In Plautus' Truculentus the main deception is built around the meretrix who pretends to have given birth to a child, indeed borrowed. The canticum (vv. 448- 464) is an example of feminine cunning with anapests and bacchei. In particular, ba4 is a tragic metre usually used in comedy in the laments of honest-mannered matronae and this is why scholars interpret the ba4 of vv. 453-464 as parodic. The article reflects on the resemantization of tragic pathos in order to understand whether ba4 are to be interpreted as funny or as ‘serious’, in light of the dramaturgical role that Phronesium performs in the play, an innovative and deliberately provocative comedy.
Plauto, Truc. 448 e ss.: il lamento di una meretrix
Pentericci, Caterina
2022
Abstract
In Plautus' Truculentus the main deception is built around the meretrix who pretends to have given birth to a child, indeed borrowed. The canticum (vv. 448- 464) is an example of feminine cunning with anapests and bacchei. In particular, ba4 is a tragic metre usually used in comedy in the laments of honest-mannered matronae and this is why scholars interpret the ba4 of vv. 453-464 as parodic. The article reflects on the resemantization of tragic pathos in order to understand whether ba4 are to be interpreted as funny or as ‘serious’, in light of the dramaturgical role that Phronesium performs in the play, an innovative and deliberately provocative comedy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
