Domestic Influences in the Greek and Roman Theaters - Essay Example

Order 256271 Domestic influences in the Greek and Roman Theaters It is an interesting paradox that the ancient world was of such vastness that people's lives were spent within the confines of their vicinities. Travels to faraway places and strange lands were tales of adventures that only came from the minds of creative storytellers, perhaps the only attainable expression of an innate desire of man to explore his world beyond him. Yet in the simplicity of life's undertakings then, ancient societies spun their affairs around people most proximate and around events that obtain in and around their immediate communities. Their world was mostly their families, relatives, neighbors and their town. The Greek and Roman civilizations, which are perhaps two with the most abundant reference resources having extensively recorded their respective eras, do manifest this observation, if, at least, in their literary works alone. Even as both Mediterranean civilizations have expanded the influence of their clout and power, notably the Romans who spread out east to as far as India, the influence of domestic affairs and interests in the Greek and Roman person is evident even in the higher echelons of society and governments. Following is a Greek tragedy and a Roman comedy that very well typify the works of that classical era. From these two classical works, we shall survey influences in the plot, the characters, and the themes that reflect domestic elements, or, better still, to even find these elements central to the stories themselves. The Antigone The "Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written before or in 442 BC. It is chronologically the third of the three Theban plays but was written first."( Fagles, p. 35) The other two plays in the trilogy by Sophocles being Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone proceeds where Seven Against Thebes, which was written much earlier by Aeschylus, leaves off. In the Seven Against Thebes, the two sons of Oedipus, Polynices and Eteocles, find themselves at odds against each other in a civil war over succession to the throne of Thebes which their father Oedipus had to relinquish. The brothers tragically kill each other. The Antigone, this time the story of one of Oedipus' two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, sisters of the brothers who slew each other, begins with sisters Antigone and Ismene discoursing on the older Antogone's decision to bury the body of their brother Polynices despite an edict of King Creon to deny his body honorable burial as the other brother's body, that of Eteocles, be honored. Despite the punishment of death by stoning to anyone who defies the king's command, Antigone prevails over her sister's persuasions and proceeds to cover her brothers body with earth declaring, "I will do my part,-and thine, if thou wilt not,-to a brother. False to him will I never be found." Reminded by Ismene of the consequence, Antigone retorts, "Such be thy plea:-I, then, will go to heap the earth above the brother whom I love." The play proceeds where Creon seeks the support of the Theban Elders who, in the play, are represented by the chorus, particularly to back his edict regarding the disposal of Polynices' body. The Elders pledges their support. Then a Sentry enters with dread to tell the king of the news that Polynices' body had been buried. Furious, the king orders the sentry to find out who did and if he fails, he faces death himself. The Sentry leaves and, after a while, returns with Antigone in tow. Asked by the king, "And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law" Antigone replies, "I avow it; I make no denial." Creon fumes and swears the king, in his time, will not be prevailed over by a woman thus declares, "While I live, no woman shall rule me." Then assuming that the sister, Ismene, must have had a hand in the act as well, the king summons Ismene who, by now, also tries to confess falsely that indeed she has a hand in it while in truth she did not. Demanded by Antigone to tell the truth and be spared, she answers, "But, now that ills beset thee, I am not ashamed to sail the sea of trouble at thy side." At an instance in the exchanges between Antigone, Ismene, and King Creon, Ismene attempts to dissuade the King by invoking the betrothal of Antigone to the King's son, Haemon. To which the King retorts. "I like not an evil wife for my son." Following scene is where Haemon enters. Without as much contradicting his father's orders or directly taking the side of his betrothed at the onset of the dialogue, Haemon manages, however, to gradually express his take on the situation. Alluding to the disposition of the gods and the sentiment of Thebes on the matter at hand that he declares he has knowledge of, Haemon tries to persuade his father to recall his decision. He recapitulates his persuasion thus:"Nay, forego thy wrath; permit thyself to change. For if I, a younger man, may offer my thought, it were far best, I ween, that men should be all-wise by nature; but, otherwise-and oft the scale inclines not so-'tis good also to learn from those who speak aright." To this the Elders indicate some agreement. The King's pride manifests, however, and asks a rhetorical, "Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule" As the conversation between father and son regressed to more impassioned argumentations, Haemon leaves his father with a foreboding, "No, not at my side-never think it-shall she perish; nor shalt thou ever set eyes more upon my face" as he walks away. King Creon decides to spare Ismene and banish Antigone to a secluded cave and leave her in solitude where the gods can decide on her fate. At this juncture, Teiresias, a blind prophet, enters. He warns Creon that the gods side with Antigone. King Creon gets back at Teiresia, however, with the accusation that he is corrupt. The blind Teiresias responds that because of Creon's mistakes, he will lose one son for the error deciding to leave Polynices unburied and punishing Antigone. Further, that all of Greece will despise him and the sacrificial offerings of Thebes will not be accepted by the gods. The Elders are terrified by the seer's pronouncements and asks the King to heed their advice. Also himself shaken, he assents this time and they tell him that he should bury Polyneices and free Antigone. King Creon to the counsel of the elders declaring, "Ah me, 'tis hard, but I resign my cherished resolve,-I obey. We must not wage a vain war with destiny." He leaves with servants to help him undo what he has commanded to do, including the task of releasing Antigone. At his point, a messenger arrives and tells the Elders that Haemon and Antigone have taken their own lives together. Then Eurydice, King Creon's wife and Haemon's mother, enters the scene and asks the Messenger to tell her everything after which she disappears into the palace in great grief. In the next scene King Creon enters, carrying Haemon's body. He accepts the dire consequence of his errors just as another messenger appears to tell him and the Eldees that Eurydice has killed herself too and that with her last breath, she cursed her husband. Creon blames himself for everything. "Ah me, this guilt can never be fixed on any other of mortal kind, for my acquittal! I, even I, was thy slayer, wretched that I am-I own the truth. Lead me away, O my servants, lead me hence with all speed, whose life is but as death!" The tragedy closes with the Elders, the chorus, conclude: "Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise." The Menaechmi The Menaechmi, a comedy written by the Roman Maccius Plautus, is the story of twin brothers who were separated in childhood by an unfortunate misadventure and the comedy of circumstances that ensues as they reunite later on in their adult lives. The Play begins with a prologue where the speaker introduces the story to the audience by setting the circumstances and the characters of the story. He pretty much also lays out the plot while trying to be funny already in the discourse: A merchant from Syracuse named Moschus had twin sons, one named Menaechmus and the other Socicles. The boys were seven years old when their father, Moschus took the one named Menaechmus with him on a business trip to Tarentum. There being games going on in Terentum, the boy Menaechmus got separated from his father in the crowd. He was found by a wealthy merchant of from Epidamnus who had no son and who readily adopted Menaechmus as his own, bringing him home with him to Epidamnus weher he eventually grew to manhood and married a rich wife. Back to the time of Menaechmus' separation from his father, the misfortune became too much for the latter that he died before even being able to return to Syracuse. The news of the unfortunate development of events reached Syracuse bringing great grief to the grandfather of the twins. The grandfather, to mark his grief, renamed the remaining twin, Socicles, Menaechmus, in honor of the lost one. When the former grew up and became a young man, he set out with his slave named Messenio, to look for his twin brother. He is now named Menaechmus himself that is how his slave calls him too. In the Play, the two Menaechmi are distinguished as Menaechmus of Epidamnus and Menaechmus Socicles. Action begins in Epidamnus, Menaechmus of Epidamnus leaving their house discoursing on his dissatisfaction over his wife's attitudes. Meeting his parasite, Peniculus, who overhears and discovers the former has spirited his wife's mantle to be given as gift to his courtesan named Erotium. The two men goes to Erotium's house where they asked Erotium for prepare breakfast for them for which they will come back later.. Meanwhile, Menaechmus Sosicles and his servant Messenio have just arrived at Epidamnus. They have been looking for the other Menaechmus for six years now. It is at this juncture that Erotium sees Menaechmus Socicles and mistaes him for the local Menaechmus. Perplexed upon the encounter at the beginning, Menaechmus Socicles naughtily decides to play along when he realized it was to his favor having been invited in by the courtesan to her house. He sends his servant Messenio to deposit the rest of their group in an inn as he proceeds alone now with the courtesan. When Menaechmus Sociles leaves the house afterwards, she gives him the mantle along with a gold bracelet and requests that he have them repaired. Meanwhile, the wife discovers the loss of the mantle. Then she sees Menaechmus Socicles with her mantle and starts making a loud scene. When he disclaims all knowledge of her which is true, she calls her father and some servants to take him in custody, believing he has gone suddenly mad. More situational complications happen as Menaechmus Socicles meets Peniculus and when Messenioa sees the local Menaechmus being carried away for detention and cure at the instruction of his Father-in-law and the local doctor. Finally the twin brothers are brought face to face. It is a bit inconsistent that it did not seem to occur to both that they were the twin brothers necessitating Messenio to lead everyone in a logical deduction of facts to establish their affinity. The comedy closes with plans for an auction of all the property of Menaechmus of Epidamnus, including his wife, that he may return with his brother to Syracuse. The two contrasting themes of the two plays are readily recognizable, the first one being a Greek Tragedy and the second one being a Roman Comedy. But even in their respective genre, the element of family relations is central to the stories where from the rest of the thematic elements of both plays proceed. In Antigone, the whole drama proceeds from a sister's defiance of a royal decree to fulfill her duty as a sister to a fallen and disgraced brother even under the pain of death. The situation which provoked pride, challenged sovereign principles and elicited strong public sentiments wove itself into a tragedy that took away the lives of the king's own son, Haemon, and his wife, both blaming him bitterly as they took their own lives. In Menaechmi, while intended to be the comedy that it is, there is the father of the twins, Moschus, taking his life upon the careless loss of his seven-year old son in the crowd in Terentum. The comedy itself revolves in the circumstances of the final meeting of twins after a long separation and the successful quest of one to find the other. The situational comedy is contained within the fraternal frame that made sure the twin brothers eventually meet. In conclusion, even as I began by proposing that the influence of domestic themes in classical stories are on account of the parochial mentality that must have prevailed then when travel to elsewhere in the world was not yet easily obtainable, broader considerations developed as I read both plays. The themes in both plays which touched on natural law, public perceptions, the deities, social realities and typical personality traits, among others, appear to be still very much the same themes that prevail even in contemporary stories. Family relations - filial, paternal and fraternal, sibling relations, spousal affairs - must be the most relatable element of any story anyone can tell at any point in human history, in the past and in the present. It still remains to be the ever present influence in the development of stories today. Work Cited: 1. Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1986, p. 35 Sources: 1. Sophocles, Antigone, Translated by R. C. Jebb, http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html 2.. Maccius Plautus, Menaechmi, or The Twin Brothers, Edited by Henry Thomas Riley http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptextlookup=Pl.+Men.+ Read More