Menander’s Dyskolos - 1375 Words

Menander's Dyskolos (Essay Sample) Content: Menander’s Dyskolos Name: Institution: Instructor: Subject: Date: Introduction Comedy has overtime been a viable tool over which actors, authors and even filmmakers reveal social situations in a manner that an average individual can effectively relate to them. Even though, it is true that a larger percentage of modern comedies are crude to some, not all of them are offensive in nature. There is no case whereby two individuals can ever have the same religious, political, or personal beliefs, and therefore it is impossible for comedies to fulfill everyone’s beliefs. Each generation has its own editions of comedy. Therefore, as generations pass by, comedies also evolve to the extent that authors are no longer afraid of presenting subjects like politics, war, religion or race. Therefore, this paper attempts to ascertain various aspects pertaining to the realism of the Menandrean comedy.Ancient Greek Comedy The overal l Greek comedy has undergone tremendous changes since ancient times to date. Radical changes in both political and social conditions that took the stage in Greece during the primeval times resulted into elemental changes in the field of theatre. The unprecedented nature of Greeks commercial and cultural affairs opened the prospect for new and inimitable genre to rise (Menander [1] the declaration of older or real persons contemporary, [2] the usage of another meter apart from the iambic trimeter, [3] the powerful comic element also known as farcical scenes, [4] the traditional tools linked with comic types, and [5] the presence and high use of monologs. Therefore, Menandrean comedy enables us to rely mostly on the internal or intrinsic evidence, which makes the play, its characters and plot to express each and every stage of the evolution of social history. The play in this case is not only seen as the work of the art, but also as a measure of social reality. For instance, in the D yskolos play, the dramatic skills of highly lauded genius are shown along with an exceptional ability to create individualistic characters. The abovementioned attributes of the Menandrean comedy makes it suitable for the writing of social history. Factually, information regarding any of the historical events is often associated with mixed reactions. In this case, the information might be catchy and attractive or even unexciting. Therefore, such information requires higher levels of dramatic skills, which can be attained through Menandrean...