A Study Of Plautus’ Comedies

Titus Maccius Plautus,(254-254BC) was the first Roman comedian who had the complete works handed down from ancient times.His comedies were influenced by the ancient Greek new comedies, and he developed his own unique Roman comedies, which had certain practical significance and the democratic tendencies. Plautus’ comedies reflected Roman social problems, such as decadence, moral corruption, inequality between men and women, unfree marriage,increasing personal wealth. Therefore, Plautus not only showed a strong spirit of realism, but also showed popular attention to ordinary life.On the creation method, Plautus retained the structure of the ancient Greek new comedy, and improved according to the Roman people,by making its language rich and colorful, more closer to social life. Plautus’ comedies became the mode of European dramatists, which had brought the profound influence to the development of the later comedies.This paper is divided into three parts:introduction, text and conclusion.Chapter one we discuss Plautus’ comedies have the function of the mirror. Plautus’comedies is a kind of mirror in ancient Rome that showed the real lives at that time.They not only showed relatively strong spirit of realism, but also showed a certain popular attention to ordinary people’s lives. Plautus’comedies does not lose the time reality, and they are funny and thought-provoking.Chapter two discusses the types of Plautus’comedies type and the creative skills.Plautus’comedies belongs to the unlined upper garment type, which can be divided into basic myth comedy, comedy character, family life, counsel and slapstick comedy. Plautus writes comedy according to Greek script adaptation, and he also uses mix method.His creative skills varied, making his comedies good comedies.Chapter three is the important part of this thesis, discussing the Roman society reflected from Plautus’comedies.We know such parasitic images like prostitutes and hangers-on. We know the patriarchal at that time of Roman and the image of women. There is an extremely important role,that is slave,we can know the survival situation of slave.In addition, Plautus’comedies also reflect the economic life at that time.The fourth chapter discusses Plautus’ spirit of comedy and his comedy’s influence on the later generations.Plautus applies his familiar comedy languages, irony or dramatic to entertain the audience. Plautus is purely a comedian. Because of his this kind of form and spirit, he affects the later of the dramatists, like Shakespeare and Moliere.