Genre, gender, and performance in Plato's 'Laws'

This dissertation offers an interpretation of performance in Plato's final dialogue, the Laws, in which the ancient philosopher develops the legal philosophy and lawcode for a utopian colony named Magnesia. The dissertation argues that the Laws advances a theory of performance which departs substantively from the notions of poetry, mimesis, and representation that scholars have traditionally identified as the central issues in Plato's philosophy of aesthetics.;Part One of the dissertation analyzes the genres of performances which are to occur within the utopian city. Chapter One argues that Plato treats the social dynamics within the space of a given type of performance, rather than the performed work's stylistic features, as constitutive of its genre. Chapter Two offers an analysis of hymns, encomia, and poetic praise and blame. Chapter Three addresses the Laws' treatment of comedy, iambos, tragedy, and genres of ecstasy.;Part Two examines the function of performances in the construction of political identity and civic virtue. Chapter Four argues that participation in performance in the Republic prepares citizen and non-citizen women for the psychological constitution and social obligations particular to their political class. Chapter Four further argues that the institutions of performance in the Republic systematically suppress genres traditionally associated with women and assimilate the identities of citizen women to that of citizen men. Chapter Five demonstrates that the Laws utilizes performance to produce citizen women whose political statuses complement, but are not assimilated to, that of male citizens.