The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)

The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
by E. F. Watling, Plautus

The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
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Book Summary Information

Author: E. F. Watling, Plautus
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1965-09-30
ISBN: 0140441492
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Penguin Classics

Book Reviews of The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)

Book Review: Slice-of-life ancient history
Summary: 5 Stars

I agree with another reviewer that this collection of plays makes a good history lesson, but for me the lesson went beyond the development of people's sense of humor over time. Plautus avoids philosophy and politics, skipping right to slice-of-life stories about ordinary people, stories that today would be considered situation comedies. (Several of the plays in this book were amalgamated into the modern-day musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.") Reading this book gave me a sense of what life on the streets of ancient Rome was like.

A final comment about whether Plautus should be considered Greek or Roman. Plautus wrote in Rome more than 200 years after the classical Greek playrights Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes and more than 100 years after the "new comedy" of the Greek Menander. He borrowed Greek plots and set his own plays in Greece, but I regard this as a convention (much as 20th century playwrights habitually set theirs in New York City) and to me the attitudes of Plautus' characters seem Roman more than Greek.

Summary of The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)

One of the supreme comic writers of the Roman world, Plautus (c.254-184 BC) skilfully adapted classic Greek comic models to the manners and customs of his day. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the light-hearted comedy "Pseudolus", in which the lovesick Calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive "The Prisoners", which raises serious questions about the role of slavery. Also included in this title are "The Brothers Menaechmus", which formed the prototype for Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors", and "The Pot of Gold", whose old miser Euclio is a glorious study in avarice. Throughout, Plautus breathes new, brilliant life into classic comic types - including deceitful twins, scheming slaves, bitter old men and swaggering soldiers - creating an entertaining critique of Roman life and values.

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