Lasting Influences of the Classical World free essay sample

The lasting influences of the classical world on other cultures across time are shown by analyzing the links between Greek Drama in the time of Aristotelian, on Shakespeare, and on a modern comic text of my choice. Through the use of humor devices, theatre conventions and by developing a show of understanding of the serious messages, the links between the three texts are shown and analyzed. Gods and goddesses were superior in the time of Aristotelian. This is very surprising in Aristotelian Frogs due to the fact that Aristotelian shows Dionysus, he god of wine and fertility, as a confused coward who has lost his identity. It showed a lack of respect for the gods however, since comic plays were like religious ceremonies, anything against the gods were deemed to be a good humored Joke. Many other gods such as Heraclites is also brought up in the play which also implies that link with mythology. We will write a custom essay sample on Lasting Influences of the Classical World or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The humor device of role changing is used to further emphasize the role of the gods and the qualities they have. Costume is used to illustrate how Heraclites looks like and is used for role changing. Throughout the play, we see Dionysus and Xanthium exchanging costumes for role reversal. We first see Dionysus illustrated to be wearing lion hide and carrying a club, which is supposed to be Heraclites.. When Heraclites sees Dionysus in this costume and responds, l vow I cant help laughing, I cant help it. A lions hide upon a yellow silk, A club and buskin! (Act I Scene l)Also during the parabolas, Cause wants to test if they are actually gods and one quality of the gods Xanthium describes is that they do not feel pain. Slapstick is used here as Cause sets if they are gods by striking each of them in turns to see if they respond to the pain. In Shakespearean Midsummer Nights Dream, he represents Theses as the King of Athens and Happily as the queen. By placing these characters into thes e roles, it immediately implies Mythology. This also associates with the other two characters in the play, Oberon and Titanic. They have been given familiar mythological features that then relate them to Zeus and Hear. The Shakespearean audience would have known about the stories of Theses and would have therefore been able to recognize is queen Happily. They would have understood the myth where Theses succeeded the Amazonian warrior women, that he was the one who defended Athens from them and had taken Happily, their queen, as his wife. This myth classifies Theses as the symbol of stability and power, which then reminds the audience that Theses word is law. So when he informs Hermit that if she does not follow her fathers order to marry Demerits, then she must either to die the death or to abjure (Act I Scene l) Another example could be Puck being correlated to Eros, the Greek god of love. The eve potion he applies over the characters eyes, to make them fall in love with the thirst person they lay sight upon waking up, is correspondent to Eros golden arrows which has a similar follow up. Shakespeare compares both characters more directly when Oberon says as he squeezes the love potion into Demerits eyes, Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupids archery, Sink in apple of his eye. (Act Ill Scene II) The fairies magic, which brings comedy into the play, is a very important element as it uses magic to illustrate the power of love, which is symbolized using a love potion, ND it Just creates this enchanting and dreamlike world. This misuse of magic brings utter chaos when Puck, Borons servant, accidentally applies some love potion to Lassoe rs eyes, however, in the end, this magic brings about restoring the balance of love. Also, Shakespeare uses parody to turn Greek mythology around to deliver comedy. In Midsummer Nights Dream, the character Nick Bottom and his cast of actors are chosen to perform the play Paramus and Thesis. This is a tragic play where two lovers end up killing themselves because they believe that the other is dead. However, in Shakespeare, Bottom and his cast end up putting on a terrible performance so that it ends up being seen as a comedy rather than tragedy. One of the comic parts in this parody play is that there is a female character in Paramus and Thesis and the role had to be acted out by a male. Just like in the time of Aristotelian, females had no dominance in society so all female characters had to be acted out by a male. The male actor that had to portray the female character was very amusing to the audience as he had to wear the appropriate clothes for the harasser, had to add cushion onto his chest to impersonate a bosom and he tried very hard to speak in a woman like way. His voice impersonation of a woman was very amusing as he sounded very weird and not woman like. However he realizes that his impersonation of a womans voice made the play more comedic rather than tragic and so he stops and continues to speak in his normal voice. This was the part of the parody that was very dead serious. As soon as the male actor returned to his normal voice, the audience no longer saw him as comedic. Thats so Raven is a supernatural teen sitcom television series that started at 2003 and ended at 2007. Its about a teenage girl named Raven whose dream is to be a fashion designer but time to time, she sees psychic visions of the near future. She attempts to either make these come true or prevent them which ends up in putting herself and others in terrible but hilarious situations. Many humor devices are used consistently throughout the whole series. Visual humor, slapstick and other techniques are used. Also, costume is used to bring comic situations and it also brings visual humor. For example, in one episode, Raven is forced to wear a security guards uniform because she sees a vision that her little brother would be in trouble. She also impersonates a security guard by changing her voice and wears a fake moustache. The other visual humor used here is that the pants are way too big for her that she has to constantly keep holding it up. At one point, they all come down and bring a big laugh. The similarity between this modern comic text and Aristotelian is that they boot involve the supernatural. In Aristotelian time, Gods were superior, worshipped and f you went against them, you were committing a big crime. However for Thats so Raven, the supernatural is viewed differently. Raven had to keep her psychic powers a secret from the public and she only told her close friends and family. This is because being supernatural wasnt socially accepted in her community and if the public knew about it, they would view her differently Just because of it. They could either think she was a maniac or someone superior. This is similar to how gods are viewed. If someone in Athens knew you were a god, they would treat and view you differently.