Transcript pps
EXTRACT B 2005 WASPS: Parabasis PHILOCLEON: How can I ever look myself in the face again? I have aquited a prisoner! Oh gods above, forgive me, it was an accident, it wasn’t like me at all. BDELYCLEON: Now listen , there’s nothing to get upset about. From now on I’m going to look after you properly: I’ll take you out with me to all kinds of places, we’ll go out to dinners and drinking parties and shows, and you‘ll be able to have a really good time now: and no Hyperbolus to trick you and laugh at you up his sleeve. Lets go in. PHILOCLEON: (meekly) All Right, if you say so [Bdelycleon leads his father in the house while the slaves clear away the courtroom props, leaving the chorus on stage] CHORUS: Now, ye countless tens of thousands, Seated on the benches round, Do not let our pearls of wisdom Fall unheaded to the ground. Not that you would be so stupid, So devoid of common sense – What it is to have enlightened People for an audience [the leader comes forward] LEADER: Now once again spectators, if you love To hear plain speaking, pay attention, please! The author has a bone to pick with you For treating him unfairly, when, he says, You've had so many splendid things from him. (p. 75) a) (i) Give the Greek term for the part of the play that this extract is taken from. (ii) What is the purpose of this part of the play? Ques Evidence tion (a) (i) parabasis (ii) To allow the playwright / poet to address the audience / state the point of the play (through the chorus about an issue of political or social concern). OR Aristophanes tells the audience that the old jurymen, although vindictive, are responsible for Athens’ glory. (Other answers are possible.) Ach BOTH answer s are require d. Mer Exc b) Describe in detail what happens in the comic episode that follows this part of the play. Qu Evidence Ach (b) • Anticleon replaces his Any father’s worn clothes with TWO fashionable but foreign points. garments. • He teaches him how to walk like a rich man, with “a plutocratic swagger”. • He gives advice about how to converse at a dinner party. • He shows him how to recline at a dinner party, “pouring himself into the cushions”. Mer Exc (c) i) How many performers were there in a comic chorus? (ii) Explain ONE reason why the chorus members are old men. Qu Evidence (c) (i) 24 (ii) • Eg the play is about jurymen and only the old had time to serve on a jury • Eg Wasps was produced during the Peloponnesian War and the young men were on military service. (Other answers are possible.) Ach BOTH ans are required. Mer Exc (d) (i) What historical event is referred to in the phrase “smoke us from our nests” (line 10)? (ii) In what battle were the Persians “walloped … at sea” (line 27)? Qu Evidence Ach (d) (i) (Following the defeat of BOTH ans are Greek forces at required. Thermopylae), the Persians advanced on Athens and sacked the (evacuated) city. (ii) The Battle of Salamis. Mer Exc (e) What complaint has the Leader of the Chorus made earlier about the audience’s unfair treatment of Aristophanes? Qu Evidence (e) The audience has not appreciated the heroic efforts he made in their interest (attacking the greatest monster in the land). OR The audience has not been intelligent enough to understand the point of his previous play (Clouds). (Or similar.) Ach Mer Exc (f) Explain in detail THREE ways in which the jurors resemble wasps, according to the Leader of the Chorus. Provide evidence from the play to illustrate your answer. You may refer to this extract and / or elsewhere in the play. (1) (2) (3) Qu (f) Evidence • They look like wasps swarming in a nest as they are crowded together in the law courts. • They behave like wasps, as they are quicktempered (“savage and irate”), and hurt those they dislike. • They have the appearance of wasps, in their coloured costumes with wasp waists and appended stings. • Like worker wasps, the old jurors have fought for the city. • Like drones, the young men of Athens have not fought, but enjoy what “they can get”. (Other answers are possible.) Ach Mer Any 2 Any 3 pts. detail ed pts. Exc (g) (i) Who accompanied the chorus of old men when they first entered the theatre? (ii) What did this group contribute to the play? Explain in detail TWO reasons why they were included. Qu Evidence (g) (i) A group of small boys, the jurymen’s sons. (ii) • The boys help the old men, who are somewhat decrepit, as they walk through the streets on their way to jury service. • They indicate by their torches that it is supposed to be before dawn, even though the play is performed in the daytime. • As dependent children, they remind the audience of the financial importance of jury service to the poor. • As the real chorus consists of old men, the boys might provide the dance component conventional in comedy. (Other anss possible.) Ach Mer (i) and any 1 point of explan ation about the role of the boys. (i) and any 2 pts of expl anatio n. Exc (h) (i) Explain in detail ONE criticism made by the Chorus about the younger generation in this extract. Provide evidence from the extract to illustrate your answer. Qu Evidence (h) (i) (i) Criticism in this extract: The youth of Athens are regarded as being keener on talking like Sophists and informing than in serving the state by proud endeavour. This is something the old, their parents, were scornful of – “not one of us could make a speech” – because it did not contribute to a unified and purposeful state. Ach Any ONE point. Mer Any 2 points with textual evidence. Exc 4 points with textual evidence. BOTH parts of the question must be answered. (h) (ii) Analyse the relationship between Procleon and Anticleon as it is revealed in the rest of the play. You must refer to at least THREE other episodes and provide evidence from the play to illustrate your answers. Comments elsewhere in the play: • They would rather get dressed up than fight, eg “the ringlets and the fashions and the pederastic passions of the namby-pamby youngsters” implies that they are cowardly and not real men like their fathers, who made Athens great by their service in the Persian Wars. • They are unpatriotic as they don’t mind wearing non-Athenian clothing styles. Anticleon wants his father to wear a Persian gown and Spartan shoes. The Persians had invaded Greece and sacked the Acropolis; the Spartans were the city’s current enemy. • They are superficial and devoted to a life of leisure. When Anticleon offers his father an alternative to jury service, it involves the selfindulgent pleasures of the symposion. (Other points are possible.)