Erotic elements in The Brothers Menaechmus - Essay Example

number The use of erotic elements in The Brothers Menaechmus is crucial to the production of comedy in the play. There is departure from traditional comedy in The Brothers Menaechmus, in that it does not end with a marriage and involvement with a prostitute while Menaechmus is married. There is a homoerotic and incestuous undertone to the union of the brothers at the end of the play that contributes to the production of humor. This paper shall seek to analyse these aspects of the play and why these can or cannot be used in a modern play.

Erotic elements in The Brothers Menaechmus The erotic elements in The Brothers Menaechmus contribute greatly to the comedy that is an intrinsic part of the play. The presence of a wife and a mistress and the confusion that ensues is something that is a stock situation that is used for humor in many plays. Plautus combines this with the presence of the twin brothers who look exactly like each other to create situations that are not only funny but also educative and subversive of contemporary ideas of appearances and reality.

Subversion occurs at another level, where the homoerotic element is hinted at. However, it is not developed fully and is turned into another occasion for laughter and the production of comedy. The name Erotium in itself lends itself to suggestive explanations that produce situations that are worthy of laughter to an audience that heard the dialogues in the original Latin that the play was written in. The recourse that Menaechmus takes is that of taking refuge in the arms of his mistress. His wife remains an insignificant character as opposed to the prostitute.

His wife is not even provided with a name in most translations. The excessive significance that is given to erotic activities outside marriage is mocked at by Plautus through these devices. Conversely, they also use the trope of the cranky and nagging wife devoid of eroticism to generate laughter. The erotic nature of the encounter that Menaechmus plans with Erotium is hinted at through the idea of the feast, which refers to the sexual fulfillment that lies in store for Menaechmus. This is however, enjoyed by the brother.

The confusion that ensues leads to the humor that is produced, which also employs the trope of the unfulfilled client who pays for another man’s enjoyment. The homoerotic element that arises at the end of the play is something that is subversive in that it suggests the existence of this kind of a relationship, when it was not a part of mainstream culture. Here too, a marginalized sexuality is used as an excuse for humor. Plautus uses the belief of sexual attraction between twins to complicate the matter and the confusion that already exists in the world of the play.

The kind of marginalization of subaltern groups like people of non-heterosexual orientations and women that one finds in The Brothers Menaechmus is however, something that modern playwrights shall not be able to employ for the production of humor. This shall lead to the work of the playwright being labeled as insensitive to these communities. This is, however, a positive development, since it reveals the acceptance that these groups have gained from mainstream society. The power that they wield within society at this point of time enables them to demand a better representation that the one Plautus is able to provide them in his society that for its times, was progressive, but still not enough for him to engage in a proper exploration of these themes.

Works Cited Plautus. The Braggart Soldier. New York: Oxford U.P., 1996. Print.