Menander (dramatist)

Greek dramatist

• Born: c. 342 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Athens, Greece
• Died: c. 291 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Piraeus, Greece

Noted for his careful plotting, his accurate depiction of middle-class society, and his sympathetic treatment of character, Menander is considered the finest writer of Greek New Comedy.

Early Life

Although there is some disagreement about the exact date of his birth, Menander (muh-NAN-dehr) was probably born in 342 in Athens, Greece. His father was Diopeithes of Cephisia. Menander’s family was evidently involved in both the social and the cultural life of Athens. His uncle Alexis was an important playwright in the tradition of Middle Comedy; he had some two hundred plays to his credit. Menander attended the lectures of Theophrastus, who had succeeded Aristotle as head of the Peripatetic school and who was also a notable writer, now known chiefly for his Charactēres ethikōi (c. 319 b.c.e.; Characters, 1616), sketches of human types, which undoubtedly influenced Menander and the other dramatists of New Comedy.

Like all Athenian men, between the ages of eighteen and twenty Menander served a year in the military. It was at that time that he became a close friend of Epicurus, whose philosophy was influential in Menander’s works. Another of Menander’s early friends was important in his later life: Demetrius of Phalerum, a fellow student. When Menander was in his mid-twenties, Demetrius was appointed by the Macedonians as ruler of Athens. During the following decade, Demetrius constructed magnificent buildings in the city and drew the most brilliant and talented men of Athens to his court. Among them was Menander, who was already recognized as a playwright, having written his first work when he was nineteen or twenty.

The bust that has been identified as that of Menander suggests what an addition he would have been to the court of Demetrius. The classic features, well-defined profile, penetrating eyes, and strong jaw testify to strength of mind and character; the sensitive mouth and wavy hair soften the general impression. All in all, he was a strikingly handsome man.

When Demetrius fell, Menander is said to have been in some danger, and he was offered the protection of Ptolemy Soter if he would follow his friend Demetrius to Alexandria, Egypt. The playwright declined, however, as he also is said to have declined an invitation to Macedonia, and he spent the remainder of his life in Athens.

Life’s Work

In somewhat more than thirty years, Menander wrote some one hundred comedies. Most of his work, however, has been lost. Until 1905, he was represented primarily by hundreds of lines quoted by other writers and by the four plays of Plautus and four others of Terence that were based on certain of his lost plays. Then, a fifth century c.e. papyrus book was discovered in Egypt; it contains one-third to one-half of three of Menander’s plays, Perikeiromenē (314-310 b.c.e.; The Girl Who Was Shorn, 1909), Epitrepontes (after 304 b.c.e.; The Arbitration, 1909), and Samia (321-316 b.c.e.; The Girl from Samos, 1909). In 1958, another papyrus book was found in a private collection in Geneva; it holds not only a complete play, Dyskolos (317 b.c.e.; The Bad-Tempered Man, 1921, also known as The Grouch), but also half of Aspis (c. 314 b.c.e.; The Shield, 1921) and the almost complete text of The Girl from Samos.

Because so much of Menander’s work is lost, and because the dating of those plays and fragments that have survived is very uncertain, it is difficult to analyze the playwright’s development. It is known that his first work was written about 322 b.c.e. The only complete play that has survived, The Bad-Tempered Man, is an early one, performed in 317, which incidentally was the year that another of Menander’s plays, now lost, won for him his first prize.

In The Bad-Tempered Man one can see the careful plot construction and the realistic but sympathetic treatment of characters for which Menander was noted. The title character of the play is Cnemon, a misanthrope whose wife has left him because of his nasty temper and who lives alone with his daughter and a servant, while his virtuous stepson lives nearby. In the prologue to the play, the god Pan announces that he intends to punish Cnemon because he has offended against the principles Pan prizes, in particular good fellowship and love. It is not surprising, then, that this comedy, like Menander’s other plays, must move toward suitable marriages, which symbolize reconciliation and which sometimes are accompanied by the reform of an older man who is angry, obstinate, or miserly. In this case, it must be admitted that the most interesting character, Cnemon, is not really reformed but instead is forced into participating in the final marriage feast. Other typical Menander characters in The Bad-Tempered Man include the parasite who profits from his attachment to a rich young friend, a fussy chef who does not realize how stupid he really is, and various comic servants.

The Girl from Samos is based on an even more complicated plot, involving the births of two illegitimate babies, one to a poor girl, the other to a woman from Samos. When the Samian woman’s baby dies, it is decided that she will pretend that the other is hers. The result is a series of misunderstandings as to who is making love to whom, who are the parents of the baby, and who is related to whom. This plot enables Menander to analyze relationships between children and their fathers, who can move from love to anger to compassion as their perceptions of the truth alter. At the end of the play, the baby’s parentage is revealed, the lovers marry, and parents and children are reconciled.

In The Girl Who Was Shorn, too, there is a problem of identity, in this case that of twins who were separated in infancy, while in The Shield the confusion arises from the supposed deaths of two men, who naturally must be resurrected in the final section of the play.

Because they see a greater depth in The Arbitration, critics believe it to be a later play. The basis of the play is a serious situation: Pamphila was raped by a drunken reveler, and the baby to whom she later gave birth was abandoned. When she married, she concealed the truth from her young husband, and when he learned from a servant about her past, he rejected her and threw himself into a dissolute life. At this point, the play begins. As single-minded as a tragic heroine, Pamphila remains faithful to her husband throughout the play, and though there are comic scenes, such as that in which a charcoal burner argues like a lawyer, and deliberate deception, masterminded by clever slaves, finally the husband is won by his wife’s nobility. The baby reappears and is revealed to be the child of Pamphila and her husband, who did not remember raping her. At that point, presented with a grandchild, even Pamphila’s father is happy.

Although The Arbitration has many of the elements of the other plays, such as the complex plot, the love intrigue, and the stock comic characters, the profound theme elevates it above the other surviving plays of Menander and suggests the basis of his high reputation. In The Arbitration can be seen not only the comic confusion that was the essence of New Comedy but also the compassionate treatment of human problems for which Menander was particularly admired.

In his early fifties, Menander drowned while swimming in the harbor of Piraeus, the seaport near Athens. According to Plutarch, Menander died at the height of his dramatic powers. It is unfortunate that his literary career lasted only slightly more than thirty years and that almost all of his plays have been lost. All that remains is a name, a reputation, and an influence.

Significance

In his plot elements and stock characters Menander was probably similar to many of the other playwrights of New Comedy; his superior reputation rests on the fact that he rejected mere Dionysian horseplay for the presentation of a real moral drama. In this may be seen the influence of his friend Epicurus. In his penetration of character, he undoubtedly followed the tragedian Euripides.

Unfortunately, audiences of Menander’s own time seem to have been less than enthusiastic about his kind of play, preferring the bawdy productions of his rivals. Of his one hundred plays, only eight won the coveted prize for comedy. After his death, however, his reputation rose rapidly. Among the Romans he was highly valued. Ovid admired him; Plutarch ranked him above Aristophanes, and others placed him just below Homer. During the period of the Empire, his philosophical maxims were frequently quoted and even collected.

Menander’s greatest influence, however, came through the Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence, who adapted and imitated his works, devising their own complex plots, dramatizing Roman everyday life as Menander had the life of his own people, and working toward resolutions in which folly is exposed and lovers are united. Through Plautus and Terence, he survived to help establish the pattern of Renaissance drama. Menander’s influence can be seen in the exaggeratedly humorous characters of Ben Jonson and the romantic lovers of William Shakespeare. Finally, his satire set in ordinary society provided the basis of the comedy of manners genre. Even though most of his work has been lost for centuries, Menander’s comic vision persists in the plays of his successors.

Bibliography

Allinson, Francis G. Introduction to Menander: The Principal Fragments. Translated by Francis G. Allinson. 1921. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1970. This brief but extremely scholarly essay includes a clear description of Menander’s historical placement, concise comments about the playwright’s use of prologue, plot, and character, and a statement about his Greek style.

Dover, K. J., ed. Ancient Greek Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. A concise and accurate treatment of the subject. For a full understanding of Menander’s place in Greek literature, it would be helpful to read the entire book, although Menander is specifically treated in the chapter headed “Comedy.”

Goldberg, Sander M. The Making of Menander’s Comedy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. An outstanding scholarly discussion of Menander’s work. Explains clearly his relation to Old and Middle Comedy, delineates the problems of scholarship, and then proceeds to a lucid analysis of each of the surviving works.

Pickard-Cambridge, Arthur W. The Dramatic Festivals of Athens. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. The authoritative account of the production of Greek drama, ranging from the descriptions of the various festivals themselves to detailed explanations of acting style, costuming, and music, even including an analysis of the composition and character of the audience. Well illustrated.

Reinhold, Meyer. Classical Drama: Greek and Roman. Woodbury, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, 1965. In outline form, an excellent guide to its subject. Chapters 5 through 11—dealing with Euripides; Old, Middle, and New Comedy; and Menander’s Roman successors—are particularly recommended. Contains plot summaries, with hypothetical suggestions as to missing elements, of four of Menander’s plays. Includes glossary and bibliography.

Sandbach, F. H. The Comic Theatre of Greece and Rome. New York: W. W. Norton, 1977. An excellent study of comedy from Aristophanes to Terence, with an illuminating discussion of Menander’s themes, in the light of the newly discovered texts. Includes glossary and bibliography.

Walton, J. Michael, and Peter D. Arnott. Menander and the Making of Comedy. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. This introduction to the comedy of Menander considers each of the plays as performance pieces. Includes bibliography and index.