ENGL 3413: World Literature

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 2: Aristophanes and Plato

Revised 1-18-12

 

                                        Background for Aristophanes and Lysistrata

The Peloponnesus or Peloponnese is the southern peninsula of Greece.  In the fifth century BCE, Sparta was the most powerful city-state on the Peloponnesus.  (See the map on page 86.) Athens, not on the Peloponnesus but wishing to control it, fought Sparta in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).  In 411 BCE, when Athens was losing the war, Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata in an attempt to convince his fellow Athenians to end the war before it was too late.

  

In ancient Greece, an acropolis (literally meaning “top of the city”) was a fortified hill where government buildings could be protected. On the Acropolis of Athens, a great temple called the Partheon housed the statue of the Athena, the patron goddess of the city.  

  1. In Lysistrata, what group occupies the Acropolis? Why?
  2. In what context is the statue of the goddess Athena mentioned in the play?
  3. Extra-credit research: What else can you learn about the Acropolis and the Parthenon?  How does this information help you understand their importance in the play? 

 

At the annual festival of Dionysus in Athens, a competition was held to choose the writer of the best comedy. Many playwrights competed, but Aristophanes (c. 450-385 BCE) was the most successful.  All the plays of his competitors have been lost, and, of the 40 or so plays  Aristophanes entered into competition, only 13 are extant.  If fact, the vast majority of the literary works of the ancient world have been lost through decay.

 

Characteristics of Greek Old Comedy in Lysistrata

 

The genre of all the plays of Aristophanes, including Lysistrata, is Greek Old Comedy.    Today we are more familiar with Greek New Comedy because Roman comedy, Shakespearean comedy, and even our contemporary “romantic comedy” films are derived from New Comedy.  Greek Old Comedy, however, contains a strange mixture of elements, analogous in the 20th century only to something like the Marx Brothers movies, with Harpo’s songs and Groucho’s bawdry and satire, or the late-1960s musical Hair, with its mixture of songs, politics, and sex.  

 

Aristophanes’s Greek Old Comedy has the following characteristics.  In class, be able to give specific examples of each feature in Lysistrata.

 

1.      The plot in Greek Old Comedy is a farce.  A farcical plot is improbable (totally unbelievable) and contains physical humor (created by what the actors do rather than what they say).  Many TV sit-coms, from I Love Lucy to Seinfeld, also have farcical plots.

a.       What is unbelievable about the women in the play waging a sex strike against the men?

b.      What is unbelievable about the reactions of the men and women in the play?

c.       What physical humor is evident in the play?  In what scenes does the use of costumes and props (items or objects on stage) create physical humor?

 

2.      All plays of Greek Old Comedy contain sexual jokes, both verbal (which the audience hears) and physical (which the audience sees).

a.       What lines of dialogue contain sexual innuendos? (Find as many as you can.  Although there are probably some on every page, some examples are on pages 468[m]-70[t] and 493-94.)

b.      What is Lysistrata’s purpose in reading the oracle on page 486(m)?  What sexual innuendos are contained in the oracle?  To whom do the names of the different birds refer?

c.       What objects used on stage are phallic symbols because they look like and are meant to suggest a phallus (male sexual organ)?  (These objects are also examples of physical humor; see item 1 above.)

d.      According to the dictionary definition of pornography, what is the purpose of pornography?  Do the sexual references in Lysistrata fulfill this purpose?  If not, what is their purpose instead?

 

3.      The chorus sings clever, joyous songs. As in ancient Greek tragedy, spoken scenes alternate with choral songs.  In this play, 24 people are in the chorus, 12 in each of the two half-choruses.

a.       On pages 486-87, the half-choruses of old men and old women sing songs to each other.  Each song contains a narrative.  Briefly summarize the narrative of each song.  In what way is each song an insult to the other gender?

b.      How does the composition of the choruses change at the end of the play?

 

4.      The characters frequently speak witty dialogue (repartee).

a.       The rapid exchange of one-liners in dialogue is called stichomythia.  One passage that uses this technique is on page 490.  Where else does this occur in the play?

b.      Greek poetry did not use rhyme.  On pages 486-87 and 492-93, however, our English translation of the play uses rhyme in the dialogue between the men and women.  What is gained by the use of rhyme here? 

 

5.      Greek Old Comedy includes contemporary allusions to and satire of well-known people and events. (“Contemporary” means at the time of the play’s composition and first performance. Satire is the use of humor or wit to ridicule human weaknesses.)

a.       Where can one find contemporary satire today?

b.      What are some examples of real people of ancient Greece who are mentioned and satirized?  (See the footnotes.)

c.       What is the main contemporary event that the play satirizes?

 

6.      Greek Old Comedy not only entertains but also has a serious point, a unifying theme.

a.       What is the theme of Lysistrata? 

b.      What does the name “Lysistrata” mean, and how does this name help establish the theme?

c.       What is the appearance of the statue that Lysistrata brings into the final peace deliberations?  What is its name?  How do the appearance and name of the statue relate to the theme?

d.      What anti-war slogan of the 1960s successfully captures the theme of the play?

 

Great Philosophers of Ancient Athens

The three great philosophers of ancient Athens are, in chronological order,

  • Socrates
  • Plato
  • Aristotle

Remember them in this order by the acronym “SPA.”

 

Socrates (470?-399 BCE)

Socrates was physically ugly, poor, and offbeat.  He was not well traveled or well read, and he left no writings. We know him primarily through the writings of his pupils, and especially Plato, who give a highly complimentary view of him.  Aristophanes, however, gives an unflattering, satiric view of Socrates in The Clouds.  (See below under “Speech #1.”)

 

  1. In the late 20th century, revisionist historian I. F. Stone argued that Socrates was executed for being an anti-democratic agitator.  Extra-credit research:  What can you learn about this and/or other theories about the reasons for the execution of Socrates?

 

Most scholars today revere Socrates for his passion for

    • discovering the truth  
    • doing what is right

 

  1. What does Socrates mean when he says, “The unexamined life is not worth living” (517m)?
  2. Socrates is also known for the method he used to lead his students to truth. What is the Socratic method? 
  3. What does Socrates mean by “improvement of the soul”?  Where does this phrase appear in The Apology?

 

Plato (429 or 427?- 347 BCE)

From the age of 19 to 29, Plato was a student of Socrates for the last 10 years of his teacher’s life.  Plato is one of the “youths” whom Socrates is accused of “corrupting” in The Apology.  Plato later founded the Academy, a school, in some ways comparable to a modern university, that lasted for hundreds of years. 

 

  1. Extra-credit research: What can you learn about Plato’s Academy?
  2. Plato’s works belong to a genre called the philosophical dialogue, which uses questions and answers to find and present the truth.  What name is given to this method of teaching?
  3. Plato’s early philosophical dialogues—The Apology, Crito, and Phaedo—record actual events in the life of Socrates.  In later philosophical dialogues such as The Republic, although Plato presents his own views, he still calls the questioner “Socrates.”  Why?

 

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

Aristotle is the most famous student of Plato's Academy, where he studied for the last 20 years of Plato's life.  Aristotle later privately tutored Alexander the Great and founded his own school, the Lyceum.  Aristotle is author of The Poetics, which we have previously studied in this class.

 

The Apology of Socrates

  1. Socrates does not apologize for anything in The Apology.  Which dictionary definition of “apology” applies here?  How does this definition apply to the content of the work?
  2. By genre, The Apology, like all of Plato’s works, is classified as a philosophical dialogue. What keeps this work from being a perfect example of a dialogue?  In what sense, however, can it be considered a dialogue?  In what sense is it “philosophical”?

 

The Apology is Plato’s version (written much later) of three speeches Socrates delivered on the  day of his trial in Athens in 399 BCE.

 

Speech #1: 500-15

Before a jury of 500 or 501, Socrates first addresses unspoken charges that have been rumored about him but not brought before the court.

  1. The first unspoken charge is that he is a Sophist (502 m-b).  What is a Sophist?  What does a Sophist do that Socrates says he does not do? 
  2. How does Aristophanes depict Socrates in his comedy The Clouds?
  3. The second unspoken charge is that Socrates has claimed that no one is wiser than he (503-05). According to Socrates, how did he get the reputation for making this claim? 
  4. Socrates explains that, by questioning others, he learned he is wise only in what sense?

 

Socrates then addresses the actual charges brought against him: “corrupting the youth” and disbelieving the gods.

  1. What does it mean to “corrupt the youth” (505m-08)?
  2. When questioned by Meletus, Socrates tries to refute Meletus’s charge through analogy by comparing the training of youth to the training of what animal?
  3. What illogical claim does Meletus make concerning the training of the youth of Athens?
  4. What is meant by the charge that Socrates is guilty of disbelieving the gods (508)?
  5. What illogical claim does Meletus make concerning Socrates’s religious beliefs (508m)?
  6. In your opinion, does Meletus or Socrates make the stronger arguments concerning these charges?

 

Socrates then turns from addressing the charges to discussing his present and future behavior. 

  1. What statements does Socrates make that could anger the jury?
  2. What does Socrates say to those who just want him to stop questioning and teaching?
  3. What does Socrates mean when he says he is a “gadfly” to the state (512)?  What dictionary definition of “gadfly” applies here?  Extra credit:  What public figures today could be considered gadflies?
  4. Who does Socrates say will be harmed if he is killed?

  1. What does Socrates say he refuses to do to get a favorable verdict from the jury (514b)?
  2. After this first speech, how does the jury vote (515b)?

 

Speech #2: 516t-17

After the guilty verdict, Socrates must propose an alternative punishment for the jury to consider in lieu of the death penalty.

  1. What alternatives to the death sentence does Socrates suggest in jest, knowing they will not be accepted?
  2. What serious alternative does he finally propose?  What are the meaning and pronunciation of the words “mina” and “minae”?
  3. How does the jury vote in this “penalty phase” of the trial (517b)?  How does this compare with the previous vote?
  4. How can you explain the fact that some jurors who previously voted “not guilty” now vote for the death penalty?

 

Speech #3: 517b-20

Condemned to death, Socrates addresses his enemies and his friends.

  1. To his enemies, what does Socrates say about his death?
  2. To his friends, Socrates says he knows he’s said the right things in the trial.  What is his basis for believing that he hasn’t made a mistake (519t)?  What is the “sign” he talks about?
  3. Socrates says he doesn’t really know what will happen to him after death, but he reassures his friends that both of the possible alternatives are good.  What are these two alternatives (519-20)?
  4. What does Socrates mean when he says, “No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death” (520)?
  5. For extra credit, research the death of Socrates, described in Plato’s Phaedo, and the French artist David’s famous painting The Death of Socrates.