The Mockery of Madness
Laughter at and with Insanity in Attic Tragedy and Old Comedy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9362648 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter N Singer (Birkbeck, University of London, [email protected], corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 298-325 |
| Publication date | 2018-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Illinois Classical Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0363-1923 • E-ISSN: 2328-5265 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.5406/illiclasstud.43.2.0298 |
| OpenAlex | W2909959372 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 34 |
The present paper poses the question of the different ways in which madness is laughed at—or with—in Attic Tragedy and in Old Comedy. What is the significance of each kind of “mad laughter”? I shall identify fundamental differences, related to the different kinds of character, mental aberration and dramatic conflict presented in each genre, and more broadly to the dramatic structure and function of each. A first distinction can be made between laughter at madness, which we see especially in tragedy, and laughter with, or embracing of, madness, which we experience in comedy. The second distinction is between two profoundly different understandings of and approaches to mental aberration: as intensely individual, “medical,” affliction (in tragedy) on the one hand or as essentially a social problem (or sometimes blessing), with social consequences and, in some cases, social solutions (in comedy) on the other. In the process, we shall also consider the significance—and some of the complexities—of the “curse versus blessing” analysis; questions as to who directs the “mad laughter” and who are its audience(s) (the original audience of the play; onstage characters, mortal and divine; the modern reader); and some relevant features of the visual and physical depiction of madness—in particular the use of mask—in both genres
Aesthetics · Art · Blessing · Comedy · Curse · Insanity · Laughter · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Tragedy (event · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology
A History of the Mind and Mental Health in Classical Greek Medical Thought
Masks in Greek and Roman theatre
Mental Illness, Moral Error, and Responsibility in Late Plato
Personality in Greek Epic, Tragedy, and Philosophy
Aristophanes
The Comic Body in Greek Art and Drama
From Homeric ate to Tragic Madness
The Madness of Tragedy
Wisdom and Folly in Euripides
Greek Laughter
The Context of Ancient Drama
Oxford Classical Texts
Pollux on Special Masks
Did Chrysippus understand Medea
Dionysiac Poetics and Euripides' Bacchae
Whom Gods Destroy
Politics and Anti-Realism in Athenian Old Comedy
The Voice of the Actor in Greek Tragedy
Comic Angels
Aeschyli Septem Quae Supersunt Tragoedias
Theatre in Ancient Greek Society
Brill's Companion to the Study of Greek Comedy
Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater
The Greeks and the Irrational
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2024 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |