"The Wasps" by Aristophanes-Comedy with A "Sting"
I am not sure what it is, but this guy has entranced me. I am actually intrigued by this character of Aristophanes, and cannot get away from him. I find myself wanting to read all of his extent work since I finished with "The Clouds" about a month ago. "The Wasps" was written most directly after his critically dis-acclaimed satire of Socrates out of all the plays we still have. Without even knowing this, I dove into the play and tried to piece together what made this guy so great and why so many of his plays exist when so many others have been lost to history.
I think that different generations have always had a difficulty getting along, yet this is taken to a comic extreme in "The Wasps". It is in this play that the father (Procleon) and the son (Anticleon) face off over the issue of jury duty. You would think that the father would be trying to get the son to do his civic duty...but that is very far from the truth. The father is actually addicted to jury duty. He cannot stop going in his old age, because it gives him an opportunity to vent all of his elderly venom of the defendants of court cases. He has been locked in his house by his son to prevent him from going to another trial for a mere 3 obols a day in pay (which I assume is a scam due to the dialogue between father and son that goes on mid-play). Anticleon comically locks Procleon in his house with a massive net around it. Corners are sealed up and the house is made to be as much of a comic fortress as is a step above reasonable. The dad cannot get out, and his old war buddies (with comic stingers on their rumps) get into a fight with Anticleon and try to get him out. These elderly wasps are one of the most lively choruses in all of ancient drama, and are very fully realized. As a character, we get to see more and more of Procleon's addiction to jury duty as both a comic farce and a tragic flaw. Since this is Aristophanes we are talking about, there is a good deal of sexual comedy and slapstick throughout the passages of this well crafted play. A mock trial of sorts happens between two dogs of the household to figure out if a dog should be deemed guilty of a harsh crime after he eats cheese meant for other members of the household. You can start to see how the ridiculousness of the situation starts to develop. The funny thing I found in this play was that neither party was truly right in my eye. I guess that comedy can be a mix of two flawed characters, rather than the good-hearted protagonist winning in the end over a villain, as was the case with Strepsiades and Socrates in "The Clouds".
One scene that was of particular interest to me was towards the end of the play. After finally giving up his identity as a juror to his convincing son (manipulative speeches seem to be a theme in Aristophanes plays), Procleon puts on Persian and Spartan clothing to go out to a dinner party. It should be noted that these two countries were two of Athens' biggest enemies at the time of Aristophanes' writing. Anticleon makes his father physically don symbols of a more subtle character change. Making things obvious to make sure all types of people understand a joke may be an idea to draw from this. Procleon goes to a dinner party and gets himself absolutely wrecked. He makes a proverbial ass out of himself, and ironically induces other people to want to take him to court. One thing that bothered me about this play was that this was never truly resolved. The courts never convene with Procleon facing his actions of the night...even when he tries to abduct a flute girl from his hosts' house. The play abruptly ends, in what in my opinion is a very nonsensical manner, with a Rockettes-like kick line. I am not kidding. The actual last few lines of this play were: " The time has come to end our play; but you can dance before us; and this at least it's safe to say-no comic poet till today has hit on such a clever way of sending off his Chorus". Once again, I am not kidding.
The absurdity of the last few pages of this play are a bit overwhelming for me. I wish I truly understood what was going on, or if the confusion is meant to be symbolic. It could always be that the devolution of the night shows how trying to change the nature of another generation will be fruitless. From the way the play turned out, and some brief search on the history of this play, it seems as though Aristophanes was more on the conservative side of this play. He was on the side of the father, despite his addiction to jury duty and the ridiculousness of such a situation. The results of such raunchy behavior by an elderly man are not shown to the audience. This seems to indicate that comedy often can be the ignoring of consequences or harsh realities. Perhaps this is true, but I like to think that the type of humor I am trying to cultivate through this research is much more like the rest of the play. I like to think that comedy is making light of the issues around us, such as the addictions of a father and the misguided attempts at resolution by the son. This probably could have been a tragedy if it was stretched out for another act...but I think that Aristophanes did a good job of juxtaposing darkness with joviality. "The Wasps" is not meant to just be raw entertainment. It is supposed to make you think...hence one of the first likes of this quality and smartly funny demonstration of Aristophanes' brilliance.
I think that different generations have always had a difficulty getting along, yet this is taken to a comic extreme in "The Wasps". It is in this play that the father (Procleon) and the son (Anticleon) face off over the issue of jury duty. You would think that the father would be trying to get the son to do his civic duty...but that is very far from the truth. The father is actually addicted to jury duty. He cannot stop going in his old age, because it gives him an opportunity to vent all of his elderly venom of the defendants of court cases. He has been locked in his house by his son to prevent him from going to another trial for a mere 3 obols a day in pay (which I assume is a scam due to the dialogue between father and son that goes on mid-play). Anticleon comically locks Procleon in his house with a massive net around it. Corners are sealed up and the house is made to be as much of a comic fortress as is a step above reasonable. The dad cannot get out, and his old war buddies (with comic stingers on their rumps) get into a fight with Anticleon and try to get him out. These elderly wasps are one of the most lively choruses in all of ancient drama, and are very fully realized. As a character, we get to see more and more of Procleon's addiction to jury duty as both a comic farce and a tragic flaw. Since this is Aristophanes we are talking about, there is a good deal of sexual comedy and slapstick throughout the passages of this well crafted play. A mock trial of sorts happens between two dogs of the household to figure out if a dog should be deemed guilty of a harsh crime after he eats cheese meant for other members of the household. You can start to see how the ridiculousness of the situation starts to develop. The funny thing I found in this play was that neither party was truly right in my eye. I guess that comedy can be a mix of two flawed characters, rather than the good-hearted protagonist winning in the end over a villain, as was the case with Strepsiades and Socrates in "The Clouds".
One scene that was of particular interest to me was towards the end of the play. After finally giving up his identity as a juror to his convincing son (manipulative speeches seem to be a theme in Aristophanes plays), Procleon puts on Persian and Spartan clothing to go out to a dinner party. It should be noted that these two countries were two of Athens' biggest enemies at the time of Aristophanes' writing. Anticleon makes his father physically don symbols of a more subtle character change. Making things obvious to make sure all types of people understand a joke may be an idea to draw from this. Procleon goes to a dinner party and gets himself absolutely wrecked. He makes a proverbial ass out of himself, and ironically induces other people to want to take him to court. One thing that bothered me about this play was that this was never truly resolved. The courts never convene with Procleon facing his actions of the night...even when he tries to abduct a flute girl from his hosts' house. The play abruptly ends, in what in my opinion is a very nonsensical manner, with a Rockettes-like kick line. I am not kidding. The actual last few lines of this play were: " The time has come to end our play; but you can dance before us; and this at least it's safe to say-no comic poet till today has hit on such a clever way of sending off his Chorus". Once again, I am not kidding.
The absurdity of the last few pages of this play are a bit overwhelming for me. I wish I truly understood what was going on, or if the confusion is meant to be symbolic. It could always be that the devolution of the night shows how trying to change the nature of another generation will be fruitless. From the way the play turned out, and some brief search on the history of this play, it seems as though Aristophanes was more on the conservative side of this play. He was on the side of the father, despite his addiction to jury duty and the ridiculousness of such a situation. The results of such raunchy behavior by an elderly man are not shown to the audience. This seems to indicate that comedy often can be the ignoring of consequences or harsh realities. Perhaps this is true, but I like to think that the type of humor I am trying to cultivate through this research is much more like the rest of the play. I like to think that comedy is making light of the issues around us, such as the addictions of a father and the misguided attempts at resolution by the son. This probably could have been a tragedy if it was stretched out for another act...but I think that Aristophanes did a good job of juxtaposing darkness with joviality. "The Wasps" is not meant to just be raw entertainment. It is supposed to make you think...hence one of the first likes of this quality and smartly funny demonstration of Aristophanes' brilliance.
This is just a little fable, with a moral: not too highbrow for you, we hope, but a bit more intelligent than the usual knockabout stuff