A Study On The Social And Political Issues In The Comedies Of Aristophanes

Like tragedy, the ancient Greek comedy possesses grand social significance. It also touches momentous political and social issues. Dramatists choose comedy or tragedy as their subject not because that the former is superior or inferior to the latter, but they were interested in different artistic forms. This paper offers an analysis of ancient Greek comedy, focusing on its origin, evolutionary process, and the changes of social and historical functions. The stress is put on exploring specific types of plays and main purpose of Aristophanes'comic creation, as well as the social and political concepts that they reflect.The development of Ancient Greek comedy has gone through three stages: the Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and the New Comedy. The Old Comedy with Aristophanes as the main representative features the satirical dramas on contemporary politics and society. The Middle Comedy limits its subjects to basic social irony with its political weakening significantly. Being based on real life, The New Comedy normally doesn't concern politics at all. Love between man and woman becomes its main theme. Aristophanes'comedy not only reflects social reality, but also highlights what the author thinks to be wrong developments in society by using comic style techniques. As for Aristophanes'comedy, we can make the following generalizations: (i) it promotes anti-war sentiments and advocates peace; (ii) it criticizes the defects of the democratic system; condemns the oligarchy and gently points out the weaknesses of the Athenian people; (iii) it is concerned over the conflicts between the rich and the poor, and cares about the even distribution of wealth; (iv) it criticizes sophistic thinking and advocates traditional education.