Transcript TOPIC ONE: ARISTOPHANES’ COMEDIES Choose TWO of the following 3 extracts and answer ALL of the questions relating to these two.

TOPIC ONE: ARISTOPHANES’ COMEDIES Choose TWO
of the following 3 extracts and answer ALL of the questions relating to these two extracts.
• XANTHIAS: Now look, I’d better tell the audience what this is all about.
Just a few words by way of introduction. [He turns to the audience.] You
mustn’t expect anything too grand: but you’re not going to get any crude
Megarian stuff either. And I’m afraid we can’t run to a couple of slaves
with baskets full of nuts to throw to you. You won’t see Heracles being
cheated of his dinner; we’re not going to sling any mud at Euripides; and
we don’t intend to make mincemeat of Cleon this time – even if he has
covered himself with glory just lately. No, this is just a little fable, with a
moral: not too highbrow for you, we hope, but a bit more intelligent than
the usual knockabout stuff. That’s our master, the big man sleeping up
there on the roof. He’s told us to stand guard over his father and keep him
locked up inside, so that he can’t get out. You see, the old man’s suffering
from a very peculiar complaint, which I’m sure none of you have ever
heard of, and you’ll never guess what it is unless we tell you. Would you
like to try? [He waits for suggestions from the audience.] What’s that,
Amynias? Mad on dicing? No, it isn’t ‘cubomania’.
Aristophanes, Wasps
(a)(i)
(ii)
Give the Greek term for the part of the play that this extract is taken from.
What function does this part of the play traditionally fulfill for the audience?
Ques
Evidence
tion
(a)
(i)Prologos or prologue
(ii)
To introduce plot,
themes, conflicts and
characters. (One needed)
Achievement Mer Exc
BOTH parts
are required.
c) (b) (i)
Name the “master” in line 11.
(ii)
Explain why he is asleep on the roof.
Ques
Evidence
tion
(b)
(i)
Bdelycleon
Achievement Mer Exc
BOTH parts
(ii)
(He is guarding the roof) are required.
to stop his father escaping /
that way.
(c) (i) Explain how the master’s position on the roof reflects a convention of
staging in the ancient Greek theatre.
(ii) What other action in the opening comic episodes of the Wasps happens
on the roof?
Ques
Evidence
tion
(c)
(i) Playwrights used the (flat)
roof of (part of) the skene /
stage building as an upper
stage.
(Or similar.)
(ii)
Philocleon tried to
escape (through the chimney
on the roof / through a hole he
has made in the roof tiles.)
Achievement Mer Exc
BOTH parts
are required.
(d)(i) Name the “old man” referred to in lines 13–14.
(ii)
What is his “very peculiar complaint”, referred to by
Xanthias in line 14?
Ques
Evidence
tion
(d)
(i) Philocleon
(ii) He is a “trialophile” / litigious
maniac / is addicted to serving
on juries.
Achievement Mer Exc
BOTH parts
are required.
(e)
Describe in detail, with specific reference to the play, TWO
symptoms of this “peculiar complaint” as explained by Xanthias
immediately after this extract.
Qu Evidence
(e)
Any TWO of:
Eg
•
doesn’t sleep at night because he is thinking about
the courtroom, or dreams about the waterclock / courtroom
•
so used to clutching his voting pebble that he wakes
up with his thumb and two fingers glued together
•
accused the magistrates of bribing the cock to call
him late because their accounts were to be reviewed in court
that day
•
so keen to give the harshest verdict that he has wax
under fingernails from scratching the longest line
•
so afraid of running out of voting pebbles that he
keeps a whole beach of them inside the house
•
tries to find any way to escape from the house to
carry out jury service plus an example
Becomes very agitated when he can’t escape from the house
(Two correct answers may occur in one given by candidate.)
Ach
Mer
ONE
symptom
described
fully
TWO
symptoms
described
fully are
required.
or
TWO
partially
described.
Ex
c
(f) (i) Give TWO reasons why Aristophanes might want to “make mincemeat of Cleon”
(ii) Identify ONE feature of the depiction of Cleon in the dream that Sosias has just
described to Xanthias and explain the characteristic of Cleon this feature conveys.
Qu Evidence
Ach
Mer
(f) (i) Cleon (Any TWO of):
• was an extreme democrat disliked by traditional
conservatives
• exploited the judicial system for his own ends
• manipulated the people through clever and persuasive
speeches
• was very much in favour of war with Sparta
• “tanned” Aristophanes’ “hide” by bringing him to court
for wronging the people in his plays.
(Other answers possible.)
ONE part
fully
answered
TWO parts
fully
answered
are
required.
(ii)Eg:
• rapacious-looking creature = Cleon’s greed
• with a figure like a whale = Cleon’s physical bulk /
obesity
• a voice like a scalded sow = Cleon’s loud voice in the
assembly
• holding a pair of scales / weighing out bits of fat from a
carcass = dividing up the spoils from the judicial / political
system.
(ONE feature needed with a characteristic explained.)
or
TWO parts
partially
answered.
Ex
c
(g) (i) Provide and explain ONE piece of evidence from this extract illustrating Aristophanes’ view that a purpose of
comedy is to convey a serious message.
(ii) Discuss in detail TWO aspects in the mock trial of the dog that the audience would have found amusing. Describe
each aspect in detail and explain how each aspect also conveys a serious point.
(iii) Discuss ONE other incident from elsewhere in the Wasps where Aristophanes uses comedy to make a serious
point.
Qu Evidence
Ach
Mer
Exc
(g)
(i) •
When Aristophanes says “this is just a little fable, with a moral” he
means that there will be a serious point to his comedy.
• When he says “a bit more intelligent than the usual knockabout
stuff”, he means that within the usual slapstick of comedy, he will
provide something more thought-provoking.
• When he says “you mustn’t expect anything too grand: but you’re
not going to get any crude Megarian stuff either”, he means his
plays won’t be full of vulgarity but will contain a little seriousness.
(ONE piece of evidence explained required.)
(ii) Eg:
• The audience would have found it amusing to recognise the
portrayal of Cleon as the Dog of Cydathenaeum. The serious point
would be the way he is prosecuting the second dog – not for
stealing the cheese but for failing to share it with him (ie as Cleon
may have done in the trial of Laches, who bribed the Sicilians but
did not share the bribes with Cleon).
• The audience would have found the mime of the dog licking the
plates amusing. The serious point is that the dog – ie Cleon – is
good at taking his cut.
(TWO aspects needed, with explanation of both humour and serious
point.)
(iii) Eg, when Bdelycleon was trying to teach Philocleon how to recline
gracefully at a symposium, Philocleon kept falling on his back in an
awkward way. This reflected how unlikely it was that the older
generation would adapt to the modern and frivolous ways of the
younger generation.
(ONE incident needed.)
Any
TWO
points
fully
answerd
Any
THREE
points
fully
answerd
or
or
THREE
points
partially
answerd
.
FOUR
points
partially
answerd.
FOUR points
fully answered
are required.