Comic Characters: Menander and Theophrastus

Abstract

Menander and Theophrastus offered an insight into contemporary 4th BC Greek society and illustrated comic figures who deviated from accepted standards of behavior through their oeuvres. This article will attempt to reevaluate their relationship and focus on the similarities and the differences between Menander’s comic characters through his most complete plays and Theophrastus’ Characters. While Theophrastus meticulously examines his characters according to their external vicious traits, he shares little interest from deeper motives. On the other hand, Menander seems to combine both external features and inner motives, in order to depict his character’s deviant dispositions. Therefore, I examine the way specific comic characters are portrayed by means of key words/phrases that occur in both Menander’s and Theophrastus’ texts. Thus, I will bring the two authors together, in order to find resemblances between their character-types and show more clearly ho they choose to study unrefined types, in a humorous and ethical perspective.

Keywords

• Menander
• Theophrastus
• Comic characters
• New Comedy
• Similarities
• Differences