Aristophanic Parody: "Thesmophoriazusae" and the Three-Actor Rule

Abstract

Thesmophoriazusae is one of Aristophanes' most parodic plays.' The dramatists Agathon and Euripides are both portrayed on stage, and four plays by Euripides Telephus, Palamedes, Helen, and Andromache are parodied extensively. Aristophanes' parody is more than a spoof on the practices of his contemporaries. Many of the conventions attacked by Aristophanes apply both to tragedy and to comedy, that is, both to the object of parody and to the parodic text itself. His attack focuses on the difference between what the spectators actually see and what they pretend to see. At crucial points, Thesmophoriazusae leaves the audience uncertain whether it is seeing fictitious dramatic objects or mere stage props, and, most importantly, whether it is perceiving actors or characters disguised on stage. Thesmophoriazusae is more than a critical commentary on Euripides. It is an assault on conventions basic to any dramatic production conventions the audience must accept in order to understand their parodic refutation.