Abstract:
The final scenes of Aristophanic comedies have been usually interpreted as disconnected from the rest of the plot: as a pure expression of joy, a cheerful celebration of a successful comic hero. The present work offers an attempt to confute this interpretation. A systematic analysis of the exodoi of selected plays – especially Knights, Wasps, Acharnians and Peace – shows that the final scenes are indeed well integrated into the dramatic structure, being prepared during the course of dramatic action, and that the allegedly festive atmosphere does not point to a happy ending in the true sense of the word. Instead of providing an istance of comic relief to the audience, the ending would leave them with an impression of “cheerful desperation”, expressing a deeply pessimistic view of the future of the Athenian Polis.
Article Note:
This article results from a paper given at the Gasparov readings 2012 “Structure of Classical Drama” (Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities, April 19–21,2012). I thank Merryl Rebello for having traslated most parts of the paper into English.
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© De Gruyter 2016
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Sight and Seeing in Herodotus
- Herodotus’ Tragic Choruses
- Triumph of Hilarity? Some Reflections on the Structure and Function of the Final Scenes in Aristophanic Comedy
- Archeboule’s Epistomion from Amphipolis
- Remarks on the citations of authors and works in ancient scholarship
- Ancient variants and exegesis for Il. 14.382
- On Systematicity. How to Write (Ancient Greek) Science
- A Musical Note from Roman Cyprus
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Sight and Seeing in Herodotus
- Herodotus’ Tragic Choruses
- Triumph of Hilarity? Some Reflections on the Structure and Function of the Final Scenes in Aristophanic Comedy
- Archeboule’s Epistomion from Amphipolis
- Remarks on the citations of authors and works in ancient scholarship
- Ancient variants and exegesis for Il. 14.382
- On Systematicity. How to Write (Ancient Greek) Science
- A Musical Note from Roman Cyprus