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oa Scènes uit een tragikomisch huwelijk
Plautus’ Amphitruo als tragedieparodie
- Amsterdam University Press
- Source: Lampas, Volume 55, Issue 2, Aug 2022, p. 119 - 141
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- 01 Aug 2022
Abstract
Abstract
Discussions about the interpretation of Plautus’ self-proclaimed tragicomoedia Amphitruo usually centre on the interpretation of the character of Alcumena, the wife of the eponymous general: should we see her as a tragic heroine or as a comic character? In this paper I will elaborate a third option, in which Alcumena is interpreted as a comic character precisely because her tragic features are grotesquely parodied, and I will argue for an analysis of the Amphitruo as a parody of tragedy. Mercury plays a central role as the divine seruus callidus who brilliantly directs the various reversals throughout the play and ‘performs’ the transition into a tragicomedy on the stage.
© Rodie Risselada