What types of humour does Aristophanes employ in The Wasps To what extent can a modern
Aristophanes’ play, ‘The Wasps,’ employs several different types of humour. In order to assess to what extent a modern audience may appreciate Aristophanes’ humour, the different types of humour such as slapstick, political satire, direct abuse and may others must be examined. Moreover to judge its appeal to a modern audience the effect it once had on an Athenian audience must be looked at also for the sake of comparison. ... Throughout the play and the most dominant type of humour is political satire. Undoubtedly in The Wasps this humour was greatly appreciated by an Athenian audience especially as Aristophanes lets the audience see how immoral and corrupted the politicians were at the time. An example of political satire used by Aristophanes is exemplified with a joke by the slaves Xanthias and Sosias. ... ’ (Page 41) This joke likens Athenian citizens to sheep; Aristophanes uses sheep to describe the citizens because he intimates that sheep, being simple creatures without minds of their own, follow anything and anyone. ... This example shows that a modern audience would not be able to appreciate political satire of an Athenian age, there would be real difficulties in interpreting and understanding the humour without prior knowledge. ... Although the initial humour is about the ridiculousness of the two dogs talking, there is a deeper political satirical meaning. ... ’ (Page 71) There is background to this dialogue that a modern audience would be unaware of. ... In the second quote First Dog, Cleon, acts selfish as he says that Laches did not give a share of the cheese to him and so gets jealous and tried him in a court of law so Aristophanes satirized the trial in his comedy. ... Aristophanes is trying to convey to the Athenians, that Cleon was a selfish demagogue and used the law courts to his advantage. The two dogs talking to one another is visually comical and would encourage laughter from both modern and Athenian audiences. However, a modern audience may find it particularly difficult to understand the satirical side of the trial if they did not know about the political background. Political satire in The Wasps would not have any resonance today, it cannot be forgotten that political satire thrives on contemporary politics, meaning Athenian politics. Thus most of the jokes are suited to an Athenian audience not a modern one. Direct abuse is strongly tied in with political satire as Aristophanes picks on certain people in the audience or from Athenian society he dislikes or wants to mock, rather than politicians. ... (Page 42) Firstly, Aristophanes is mocking Amynias who was addicted to gambling, saying that this play is not about gambling. ... Then finally Aristophanes mocks Deryclus for being an alcoholic calling him ‘dipsomania’. A modern audience would not be able to understand Xanthias’ jokes because they involved figures in that specific period in Athens, while an Athenian audience could appreciate it. Another example of direct used by Aristophanes is exemplified with a joke by the slaves Xanthias and Sosias. ... The modern audience would not really be able to appreciate this joke as it relates to a specific part of Athenian history, which a modern audience may not be aware of. The modern audience maybe able to pick up some humour in these dialogues, however not to a great extent because all of the jokes involve having prior knowledge of the Athenian society at the particular time The Wasps was shown. Another type of humour, which is also very frequent throughout the play, is slapstick. This is the more obvious type of humour because it involves largely visual and memorable types of humour.