Introduction: Comedy in the eyes of many people is nothing more than a drama that brings happiness to themselves through a funny plot, and if it is not deeply experienced in this drama, then many of the plots of this drama are only added to deliberately increase laughter. However, if you carefully experience this kind of drama, then comedy may not just bring you happiness, but also mix many different aspects of happiness with feelings.
In ancient comedies, especially in Athens, Greece, there was a lot of mixing with anything other than comedy. For example, the works of the Athenian comedian Aristophanes contain many thoughts and worries about the future of Athens, and if you carefully read the images of the elderly in many of Aristophanes' works, you will find that there are too many contradictions in Athenian society in these images of the elderly.
1. The influence of philosophers such as Socrates and Plato
Many people may not understand Aristophanes, but he was a famous Athenian comedy writer who lived in the time of Socrates and Plato. The number of his works is enormous, and the profound implications are endless. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Aristophanes' work reflected a profound reflection on Athenian society and people. (Mostly in the form of irony)
Socrates
The reason why Aristophanes's works have such a style actually has a lot to do with the era in which he lived at that time. In the society of the time, the school of the wise developed, and on the basis of the school of the wise, a group of philosophers who criticized Athenian society, led by Socrates, appeared. Many of these philosophers saw the problems that existed in Athenian society, so that in their writings there was more or less criticism of social problems.
Aristophanes
Aristophanes had a very close relationship with these philosophers, and many of their ideas were recognized by him. So when he was creating, the ideas of these philosophers were subtly influencing him. Many of his creative tendencies were influenced by philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, so that under this tendency, there was inevitably a lot of criticism of society in his comedies.
2. The stimulus of the social reality of Athens, Greece
Of course, in addition to the influence from the philosophers of the same era, the formation of Aristophanes' creative tendencies was also stimulated by Athenian society. It should be known that Athenian society was in a period of prosperity and decline, and there were many contradictions in the perfect social system that was originally in the minds of many people. These contradictions exist in all respects, especially in the political system.
At first, no one noticed these contradictions, but with the observations and speeches of philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, these contradictions that arise in society are naturally perceived by many people. Aristophanes was closely associated with philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, so he naturally knew the reality of Athenian society very well.
Plato
Of course, understanding this social reality can only affect Aristophanes's creative tendencies to a certain extent, and this social reality completely affects Aristophanes' creative tendencies when Socrates was executed for criticizing social problems on the charge of seducing the Athenian youth. This made Aristophanes realize how decayed Athenian society had become, so he mixed his work with a critique of this society.
1. The image of an elderly woman who has been vilified
As mentioned earlier, Aristophanes had very close relations with philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, but this does not mean that he is a new comedy writer who criticizes democracy. On the contrary, although he thought that the social problems raised by philosophers such as Socrates were deeply touched, he was a loyal supporter of the slave democracy in Athens. He disagreed with many of the ideas of the School of The Wise Men, so Aristophanes actually had conservative ideas that belonged to the original Athenian slave democracy.
This conservative thinking of Aristophanes influenced the construction of many of the figures in his works, so that many of them tended to coincide with the influence of many of the backward ideas in Athenian society. We all know that democracy in athenian slavery democracy was relative, and that only adult male citizens of Athens had democracy. The status of women was actually a little higher than that of slaves, so athenian society was very unfriendly to women.
This backward thinking is very well inherited here by Aristophanes, and in his works, many images of old women are infinitely ugly. For example, in The Women of Mother Earth and the Parents of the Citizens' Assembly, the image of the elderly woman is greedy, funny and rude. It can be said that in his pen, these elderly women are so unbearable and spurned by the world. The image of the old woman of Athens was infinitely ugly by him and presented in the comedy works, which showed the backward factor in the thinking of the comedy writer.
2. Elderly people with low family status
In addition to Aristophanes' disrespect and ugliness of old women, in fact, the image of old men is not very beautiful. And in Aristophanes' works, whenever the old father quarrels with the young son, it is bound to end up young and victorious. This also reflects the status and image of the elderly men in Aristophanes' works, although they are better than the old woman's image and high status, but their family status is still very low.
Old Man of Athens
Why is the family status of older men so low in Aristophanes' works? In fact, it is related to the social reality he feels. The old ideas in Athenian society advocated filial piety to parents and listening to their fathers, but because of the rise of many schools of thought in Athens, there was a different idea from this idea.
Athenian society
Aristophanes was a proponent of old ideas, which is why he set the status of older men so low in his works in order to satirize this ethos in Athenian society at that time. Therefore, the image of these elderly people in Aristophanes's pen presents this situation of family status.
1. Discrimination against women
Earlier we mentioned that in Aristophanes the author consciously defames the image of the elderly woman and deliberately shows a negative image of the woman, which is not only a reflection of the author's thoughts, but also a reflection of the culture of Athens. Because the author embraced the old ideas that were the mainstream of Athenian society at that time, his ideas were a manifestation of the old ideas.
Athenian women
From Aristophanes' efforts to demonize old women when he wrote comedies, we can see that there was definitely discrimination against women in Athenian culture at that time. In ancient times, whether in the East or the West, this kind of discrimination existed, and it can be said that many people had this kind of thinking.
Even a philosopher like Plato would have said: "Just as in order for a female dog and a male dog to have the same use, they must be bred with the same training, so if a woman is to have the same use as a man, she must first be given the same education." Such words. Thus, Aristophanes' defamation of older women in his works was but a manifestation of discrimination against women in Athenian society.
2. The atmosphere of contempt for the elderly in society
When people reach old age, life has entered a period of decline, and both physical and mental will slowly decline. In ancient times, the vast majority of the elderly in society did not contribute as much as the young, and it became a burden. Therefore, over time, a trend of contempt for the elderly has developed in society, believing that the elderly are completely a drag and have no use.
Athenian Congress of Meritorious Names
Although this kind of thinking is wrong, it really existed in ancient times. We know that most of Aristophanes' comedies have irony in them, so from his description of the status of the families of the elderly, we can see that it is clear that this tendency to despise the elderly also appeared in Athenian society. Aristophanes spared no effort in his works to degrade the status of the elderly family, just to make this atmosphere criticized and rectified.
1. The tragic situation of athenian women
As for Aristophanes' ugliness of elderly women in his works, many people may think that he is definitely making it up out of thin air, but it is not. Although he has a prejudice against female figures in his works, the female figures he depicts are amplifications of many female figures in real life. It can be said that the female figure he depicted existed in Athenian society, but it was not so bad.
Although such a female image exists, we should not criticize how Athenian women are, because the root cause of this image of Athenian women is this cruel society. In Athenian society, because of their low social status, women were engaged in only some very lowly jobs. Under the grind of cruel life, even the best temper will gradually evolve into the same as in the work.
Athenian slave democracy
And the situation of women is the Athenian slave democracy that is already unfair to women, and it is the shortcomings of this system that cause the tragic situation of women. From this, through Aristophanes' works, we can see not only the cultural atmosphere of discrimination against women in Athenian society, but also the tragic situation of Athenian women living in this unfair society.
2. Hypocritical politics
Because Aristophanes' works also contain satires on the contradictions in Athenian society, from his works, we can also glimpse some problems with the slave democratic system in Athens. For example, in his work Birds, Aristophanes depicts a completely utopian city, the Partridge Nation in the Air. There is no irrational political system, no oppression and exploitation, and it can be said that it is a place of complete harmony.
Stills from Birds
Aristophanes did not sketch such a utopian city just to advance the story; his main purpose in doing so was to critique the politics of Athens. As a conservative, he naturally supports the slave democratic system, so he wants to make social contradictions valued and resolved through this critical way.
However, from Aristophanes' works, we can see not only the many contradictions that existed in Athenian society, but also how hypocritical Athenian politics was from its many satires. The so-called democratic politics has left vulnerable groups such as women in a miserable situation and is rife with discrimination against women. It can be said that the so-called democratic system in Athens is incomplete and hypocritical.
Conclusion: As a conservative, Aristophanes, although firmly supportive of Athenian slave democracy, had very close contacts with philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. It was also because of this that he had insight into the many problems that existed in Athenian society, and in his own comedies, he raised them in a satirical way. Through his works, we first see his vilification of old women, and then see his work reflects on the Chinese and politics of Athenian society, and it is his works that we can see the many problems that exist in Athenian society.
bibliography:
History of European Culture
History of Herodotus
The Ancient Greek Empire
Social Life in Ancient Greece
Six Kinds of Aristophanes Comedies
Aristophanes Comedy Collection