Class 305 Take Home Midterm            Name: ___________________________________________
Due to be turned in anytime before end of rehearsal March 31, 2009

General Instructions. You may use any notes, weblinks, or books in finding answers to these questions, but YOU MUST DO ALL WORK BY YOURSELF, NOT IN A GROUP.

I. Character ID. Write 2 good, complete sentences that identify the play (or plays) in which these individuals appear and a reason why Aristophanes decides to use that character in any one particular scene in that play. Your main objective is to explain enough about this character to show that you understand why Aristophanes wrote that character into that particular scene you are discussing. (3 pts each)

[YOU MAY OMIT ANY 3 of these EXCEPT #5. Mark the 2 you don't want me to grade.]

1. Meton        2. Kleisthenes        3. First Creditor        4. Myrtia        5. Kinesias/Cinesias (identify both plays where a character of this name appears and give an explanation of the appearance of each in his individual play)        6. Agathon        7. Inferior Argument        8. Chremes
9. Sosias        10. Lampito        11. Epigenes            12. Magistrate       13. Hoopoe

II. Quote Identification. For these 8 passages name the SPEAKER of the lines and the PLAY in which the lines appear. 6 are spoken by individual actors in 6 different plays, 2 are spoken by  a chorus leader or chorus in 2 different plays. (2 pts each)

14. Let's hurry to the Akropolis full speed ahead, so we can lay these logs in a circle all around all the women who have instigated or abetted this business

15. When I filled my brain with only the mindless thoughts of horse riding I could hardly blurt out three words without making some stupid mistake. But thanks to my adversary here, who saw to my education, I now possess a keen intellect...In efface, I believe that I have the necessary skills to fully demonstrate that it is perfectly justified to discipline one's own father.

16. I am bearing an important message for mankind from father Zeus, 'slay your livestock for Zeus the savior, fill the skies with smoky savor, roast the meat, baste and slice, it's time you mortals sacrificed.'...   (After an unexpected reply to this message, the speaker says,) Just you wait until my father hears about this! You'll be sorry.

17. I can't bear it, to have such a thing on my conscience, I had a man brought up before me on a charge and I let him go! How did this happen to me? Gods above, you must forgive me, I didn't know what I was doing.

18. We would like to take this opportunity to say a few words to the judges of this dramatic competition. We want you to know all the wonderful presents you will receive from us, if you are wise enough to award this play first prize... Firstly, you will receive what every judge yearns for the most, namely, owls (Athenian coins had Athena on one side, and her owl on the other). We promise that Laurium owls will come to your home to roost, they'll nest right in your purse...

19. I think I'm done for. The women have devised a plot against me, and they're going to call an assembly and vote for my destruction...because I write tragedies about them and slander them.

20. All right it's your job to roast him, to torture him, to bamboozle him, to love him and not to love him, and to give him anything he wants - except what you swore over the bowl not to.

21. Where has my wife got to? I've been sitting in bed...trying to find my boots and my coat in the dark. I've groped everywhere, but I can't find them and all the while Mr. Poop is pounding at my back door, so finally I grabbed my wife's pajama top here and put on her Persian shoes

III. Short Answer. Answer briefly, but completely, and with specific examples. Sometimes a few words or phrases will do, but never more than 3 good sentences for any one PART of a question. (8 pts each)

22. Aristophanes used the father-son relationship a lot in his early career. For Clouds and Wasps identify any 2 similarities and 2 differences in Aristophanes' presentation of the father-son relationship in these 2 plays. (Note: 2 differences means, in Clouds... but in Wasps... TWICE]

23. The agon was a standard scene in Old Comedy where a subject was debated, often fiercely, between two (or sometimes more) rivals who presented significant arguments supportive of their side. Identify the participants (not  the subject matter) in the agon for Lysistrata, Women at the Thesmophoria and Assemblywomen.

24. Aristophanes produced Lysistrata and Thesmophoria in the same year. Identify any 2 similarities and 2 differences between these 'women' plays that show how Aristophanes was thinking about his comic writing and ideas that year [See the note on #22 above about differences]

25. For these historical characters, briefly describe how Aristophanes comically abuses them by his presentation of them onstage or what he has them say and others say about them.     Euripides            Cleon               Socrates

26. The parabasis was a standard choral song in Old Comedy which often broke the dramatic action to address an issue on the comic playwright's mind and which he wanted to express to the audience [These are clearly marked in your texts with the word written above that passage]. Write a sentence each describing the general theme of the parabasis for each of these plays: Clouds    Wasps (there are 2 in this play - describe each)
Birds (there are 2 in this play - describe each)

27. Compare and contrast Lysistrata and Praxagora as leading ladies in their respective plays. [2 similarities and 2 differences as above, but don't reuse material from your answer on #24.]

*PLEASE WRITE AND SIGN AN HONOR PLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE FOLLOWED THE BU HONOR CODE ON THIS EXAM*