1 / 10

WASPS: Parabasis

WASPS: Parabasis. EXTRACT B 2005 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.

lewisjennifer
Download Presentation

WASPS: Parabasis

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. WASPS: Parabasis EXTRACT B 2005 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 youFor treating him unfairly, when, he says,You've had so many splendid things from him. (p. 75)

  2. 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?

  3. b) Describe in detail what happens in the comic episode that follows this part of the play.

  4. (c) i) How many performers were there in a comic chorus?(ii) Explain ONE reason why the chorus members are old men.

  5. (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)?

  6. (e) What complaint has the Leader of the Chorus made earlier about the audience’s unfair treatment of Aristophanes?

  7. (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)

  8. (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.

  9. (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.

  10. (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 self-indulgent pleasures of the symposion. (Other points are possible.)

More Related