From tragic to obscene: the Amphitruo of Plautus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7726.2017.2.26108Keywords:
Roman theater, Obscenity, Tragedy, Comedy, MythAbstract
This brief text analyzes the ambiguities present in the play Amphitruo, by the Roman author Plauto, in conceiveing a plot apt to a comic treatment, although based on the myth of the conception of Hercules, which had previously been retold in tragedies. The transformations that the myth undergoes in the hands of the comedian, which are concentrated mainly in the level of the character, are approached here. Based on the narrative and the lines of the characters, it is demonstrated how the author achieved the goal of adapting the fable to a comic script through a change in the presentation the characters, especially two of the main ones: namely, Jupiter and Alcmena, who were degraded from their original places of figures of respect, by means of repeated obscene associations.
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