Comedy and comic discourse in Plato's Laws (original) (raw)
According to the anonymous Life of Aristophanes, when Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse wanted to learn 'the ways of the Athenians' public life' (tn %qhna©wn polite©an), Plato answered by sending him Aristophanes' works and advising him to peruse them (t drmata aÉtoÓ skhqnta). Anecdotal as this piece of evidence may be, it is not an altogether unfitting reception of some of Plato's long-standing concerns, in his dialogues, with laughter, and especially comic laughter, as a powerful social and political medium. In particular, Plato's uneasy relationship with comedy is one of the most intriguing aspects of what Monoson has called his 'democratic entanglements'. In classical Athens comedy was a festival sponsored by the state and performed by citizens for the citizens themselves: with all its marked distortion of everyday reality, its appeal to 'free speech' (parrhs©a) and 'equality' («s»thv) nevertheless contributed My sincerest thanks to M. Schofield, G. Lloyd and the anonymous Cambridge referees for improving substantially an earlier version of this chapter. I alone am responsible for any mistakes and/or misunderstandings. Ar. T ll. - K-A (= Prolegom. de com. i, ia, xxviiii, ll. - Koster). On its possible pro-Athenian origin, see Riginos : . Riginos dates the anecdote as 'no later than the sixth century ad'(: ). The bibliography on the subject is endless; I quote here only what I found most relevant for my present argument. Comedy as a form of ritually institutionalized laughter: Halliwell : -, , aandb: -;Rosen: -. On Plato and laughter: McCabe ; Halliwell : - and : -;Rosen: -;Jouët-Pastré and : -;Rowe; P. M. Steiner ; Mader (esp. - on comedy). On Plato's engagement with comedy as a competing 'civic' discourse: Nightingale : -, -; on Plato's redeployment of comic tropes of speech, see Brock . On the alleged fondness of the historical Plato for Aristophanes, Epicharmus and Sophron, see Riginos : -. Monoson . Plato's moral interpretation of comedy as a public, if not overtly political, vehicle of communication is, of course, determined by his own philosophical agenda. That is, Plato's response is only one of the possible audience responses to the complexities of Aristophanes' self-presentation as a 'civic voice' (see Silk a: ). I share here the moderate scepticism expressed by Heath and now Olson (esp. -) on the unambiguous seriousness of comic discourse qua political discourse (vs. Jeffrey Henderson and ).