Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Latin drama (Comedy)--History and criticism; Farce--Technique; Latin drama (Comedy); Criticism, interpretation, etc;

Abstract

l!!!, Suitors is an original two act rhymed farce that emulates but does not imitate the comedies of Plautus and Terence. Although the play retains many of the basic features native to Roman comedy, its author has modified or disregarded other features deemed less significant, according to the needs of his play. The plot of the play is concerned with the traditional young lovers of Roman comedy, Zero and Blusha, overcoming the obstacles placed between them and the realization of their love. These obstacles include: Zero's impoverishment, which is compounded by his wealthy uncle, Doctor Pomo Pena Cyllicus who, at one-hundred-nine, has perfected a youth-love potion, and instead of properly dying and willing his wealth to Zero, has won the reputation as Rome's leading ladies' man; and Blusha's father, Glutius Maximus, who regards his daughter as a long term investment that can only realize a profit by winning him a wealthy son-in-law, which he is determined to obtain by selling his daughter's hand at an auction. To assist them in overcoming these obstacles, Zero calls upon his slave, Minus to devise a witty scheme like those created by clever slaves that they've seen in plays. Unfortunately, Minus is the antithesis of the clever slaves of Roman comedy, and the plan he devises only compounds the lovers' problems by making Blusha a candidate for a virgin sacrifice. Inspite of Minus' blunders, fate moves to rescue the lovers. Blusha's two suitors, Zero's uncle, Pomo Pena Cyllicus, and Cyrillus Harmlus, a eunuch priest of Cybele, suffer a reversal of fortunes when Pomo's love potion and Harmlus' sacrificial wine become exchanged. The love potion considerably alters the personality of Harmlus, which leads the High Priestess of Cybele, a female thunderbolt named Sebore, to doubt his authenticity as a eunuch priest. And unfortunately for Pomo, alcohol, as he had informed his assistant and student, Inturnus, earlier in the play, reverses the potion' s power, and while only temporarily indisposes a younger man, kills a man as old as Pomo. Thus, with the competition removed, Zero and Blusha are free to wed. The text of the play is preceded by a discussion of the similarities and differences between The Suitors and original Roman comedy, and followed by a description of the methods and techniques employed in the writing of the play.

Year of Submission

1974

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Speech

First Advisor

George Glenn

Second Advisor

Louise Forest

Third Advisor

Stanley Wood

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1974

Object Description

1 PDF file (28 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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