A Cultural History of Comedy in Antiquity by Michael Ewans;

Author:Michael Ewans; [Ewans, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350187580
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2020-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

EAVESDROPPING

Another way in which the bodily presence of the actor on stage is used to highlight the comedy occurs in instances of eavesdropping, where the audience’s ability to see and be aware of the eavesdropper increases the comedy. An unusual example of eavesdropping can be found in Aristophanes’ The Women’s Festival where the In-Law is eavesdropping on the women whilst remaining in full view of the audience. This ensures that the audience response can be influenced by the way in which the In-Law behaves. As we listen to Mica attack Euripides the sight of the In-Law’s disguised body is a constant reminder that the audience should anticipate some defense of Euripides from him. In this way, the presence of the body increases the comic anticipation.

Menander uses eavesdropping differently and in doing so places a different emphasis on the actor’s body. In Samia instead of showing us, for example, Demeas as he overhears that the baby’s father is Moschion, Menander ensures that this action takes place offstage and the audience only learns of it when Demeas returns to the stage to talk, in direct address to the audience, about what he has seen. In this way Menander encourages the audience to imagine the scene rather than witness it. The nature of the lengthy speech and its presentation as direct address, however, suggests that Demeas may have reenacted his experience for the audience. He relates in detail what the women said and did, presumably supporting his words with actions and putting on the women’s voices. This generates humor as we witness Demeas taking on the voice and physicality of the nurse and the servant girl before demonstrating his own nonchalant behavior: “And I walked out exactly as I came / To you just now, quite calm” (Samia 263–4; Menander trans. Balme 2001: 57) after hearing that the child he thought his mistress had borne him is in fact his son’s child (though he is mistaken as to the identity of the mother).

Eavesdropping is common in many of Plautus’ plays. In Menaechmi Plautus uses the device several times by creating an overlap between the entrance of additional characters and the link monologue being spoken by the character occupying the stage. For example, the Old Man and the Doctor enter while Menaechmus of Epidamnus is delivering a monologue (899ff.). This, combined with the case of mistaken identity examined earlier, convinces the Old Man that Menaechmus is mad and must be taken to the Doctor’s house for treatment. The humor here lies in the fact that the audience understands why Menaechmus is saying what he says and they can also understand how this appears to be madness to the Old Man. In Epidicus (104ff.) eavesdropping is used to clarify the plot for the audience as the conversation between Stratippocles and Chaeribulus clarifies the twists and turns of the plot for them. That he has to find another 40 minae is also news to Epidicus and it is likely that the humor lies in the way in which Epidicus responds to this.

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