, “learned charlatan”, “clown”, “drunken old woman”, etc.), among the works of Athenian comedic poets

there are plays with a parody-mythological plot, but neither one nor the other constitutes the face of Attic comedy. Its object is not the mythological past, but living modernity, current, sometimes even topical, issues of political and cultural life. “Ancient” comedy is primarily a political and accusatory comedy, transforming folklore “mocking” songs and games into a weapon of political satire and ideological criticism.

Another distinctive feature of “ancient” comedy, which attracted attention already in later antiquity, is complete freedom of personal mockery of individual citizens with open naming of their names. The ridiculed person was either directly brought onto the stage as a comic character, or became the subject of caustic, sometimes very rude, jokes and hints made by the choir and comedy actors. For example, in the comedies of Aristophanes, such persons as the leader of radical democracy Cleon, Socrates, and Euripides are brought onto the stage. More than once attempts were made to limit this comedic license, but throughout the 5th century. they remained unsuccessful.

The method of ridiculing public order and individual citizens remains caricature. “Ancient” comedy usually does not individualize its characters, but creates generalized caricature images, also using typical masks of folklore and Sicilian comedy. This occurs even when the characters are living contemporaries; Thus, the image of Socrates in Aristophanes to a very small extent recreates the personality of Socrates, but is mainly a parodic sketch of a philosopher (“sophist”) in general with the addition of typical features of the mask of a “scientific charlatan.”

The plot of the comedy is mostly fantastic in nature. Most often, some unrealizable project of changing existing social relations is carried out. Satire takes on the form of utopia. The very improbability of the action creates a special comic effect, which is further enhanced by the frequent disruption of stage illusion in the form of actors addressing the audience.

Combining komos with cartoon scenes within a simple but still coherent plot, the “ancient” comedy has a very peculiar symmetrical division associated with the ancient structure of komos songs. The comic choir consisted of 24 people, i.e. twice as large as the tragedy choir of pre-Sophocles' times. It split into two semi-choirs, sometimes warring with each other. In the past, these were two holiday “gangs” “competing” with each other; in literary comedy, where the “competition” usually falls on the actors, what remains of the duality of the choir is the external form, the alternating performance of songs by separate half-choirs in strictly symmetrical correspondence. The most important part of the choir is the so-called parabass , performed in the middle of a comedy. It usually has no connection with the action of the play; the choir bids farewell to the actors and addresses the audience directly. Parabasa consists

of two main parts. The first, pronounced by the leader of the entire choir, is an appeal to the audience on behalf of the poet, who here settles scores with his rivals and asks for favorable attention to the play. At the same time, the choir passes in front of the audience in a marching rhythm (“parabassa” in the proper sense of the word). The second part, the song of the choir, has a strophic character and consists of four parts: the lyrical ode (“song”) of the first hemichoir is followed by a recitative epirrema (“saying”) of the leader of this hemichoir in a dance trocheic rhythm; in strict metrical accordance with the ode and epirrhema, the antoda of the second hemichoria and the antepirrema of its leader are then located.

The principle of “epyrrematic” composition, i.e. pairwise alternation of odes and epirrhemes, also permeates other parts of the comedy. This includes, first of all, the “competition” scene, agon , in which the ideological side of the play is often concentrated. Agon in most cases has a strictly canonical construction. Two characters “compete” with each other, and their dispute consists of two parts; in the first, the leading role belongs to the side that will be defeated in the competition, in the second - to the winner; both parts open symmetrically with choral odes in metrical correspondence and an invitation to begin or continue the competition. There are, however, scenes of “competition” that deviate from this type.

The following structure can be considered typical for “ancient” comedy. IN prologue an exposition of the play is given and the hero’s fantastic project is outlined. This is followed by people (intro) choir, live stage, often accompanied by a scrum, where the actors also participate. After agony the goal is usually achieved. Then it is given parabass. The second half of the comedy is characterized by farce-type scenes in which the good consequences of the project are depicted and various annoying aliens who disturb this bliss are chased away. The choir here no longer takes part in the action and only borders the scenes with their songs; Following them, an epirrhematically constructed part is often found, usually unfortunately called the “second parabassa”. The play ends with a procession of komos . The typical structure allows for various deviations, variations, and rearrangements of individual parts, but the fifth-century comedies known to us, one way or another, gravitate toward it.

In this structure, some aspects seem artificial. There is every reason to think that the original place of the parabassa was the beginning of the play, and not its middle. This suggests that at an earlier stage the comedy was opened by the entrance of the chorus, as was the case in the early stages of tragedy. The development of coherent action and the strengthening of the actor's parts led to the creation of a prologue spoken by the actors and the relegation of the parabass to the middle of the play. When and how the structure we examined was created is unknown; we find it already in its finished form and observe only its destruction, a further weakening of the role of the chorus in comedy.

Aristophanes

Of the numerous comedic poets of the second half of the 5th century. ancient criticism singled out three as the most outstanding representatives of “ancient” comedy. These are Cratinus, Eupolis and Aristophanes. The first two are known to us only from fragments. In Cratinus, the ancients noted the harshness and frankness of ridicule and the richness of comedic invention, in Eupolis - the art of sequential plotting and the grace of wit. From Aristophanes, eleven plays (out of 44) have been preserved in their entirety, which give us the opportunity to get an idea of the general nature of the entire genre of “ancient” comedy.

Aristophanes' literary activity took place between 427 and 388; in its main part it falls on the period of the Peloponnesian War and the crisis of the Athenian state. The intensified struggle of various groups around the political program of radical democracy, contradictions between city and countryside, issues of war and peace, the crisis of traditional ideology and new trends in philosophy and literature - all this was clearly reflected in the works of Aristophanes. His comedies, in addition to their artistic significance, are a most valuable historical source reflecting the political and cultural life of Athens at the end of the 5th century. In political matters, Aristophanes approaches the moderate democratic party, most often conveying the sentiments of the Attic peasantry, dissatisfied with the war and hostile to the aggressive foreign policy of radical democracy. He took the same moderately conservative position in the ideological struggle of his time. Peacefully making fun of fans of antiquity, he turns the edge of his comedic talent against the leaders of the urban demos and representatives of new-fangled ideological movements.

Somewhat different from the usual carnival type are those comedies that pose not political, but cultural problems. Already the first (not extant) comedy of Aristophanes, “The Feasting Ones” (427), was devoted to the issue of old and new education and depicted the bad consequences of sophistic education. Aristophanes returned to the same theme in the comedy “Clouds” (423), which ridiculed sophistry; But “Clouds,” which the author considered the most serious of the works he had written until then, were not successful with the audience and received the third prize. Subsequently, Aristophanes partially revised his play, and in this second edition it has come down to us.

The old man Strepsiades, entangled in debt because of the aristocratic habits of his son Pheidippides, heard about the existence of wise men who know how to make “the weaker stronger” (p. 102), “wrong to right,” and goes to study at the “thought room.” The bearer of sophistic science, chosen as the object of a comedic image, is Socrates, a face well known to all Athenians, an eccentric in manners, whose “Silenic” appearance alone was already suitable for a comic mask. Aristophanes made him a collective caricature of sophistry, attributing to him the theories of various sophists and natural philosophers, from which the real Socrates was in many respects very far. While the historical Socrates usually spent all his time in the Athenian square, the learned charlatan of the “Clouds” is engaged in nonsense research in a “thought room” accessible only to initiates; surrounded by "faded" and skinny students, he in a hanging basket "floats in the air and reflects on the sun." Socrates accepts Strepsiades into the “thought room” and performs the rite of “initiation” on him. The pointless and vague wisdom of the sophists is symbolized in the chorus of “divine” clouds, the veneration of which must henceforth replace traditional religion. In the future, both the natural science theories of the Ionian philosophers and new sophistic disciplines, such as grammar, are parodied. Strepsiades, however, turns out to be incapable of perceiving all this wisdom and sends his son in his place. From theoretical issues, satire moves into the realm of practical morality. Before Pheidippides, Pravda (“Fair Speech”) and Krivda (“Unfair Speech”) compete in the “agon.” The truth praises the old strict education and its beneficial results for the physical and moral health of citizens. Falsehood protects freedom of desire. Falsehood wins. Pheidippides quickly masters all the necessary tricks, and the old man sends his creditors away. But soon the son's sophistic art turns against his father. A lover of the old poets Simonides and Aeschylus, Strepsiades did not agree in literary tastes with his son, a fan of Euripides. The dispute turned into a fight, and Pheidippides, having beaten the old man, proves to him in a new “agony” that the son has the right to beat his father. Strepsiades is ready to admit the strength of this argument, but when Pheidippides promises to prove that it is legal to beat mothers, the enraged old man sets fire to the “thought room” of the atheist Socrates. The comedy ends thus without the usual ritual wedding. It should, however, be borne in mind that, according to the ancient message, the current final scene and the competition between Truth and Falsehood were introduced by the poet only in the second edition of the play.

In the second part of the comedy, the satire is much more serious than in the first. Aristophanes, educated and free from all superstitions, is by no means an obscurantist or an enemy of science. In sophistry, he is frightened by the separation from polis ethics: the new education does not lay the foundations for civic virtues. From this point of view, the choice of Socrates as a representative of new movements was not an artistic mistake. No matter how great the differences between Socrates and the Sophists were on a number of issues, he was united with them by a critical attitude towards the traditional morality of the polis, which Aristophanes defends in his comedy.

The work of Aristophanes ends one of the most brilliant periods in the history of Greek culture. He delivers a powerful, bold and truthful, often profound satire on the political and cultural state of Athens during a period of crisis of democracy and the coming decline of the polis. In the distorting mirror of his comedy, the most diverse strata of society are reflected. Since Aristophanes is for us the only representative of the genre of “ancient” comedy, it is difficult for us to assess the degree of his originality and determine what he owes to his predecessors in the interpretation of plots and masks, but he always shines inexhaustibly reserve of wit and brightness of lyrical talent. With the simplest techniques he achieves the most acute comic effects, although many of these techniques, constantly reminding us that comedy arose from “phallic” games and songs, may have seemed too crude and primitive in later times.

The specific features of ancient Attic comedy were so closely related to the political and cultural conditions of life in Athens in the 5th century that the reproduction of its stylistic forms in later times was possible only experimentally. We find such experiments in Racine, Goethe, and the romantics. Writers who were truly close to Aristophanes in the type of their talent, such as Rabelais, worked in a different genre and used different stylistic forms.

Average comedy

The elimination of the political aspect and the weakening of the role of the choir led to the fact that Attic comedy went into the 4th century. along the paths outlined by Epicharmus. Ancient scholars called it “average” comedy. The comedy production of this time is very large. The ancients counted 57 authors, of whom the most famous were Antiphanes and Alexis, and 607 plays of "average" comedy, but none of them survived completely. Only a large number of titles and a number of fragments have reached us. This material allows us to conclude that in the “average” comedy, parody-mythological themes occupied a large place, and not only the myths themselves were parodied, but also the tragedies in which these myths were developed. The most popular tragic writer at this time was Euripides, and his tragedies were most often parodied (for example, Medea, The Bacchae). Another category of titles indicates everyday themes and the development of typical masks: “Painter”, “Flutist”, “Poetess”, “Doctor”, “Parasite”, etc. The heroes of the comedy are often foreigners: “Lydian”, “Beotian” . The rudeness of ridicule characteristic of “ancient” comedy was softened here. This does not mean, however, that living contemporaries have ceased to be featured in comedy; the old custom has been preserved, but only the figures depicted belong to a different environment, to a different sphere of urban “celebrities”. These are hetaeras, spendthrifts, and cooks. Food and love, the original motives of carnival ritual games, continue to be characteristic of the “average” comedy, but only in a new design, closer to everyday life. By reducing the carnival disorder and the buffoonish, “clown” moment, a more strict and complete dramatic action grew, often based on a love affair. “Middle” comedy constitutes a transitional stage to the “new” Attic comedy, comedy of characters and comedy of intrigue, which developed at the end of the 4th century, to the beginning of the Hellenistic period.

Ancient Attic comedy is one of the most difficult genres of ancient literature to understand. It was called Attic because it existed in Attica - the region of Greece, the center of which was Athens; ancient - to distinguish it from the comedy of the TV-III centuries BC, which we call the new Attic comedy. '" From beginning to end of its existence, the ancient Attic comedy in structure, artistic features and content was closely connected with the ritual games in which it should be sought. e&lischj^^^/Therefore, for a correct"" understanding and evaluation of the works of this genre, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the issue of its origin. Z" The rituals underlying the comedy belonged to the gods of fertility and are rooted in ancient times. Translated from Greek, ho)Ts (ob1a means “song of komos.” Komos was the name given to processions of people praising God in playful, sometimes very free songs, interspersed with stories of mocking content. Sometimes these were farmers who came to the city at night and sang accusatory songs at the windows of their offenders, the townspeople. Thus, "the songs of the komos contained an element of social* protest, which turned into comedy, which had an acute political orientation in the 5th century BC. * ^ “Phallic songs” performed in processions in honor of the gods of fertility, especially in honor of Dionysus, while carrying a phallus ( symbol of fertility), were the source of obscene jokes characteristic of comedy, which, like other violations of everyday moral norms of behavior, *according to the concepts of ancient peoples, had a beneficial effect on the fertility of the land and livestock. Fertility could be caused, but in the opinion of the ancients, also by laughter and struggle - this is connected with the orientation of ancient comedy towards boundless comedy, as well as the obligatory presence in comedy of agon (struggle, argument) as the main compositional part of the work. So, the songs of komos and phallic songs formed the basis of the choral parts of the ancient Attic comedy. The dramatic parts of the comedy go back to simple fairground scenes of a farcical nature with squabbles and fights, that is, they have a folklore origin, just like the choir. One of the varieties of the comedy genre was the “Sicilian Comedy” of Epicharmus (5th century BC). Only fragments of Epicharmus' comedies have reached us, from which it is clear that these were a series of scenes of everyday or mythological content. The favorite heroes of the mythological comedies of Epicharmus were Odysseus, portrayed as a clever rogue, and Hercules - not the ascetic and sufferer, as he appears before the pump in the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, but a glutton, drunkard and sensualist, as the ancient Attic comedy later portrays him. In the everyday comedies of Epicharmus there were responses to modern life, to the philosophical trends of our time, and in this way his comedies are close to the ancient Attic ones. In Athens, comedies began to be staged in the theater later than tragedies (in the 80s of the 5th century - twice a year): on Dionysia and on Lenaia. Usually three comedians performed at the festival, each with one comedy. Actors, as in tragedies, played in masks depicting laughing or ugly faces, since the ugly, in the understanding of the Greeks, like the funny, can influence fertility. The entire appearance of the actor - his costume, special props that make up part of the costume, the manner of holding himself and moving around the stage - everything was supposed to cause laughter. Comedy has developed a number of specific characters, which we call typical masks: a jester, a learned charlatan, a cowardly dandy, a drunken old woman, a glutton, a warrior, a “barbarian” (a foreigner who distorts the Greek language), a clever slave, etc. These characters will find their further development of nv in the new Attic, then Roman comedy, and finally in the European comedy of modern times. The close connection of ancient Attic comedy with ritual is evidenced by the active role of the choir, which occupies a greater place here than in tragedy. If the tragic chorus consisted first of 12, then of 15 people, then the comic chorus consisted of 24 people, and it was divided into two half-choirs, which made it possible for a round dance (verbal competition). The names of most of the surviving comedies of Aristophanes (“Riders”, “Clouds”, “Wasps”, “Acharians”, “Birds”, etc.) indicate the composition of the chorus and indicate the leading role of the chorus in ancient Attic comedy. The role of the chorus also determines the structure of the comedy. It opened with a prologue - a monologue by one of the characters or a dialogue that introduced the audience into the situation of the performance. This was followed by a skit - the choir’s appearance on stage and its first song, designed to arouse the public’s curiosity and interest in the plot being presented, especially since the choir members were often dressed in fantastic costumes of clouds, frogs, wasps, etc. Further action was divided into episodes (acting scenes) and stasima (choir songs). In a comedy there was always one or two agons, that is, scenes of an argument between half-choirs or between characters - verbal, but sometimes leading to fights. Somewhere in the middle of the comedy there was a parabassa - an appeal by the choir to the public denouncing government officials, accusing them of ambition, embezzlement, aggressive military policy, etc., or promoting the author’s views on state policy, public life, literature, etc. . n. The content of this part, therefore, was not directly related to the action of the comedy, and in pen the connection of the comedy with. accusatory songs of Komos. The last song of the choir and its departure cf scene-exodus. At the end of the action, a number of scenes were usually played out, reflecting different moments of fertility holidays: a feast, a wedding (or an erotic scene), running around with torches (or a fire), etc. The elementary form of a folk booth is a comic scene; They often feature fairy-tale characters or contain fairy-tale motifs. Folk farce is characterized by grotesqueness. Hence the caricature, fantasy, and buffoonery of ancient ancient comedy. Unity of action, that is, the consistent development of a single plot line in ancient Attic comedy, was not always observed. The ancient Attic comedy was connected simultaneously with both ritual and modern social life: it is conservative in form and topical in content; Fantasy and crude comedy are combined in it with a discussion of the most serious political and social problems. This prophetic eloquence is the originality of the genre, which changes its character as its connection with the ritual weakens. Tendentious, political in content, naturalistic in detail and caricatured in form, the ancient Attic comedy was a powerful weapon of social struggle. The freedom of political criticism contained in the comedy was ensured by the history, the peculiarities of the Athenian democracy. >glad11Tsiyoi7 going back to the fertility holidays; where ridicule, reproach, as stated above, were an important part of the ritual.

The “ancient” Attic comedy is something extremely unique. Archaic and crude games of fertility festivals are intricately intertwined in it with the formulation of the most complex social and cultural problems facing Greek society. Athenian democracy raised carnivalesque license to the level of serious social criticism, while maintaining the external forms of ritual play intact. You must first get acquainted with this folklore side of “ancient” comedy in order to understand the specifics of the genre.

Aristotle (Poetics, ch. 4) traces the beginning of comedy to “the originators of phallic songs, which to this day remain in custom in many communities.” “Phallic songs” are songs performed in processions in honor of the gods of fertility, especially in honor of Dionysus, while carrying the phallus as a symbol of fertility. During such processions, mocking mimic scenes were played out, jokes and swear words were made at the address of individual citizens (p. 20); these are the very songs from which the satirical and accusatory literary iambic style developed in its time (p. 75). Aristotle's indication of the connection between comedy and phallic songs is fully confirmed by consideration of the constituent elements of “ancient” Attic comedy.

The term "comedy" (Komoidia) means "song of the komos". Komos is a “gang of revelers” who make a procession after a feast and sing songs of mocking or laudatory, and sometimes even love, content. Komos took place both in religious rituals and in everyday life. In ancient Greek life, komos sometimes served as a means of popular protest against any oppression and turned into a kind of demonstration. In comedy, the element of komos is represented by a chorus of mummers, sometimes dressed in very fantastic costumes. Often, for example, animal masquerade occurs. “Goats”, “Wasps”, “Birds”, “Frogs” - all these titles of ancient comedies were given to them based on the costume of the choir. The chorus glorifies, but most often denounces, and its ridicule, directed against individuals, usually has no connection with the comedic action. The songs of Komos were firmly established in Attic folklore, regardless of the religion of Dionysus, but they were also part of the ritual of Dionysus festivals.

Thus, both the chorus and the comedy actors go back to the songs and games of fertility festivals. The ritualism of these celebrations is also reflected in the plots of the comedy. In the structure of “ancient” comedy, the moment of “competition” is obligatory. Plots are most often constructed in such a way that the hero, having won a victory over the enemy in a “competition,” establishes a certain new order, “turning” (in the ancient expression) upside down some aspect of the usual social relations, and then a blissful kingdom of abundance with wide space for food and love pleasures. Such a play ends with a wedding or love scene and a komos procession. Of the “ancient” comedies known to us, only a few, and moreover, the most serious in their content, deviate from this scheme, but they, in addition to the obligatory “competition”, always contain in one form or another also a moment of “feast”

* Ancient Attic comedy

Attic comedy uses typical masks (“boastful warrior”, “scientific charlatan”, “jester”, “drunken old woman”, etc.), Its object is not the mythological past, but living modernity, current, sometimes even topical, issues of political and cultural life. “Ancient” comedy is primarily a political and accusatory comedy, transforming folklore “mocking” songs and games into a weapon of political satire and ideological criticism.

Another distinctive feature of “ancient” comedy is complete freedom of personal mockery of individual citizens with open naming of their names. The ridiculed person was either directly brought onto the stage as a comic character, or became the subject of caustic, sometimes very rude, jokes and hints made by the choir and comedy actors. For example, in the comedies of Aristophanes, such persons as the leader of radical democracy Cleon, Socrates, and Euripides are brought onto the stage. More than once attempts were made to limit this comedic license, but throughout the 5th century. they remained unsuccessful.

using also typical masks of folklore and Sicilian comedy. even when the characters are living contemporaries; Thus, the image of Socrates in Aristophanes to a very small extent recreates the personality of Socrates, but is mainly a parodic sketch of a philosopher (“sophist”) in general with the addition of typical features of the mask of a “scientific charlatan.”

The plot of the comedy is mostly fantastic in nature.

The comic choir consisted of 24 people, i.e. twice as large as the tragedy choir of pre-Sophocles' times. It split into two semi-choirs, sometimes warring with each other. The most important part of the choir is the so-called parabass, performed in the middle of the comedy. It usually has no connection with the action of the play; the choir bids farewell to the actors and addresses the audience directly. Parabasa consists

and the race, in which the ideological side of the play is often concentrated. Agon in most cases has a strictly canonical construction. Two characters “compete” with each other, and their dispute consists of two parts; in the first, the leading role belongs to the side that will be defeated in the competition, in the second - to the winner; The following structure can be considered typical for “ancient” comedy. The prologue sets out the hero's fantastic project. This is followed by a parod (introduction) by the choir, a live stage where the actors also participate. After the agon, the goal is usually achieved. Then the parabasa is given. The second half of the comedy is characterized by farce-type scenes. The play ends with a procession of komos. The development of coherent action and the strengthening of the actor's parts led to the creation of a prologue spoken by the actors and the relegation of the parabass to the middle of the play. BOOK PAGE 157-161

Ancient Attic comedy, like tragedy, was born from the ritual games of the holidays of Dionysus. Another source is an elementary form of folk farce - a comic skit in which a stupid thief, a braggart scientist, etc. are ridiculed.

The term “comedy” goes back to the ancient Greek word comōidía, which literally means “song of komos,” i.e., the song of participants in a festive village procession dedicated to the glorification of the life-giving forces of nature and usually associated with the onset of the winter solstice or spring equinox. The etymology of the concept is consistent with the message of Aristotle, who traces the beginning of comedy to the improvisations of the founders of phallic songs (“Poetics”, Chapter IV), which were an indispensable part of the komos, expressing the hopes of farmers for a rich harvest and a good offspring of livestock.

The characteristic features of ancient Attic comedy as a genre are political ridicule, aimed at certain people and dealing with current contemporary issues, fabulousness and fantasticality.

One of the most remarkable features of the structure of ancient Attic comedy was the active role of the chorus, the bearer of the main journalistic idea of the play, although often dressed in fancy costumes of birds, animals, clouds, cities, underground spirits, etc.

Typical masks of folklore and Sicilian comedy are also used. even when the characters are living contemporaries; Thus, the image of Socrates in Aristophanes to a very small extent recreates the personality of Socrates, but is mainly a parodic sketch of a philosopher (“sophist”) in general with the addition of typical features of the mask of a “scientific charlatan.”

In the New Comedy, the parody of tragedy, which was still present in the Middle Comedy, almost disappeared, probably because the public was not familiar enough with the works of tragedians to understand the allusions to them. But the ridicule of philosophers continues, as they did in the Middle Comedy; They concern mainly the Stoics and Epicurus and very rarely Plato. Mythological themes are much less common than in Middle Comedy; most often they come to Diphilus. The number of comedies entitled with the names of hetaeras is significantly less than in the Middle Comedy.

The heyday of the new Attic comedy dates back to the end of the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC e. We know more than 60 names of its representatives, but we know their works almost only from excerpts. True, this gap is partially compensated by alterations of the Roman poets Plautus (approx. 250-184) and Terence (approx. 190-159 BC). Menander, Philemon, Diphilus, Apollodorus, Posidippus, Demophilus.

The external difference between the “new” comedy and the “ancient” was the absence of a chorus, which did not fit its content, which required greater intimacy. Choir songs are sometimes mentioned in the text, but they had no bearing on the action and served only as divertissement during intermissions. In the performance of these comedies the number of actors was not limited to three. Another feature of the comedy was the special figure of the “prologue”, which gave, as often happened in the tragedies of Euripides, an explanation of the content of the play.

The main features of the New Attic Comedy: concentration of interest on private conflicts and love intrigue; the desire for everyday verisimilitude, the rejection of unbridled play of fantasy; the disappearance of features of folk cult performances; attraction to stereotypical situations and mask characters (hetaera, slave, stingy father, boastful warrior, etc.). The “new” comedy reacts to political events occasionally and in passing

2. The evolution of Aristophanes’ creativity. The problematics and poetics of his comedies.

Evolution:

1) 427-421, this is the first stage of the Peloponnesian War. This period is strongly political, with the observance of a ritual-choral style.

2) the second period (414-405) from 421 to 414 we do not have any information.

This period is no longer so clearly political. Its themes are mainly social and satirical; comedies contain satire on poets and theater in connection with political demands.

3) third period (392-388) the collapse of the old agricultural-ritual-political comedy, approaching the later everyday comedy of manners, cultivation of utopian ideals, the predominance of dialogue over the chorus, the absence of parabass.

1) Changing the role of the choir

At first, the choir participated in the action before the parabassa; in the parabassa, the choir spoke on behalf of the author and then had nothing to do with the plot. The chorus openly expressed the author's tendency.

Later, Aristophanes sought to involve the chorus in the development of the plot.

2) Deep disclosure of the individual character traits of the characters. For example, Lysistrata is purposeful, demanding, unbending.

The living character of a slave. In "Acharnians" and "Birds" the slaves are wordless extras, unlike the slave in "Frogs".

In terms of content, Aristophanes’s comedy is divided into two parts: in the first, a thesis is presented and debated, and in the second, the practical consequences of this thesis are depicted, and two cases are possible: either these consequences turn out to be clearly bad, and through this the unsuitability of what was assumed by the theses is proven, or on the contrary, the consequences turn out to be good. The first case can be seen in "Clouds", where the consequences illustrate the harm of sophistic teachings that triumphed over ancient education. The second case can be seen in Lysistrata.

Aristophanes's verse is varied; in different parts of the comedy, different poetic meters are used, mainly depending on what this part is intended for - for talking or for singing.

Therefore, in dialogue some meters are used, in lyrical parts - others.

The dialogue uses: 1) iambic untruncated trimeter, 2) iambic truncated tetrameter, 3) trochaic truncated tetrameter, 4) anapestic truncated tetrameter.

Be that as it may, it is quite obvious that the language of all the characters in Aristophanes is exactly the same. This was also noticed by the author of the treatise “Comparison of Aristophanes with Menander,” in which Aristophanes is accused of having such a way of expression that is the same for all characters. Not a single citizen of Athens speaks any

incorrect language; even slaves always use the excellent Attic language; There is nothing like Tolstoy’s “tayo” in Attic comedy. On the contrary, strangers who appear on the stage are always represented as speaking the language or dialect of the people to which they belong: for example, the Boeotian and Megarian in the Acharnans, the Spartan in Lysistrata; or they speak broken Attic: for example, Persian in “Acharnians”, Scythian in “Thesmophoriazus”. This serves as proof that the Athenians all spoke the same language: otherwise Aristophanes would not have missed the opportunity to laugh

over some vulgar feature of his compatriots (Sobolevsky)

3. Comedy "Clouds": conflict, issues, system of images, techniques for creating a comic effect.

Conflict of generations; conflict between old and new; the conflict between ancient education and sophistic teachings. Aristophanes sought to reveal the political danger of sophistic dialectics. Aristophanes takes up arms in his play against the philosophy of the Sophists and speaks of its corrupting influence on the morals of society and especially on youth. He mercilessly put Socrates to shame and, in his person, all fashionable science.

Issues:

The problem of education, the problem of truth and lies

Techniques of comic effect:

ü A grotesque exaggeration of the “sophisticated mind” of Socrates

ü Comic contrast of “high” and “low”: the abstract theory of Socrates and the sober, practical mind of Strepsiades.

ü At the end of the play, when Strepsiades sets fire to the “thought room,” he answers Socrates’ question with his own words spoken at the meeting: “I walk on the air, contemplating the sun.” The comedy of this answer is enhanced by the similarity of the situation: first Strepsiades asked Socrates, standing below, and now Socrates and his students were below.

ü In the form of grotesque, the pompous empty speeches of teachers, their peremptory tone and confidence that only they own the truth are ridiculed.

Why was Socrates chosen as the main sophist?

ü One of the main qualities of Socrates was his excellent mastery of sophistic dialectics; he was considered a very skilled master of sophistic reasoning, even among the sophists themselves.

ü The same attitude towards socio-political issues as the Sophists: contempt for democracy and highly revered moral traditions (it is foolish to elect officials by lot, since the true rulers are the “knowledgeable”, those who know how to govern. Socrates was accused of arouses contempt among young people for the established state style.

In fact, Socrates also differed from the Sophists in many ways.

ü Socrates did not give paid lectures and did not claim to know absolute truth.

ü He was not interested in natural scientific problems (in the play he says that “the sky is an iron furnace, and people are coals”).

However, Aristophanes gave some specificity to the image of Socrates. He gave an external description of the philosopher: Socrates walked barefoot, his appearance was ugly

Image system:

The following characters are featured in the comedy “Clouds”: Strepsiades is an old man, a man of the old school, hardworking, honors gods and customs, defends his faith; Pheidippides is his son, a young man; Xanthius - servant of Strepsiades; student of Socrates; Socrates is a philosopher, a man about 46 years old; Justice is an allegorical person, representative

ancient Athenian education; Crooked court is an allegorical face,

representative of the new, sophistic Athenian education; Pasii - old man, creditor of Strepsiades; Aminius - a young man, creditor to Strepsiades; the witness brought by Pasius is a mute person; Chaerephon, student of Socrates, speaking only one verse - 1505.

The chorus consists of Clouds, depicted as women.

4. Comedy "Frogs": composition, conflict, problems, meaning of agon, images of the main characters, originality of the comic.

Conflict: a clash of two worldviews: the conservative landowning Athenian democracy of the formative period and the radical democracy of the Peloponnesian War with the manifestation of a crisis of ideology.

The comedy is devoted to criticism of the ideological foundations of Euripides' dramaturgy and his stage techniques. At the same time, it contains many statements by Aristophanes on issues of internal and foreign policy of Athens.

Issues: What is true art? What are the main advantages of tragedy?

There are three plans in comedy:

First: the usual buffoonery with the participation of Dionysus and his slave. The comedy of their adventure is based on a parody of the myth of how the hero and strongman Hercules descended to Athens and stole Cerberus. Farcical techniques, rude jokes, brawls, amusing clowning are the accessories of the first part of the comedy.

Second: Publicistic plan. Political motives in mystic choral songs.

Third: Literary dispute between Aeschylus and Euripides. Why Aeschylus and Euripides?

The work of Aeschylus reflected the worldview of Athenian democracy. But Euripides paid more attention to the human personality; his worldview is close to the sophists.

The comedy "Frogs" splits into two parts. The first depicts the journey of Dionysus to the kingdom of the dead. The god of tragic competitions, troubled by the emptiness on the tragic scene after the recent deaths of Euripides and Sophocles, goes to the underworld to bring out his favorite Euripides. This part of the comedy is filled with clownish scenes and spectacular effects; the cowardly Dionysus, who had stocked up on the lion skin of Hercules for a dangerous journey, and his slave find themselves in various comic situations, meeting with the figures with whom Greek folklore populated the kingdom of the dead. Dionysus, out of fear, changes roles with the slave and each time to his own detriment. The comedy got its name from the choir of frogs, which, during the crossing of Dionysus to the underworld on Charon's shuttle, sing their songs; the parody of the choir of mystics is curious for us because it is a reproduction of cult songs in honor of Dionysus. The hymns and ridicule of the choir are preceded by an introductory speech by the leader - a prototype of a comedic parabassa. The problems of "Frogs" are concentrated in the second half of the comedy, in the agony of Aeschylus and Euripides. Euripides, who has recently arrived in the underworld, lays claim to the tragic throne, which until then undoubtedly belonged to Aeschylus, and Dionysus is invited as a competent person - the judge of the competition. Aeschylus turns out to be the winner, and Dionysus takes him with him to earth, contrary to the original plans. intention to take Euripides. The competition in "Frogs", partly parodying the sophistic methods of evaluating lit. works, is the oldest monument of ancient literature. critics. The style of both rivals and their prologues are analyzed. The first part examines the main question of the tasks of poetic art, the tasks of tragedy. Euripides:

For truthful speeches, for good advice and for being smarter and better

They make citizens of their native land.

According to the precepts of Homer, in tragedies I created majestic heroes -

And Patroclus and Teucrov with a soul like a lion. I wanted to raise citizens to them,

So that they can stand on a par with the heroes when they hear the trumpets of battle.

The main characters in this comedy are as follows. Dionysus as the God of theatrical affairs; Xanthius, his servant; Euripides, poet; Aeschylus poet; Pluto, god of the underworld. The main choir consists of “mysters,” that is, initiates into the Eleusinian mysteries; the secondary chorus consists of frogs and acts only off stage. It is not clear why the play is named after this secondary chorus, and not after the main one. Most of the action takes place in the underground world.

Aristophanes' comedy "Frogs" is interesting as an expression of the views of its author. It is directed against Euripides, who is portrayed as a sentimental, effeminate, anti-patriotic poet. The comedy is interesting, further, for its sharp anti-mythological tendency. The god of the theater is Dionysus, stupid, cowardly and pathetic. Meaning of agon: Through agon, Aristophanes compares the work of Aeschylus with the work of Euripides.

The main part of the play begins - the competition between Aeschylus and Euripides. First, the attacking party is Euripides, accusing Aeschylus of deliberately prolonging tragedies and of deliberately trying to deceive the audience with the long silence of the character in order to lengthen the songs of the choir and amaze them with deliberately invented terrible words, meaningless in essence, but sonorous and alarming in their absurdity.

mystery: the word “horse-cock” (“hippalectrion”) in one tragedy of Aeschylus made Dionysus suffer from insomnia all night, reflecting on its meaning.

Then the roles change, and Aeschylus begins to attack; in contrast to Euripides, he directs attacks not at the external form, but at the internal content of the dramas, accusing Euripides of the immorality of the plots. The crime of Euripides, according to Aeschylus, is that in his plays he depicts wives in love and cheating on their husbands and teaches young people to talk in vain and not to do business. However, in the further debate attention is drawn to speech technique. And here again, the first to attack is the representative of the new, emerging verbal technique and sophistic mastery of reasoning, Euripides, who reproaches Aeschylus for the inaccuracy of language and for expressing the same concept in two different words.

Then Aeschylus attacks. He points out the inaccuracy of Euripides' way of expression. Thus, Euripides says in one tragedy: “At first Oedipus was a happy man”; Aeschylus objects: “Oedipus could not be happy, because even before his birth there was

It is predicted that he will kill his father.” Then Aeschylus points out the monotony of the construction of Euripides' prologues: his poems are structured in such a way that in the first half of the verse the participle is placed in names. n. male kind and thanks to this, in the second half of the verse after the caesura, you can insert a phrase like “lost the bottle,” for example: “Egypt, having arrived in Argos with her sons, ... lost the bottle.” Then, in the dispute, the opponents criticize each other's musical side of the choral and solo songs of their tragedies.

Literature:
1. Govnya V.V. Aristophanes. M., 1955.
2. Guseinov G.Ch. Aristophanes. M., 1988
3. Sobolevsky S.I. Aristophanes and his time. M., 1957.
4. Yarkho V.N. Aristophanes. M., 1954.
5. Yarkho V.N., Polonskaya K.P. Ancient comedy: A manual for a special course. - M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1979.

The ancient Attic comedy originated in Attica and was staged at the Great Dionysia only in 488 BC. According to Aristotle, comedy originated from phallic processions in honor of the fertility gods, especially Dionysus. Translated from Greek, the word “comedy” means “song of komos.” Komos was the name given to processions of mummers praising God in humorous songs, interspersed with songs of accusatory content. Komos songs contained an element of social struggle, which turned into comedy.
In Athens, comedies began to be staged in the theater later than tragedies. Usually three comedians performed at the festival, each with one comedy. The actors played in masks depicting laughing or ugly faces. The actors wore short mantles and sometimes trousers for added comedy. The choir of 24 people was divided into two semi-choirs, opposed to each other - the choral agon. Often the chorus represented fantastic creatures, after which the name of the comedy was given.
For comedy, it is necessary to have an agon and parabass. Agon is a competition, a dispute between heroes, with the first one being defeated in the dispute. Parabas - an episode in which a choir with a luminary addressed the audience on behalf of the author, often with sharp political language. direction. Such comedy ended with the Athenian democracy, in the middle of the 4th century. About 50 comedians were known, but he got there:

Aristophanes (445-387) Representative of the middle peasantry. The activity falls during the period of the Peloponnesian War and the crisis of the Athenian state. Comedies are distinguished by their social and pacifist orientation.
44 comedies were written, 11 were completed. Peacemaking: Peace, Lysistrata, Arachnians. Political: Horsemen, Wasps. Cultural and educational: Clouds, Frogs, Women at the Thesmophoria. Utopian: Women in the People's Assembly, Birds, Wealth.

"Clouds" (425) The old man Strepsidides speaks of debts due to the aristocratic habits (horse racing) of his son Pheidipides. He comes up with a plan: to go to Socrates’s thinking room to learn to speak well and get rid of creditors. Socrates accepts Strepsidides into the “thought room” and performs the ritual of “initiation” on him. Entering the school premises, Strepsidides sees Socrates swinging in a hammock. The student explains that the sage “floats in space, thinks about the fate of the stars,” for “it is impossible to penetrate the secrets of the air while standing on the ground.” .The natural science theories of philosophers and new sophistic disciplines, such as grammar, are parodied, high matters are compared with low ones. But Strepsidid is already old and stupid, incapable of learning, so he forces his son to study instead of himself. Before Pheidippides, Pravda (“true word”) and Krivda (“false word”) compete in the “agon”. Truth praises the old strict education, and Krivda ridicules Truth with false subterfuges. Wins. Pheidippides quickly masters all the necessary tricks, and the old man sends his creditors away. After the victory, the son's art turns against his father. A lover of the old poets Simonides and Aeschylus, Strepsidides did not agree in literary tastes with his son, an admirer of Euripides. Pheidippides beat the old man and proved to him that a son has the right to beat his father. Strepsidides is ready to admit the strength of this argument, but when Pheidippides promises to prove that it is legal to beat mothers, the enraged old man sets fire to the thinking room.

Directed against the sophists, to whom Arn mistakenly attributed Socrates. He denounces them as charlatans and atheists, sees in them the reason for the decline of morality, the weakening of faith in the gods and the weakening of citizens. consciousness. A choir dressed as clouds is the hazy wisdom of the sophists. Condemns new principles of youth education. The comedy presents ideas about hypotheses, rhetoric, philosophy and philology in caricature form.

"Frogs" (405) Dionysus and Xanthius, his slave, come to the house of Hercules. Dionysus says that he is going to the kingdom of Hades for Euripides (died in 406) because. wants to return him to the stage, and asks for the lion skin of Hercules, so that in the kingdom of the dead he will be accepted as a hero. The wanderers set off on their journey. Charon transports them across the Styx, on his boat, frogs croak. Dionysus is a coward, often gives the skin to a servant and goes behind his back, sometimes even posing as a servant of Xanthius. A gatekeeper appears in front of Hades' house and, in order to find out which of them is the real God, beats everyone with a stick. Having learned nothing, he leads them to Hades, where the truth will be revealed. In the second part - the agon of Aeschylus and Euripides - first lit. criticism in buffoonery. D is invited to be a judge of the competition. E jokes that E's tragedies died with him. E accuses E of boring his prologues, says that in all of them the phrase “lost the bottle” could be inserted. The author himself remains objective - he does not forget about the shortcomings of E's poetry (the scales of which are outweighed by the ponderous Aeschylean style). The final challenge is to give advice to the city. E believes that the government needs to change. E – stop the Peloponnesian War. E turns out to be the winner, and D takes him with him to earth, contrary to his original intention of taking E. E attacks him, saying that he promised him to take him. Then D answers E with a phrase from his tragedy: “The tongue swore, but the soul did not swear.”

"Lysistrata"(411) Based on a fantastic plot. The name literally means “disbanding the army.” Lysistrata, determined to stop the senseless war, gathers the women of Athens and Sparta. She suggests they boycott men sexually. With difficulty and after much debate and bickering, the women agree. They take refuge in the Acropolis and do not allow anyone to approach them. The entire civilian population is divided into two camps: women and the elderly. Women quarrel with old men, throw water on them, fights happen between them, but the women are relentless. They believe that they will unravel any state matter, like yarn in a spinning wheel. After some time, however, some women try to escape from the Acropolis under a variety of pretexts, but Lysistrata stops everyone. The men decide to reconcile. The ambassadors meet and negotiations begin. Lysistrata appears at the negotiations. Men admire her intelligence and beauty. They all miss their wives and quickly come to an agreement: they share everything captured during the war with each other. Peace is concluded, happy husbands take their wives and go home.