Plays and Fragments (Classics) by Menander

Author:Menander
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780141913476
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2004-07-28T16:00:00+00:00

ACT ONE

SCENE: a street in Corinth. There are two houses, one belonging to Myrrhine, the other to Polemon. Pataikos’s house may have been shown, but it is nowhere necessary to the action as we have it.

The beginning of the play is lost. A divine Prologue is necessary in this play, to give the audience the information they require: the whole action depends on the fact that the characters do not know all the facts, but the audience must know them. The divinity selected by Menander is Ignorance or Misapprehension. We clearly have most of her speech: its missing opening lines would have explained about Pataikos’s wife’s death in childbirth, the exposure of the twins, and their discovery by an old woman.

It is clear from the speech that this is a ‘postponed prologue’, that is, it is not the opening scene of the play. The most likely explanation of the missing scene is that it showed the meeting and greeting between Glykera and Moschion, with Sosias seeing it and reporting it to Polemon, who in a fury cuts off the girl’s hair, possibly off stage. It then allows Menander to make a neat dramatic point, by demonstrating to the audience, via the prologue speech, that they have been under a misapprehension too.

MISAPPREHENSION: … she decided to keep the girl, but to give the other twin to a wealthy woman who lives here [pointing] and who was desperate for a son. So that was what she did. Some years passed, and the war got worse, and life in Corinth harder, and the old woman was pretty well destitute. The girl (whom you’ve just seen for yourselves) was now grown up, and a lover had appeared (the explosive man you’ve just seen). He’s a native-born Corinthian, so she gave him the girl as her own daughter. She was [130] already failing and, mindful of the changes and chances of this mortal life, she told the girl the true story of how she’d found her, gave her the baby-clothes she’d been wearing, and explained about her unknown brother-by-birth, and who he was. She knew how chancy life is, and realized that he was the girl’s only relative, if ever she needed help. She wanted to be sure, too, that they’d never, [140] through me – I’m IGNORANCE – enter without realizing it into a forbidden relationship. For he’s rich and always drinking, and she’s young and pretty – and the chap she was being left with is not reliable.

Well, the old woman died, and not long ago the soldier bought this [pointing] house. So she’s living next door to her brother, but she hasn’t breathed a word of what she knows – doesn’t want to compromise his apparent social standing, wants him to enjoy his [150] good luck. But, quite accidentally, he saw her. He’s a bold lad, as I told you, and he’s always hanging about the house. Well, yesterday evening she happened to be sending her maid on an errand, and when he saw her at the door, he ran straight up and hugged and kissed her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.