Only joking: a fresh look at Aristophanes' parabases

Thesis

This dissertation aims to read Aristophanes’ comedy as comedy, by foregrounding the mental processes involved in processing humour. I draw upon several areas of modern theory: humour theory in its various instantiations, cognitive approaches to reading literature, and empirical studies in media psychology. By pulling together ideas from several areas of contemporary research, I create a toolbox of ideas suited to reading the Aristophanes’ parabases in a way which focuses on humour and explores the mediating effect it has on the creation of political meaning.

Next, I put these tools to work on the parabases, passages of Old Comedy which have featured as the cornerstone of arguments surrounding Aristophanic politics. By carrying out a close reading of each parabasis in turn, this dissertation illustrates the myriad ways in which humour can be generated, and it becomes clear that, to an audience of diverse political opinions, every character and demographic represented in the parabases can be understood as a source of humour. There is very little in Aristophanes which can be taken as entirely serious.

Authors: Hunt, H

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-aoyjxrgyp
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Old Comedy; humour theory; Greek literature; cognitive approaches; Aristophanes
• Subjects: Classical literature; Greek drama (Comedy)