Repertoire of characters in Roman comedy: new classification approaches
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Graeco-Latina Brunensia |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | Digitální knihovna FF MU |
| Field | Mass media, audiovision |
| Keywords | Roman comedy; atellana; palliata; togata; mime; repertoire of characters; contrasts and correspondences; Ancient theatre; structural functions; comic situation; typification; stock characters; personae oscae; qui pro quo; dramatis personae |
| Description | This study presents a method of classifying a repertoire of characters in Roman comedy and also summarizes several years of research. Complete texts were analyzed in terms of contrasts and correspondences, allowing to determine the correspondences and similarities not only among dramatic characters or types separately in Plautus's and separately in Terence's comedies, but also point out certain correspondences and similarities in the entire historical corpus of texts mapping a specific period or genre. Therefore, structural functions of individual types and their roles in the corpus of texts were determined, which, at the same time, provided with a summary of typical traits of various types of characters, manifested in antagonism or cooperation with other types of characters. This set of "words-signs" were compared with words describing the characters from fragments, using clear arrangement into contingency tables. Due to this comparison and other partial findings enabled by this method and tools used, it was possible to describe, at least partially, not only a repertoire of characters of individual comic forms, but also compare them with each other and determine how the "dramatis personae" of Roman comedy changed diachronically. |