ARISTOPHANES’ WASPS
(Translation by Jeffery Henderson)
Written Answers Due November 26.
Illustration: Attic red-figure sphinx vase (a rhyton: note
the spout between the legs) by the Sotades Painter:
Kekrops and his daughters (below the lip) c. 470-460 BCE.
height 12.5 inches (32 cm) British Museum, London.
WASPS: Produced in Athens
in 422 BCE, by Aristophanes.
Festival of Lenaia (Second Place)
0. Why is this play called WASPS?
1. What is the significance of the names LOVECLEON and LOATHECLEON? (Introductory
Note, p. 215 ff.)
2. How is Xanthias’ speech at 54ff. like a PARABASIS? What are its themes?
3. What is the Greek for “addicted to”? (77)
4. What new addiction does Xanthias reveal as the malady affecting LOVECLEON,
and what is the Greek word he uses? What is the literal meaning of this
word? (88)
5. Why did LOVECLEON used to come home with a lot of wax under his fingernails,
and what does it show us about his character? (108)
6. What four ‘cures’ did LOATHECLEON attempt on his father before resolving
to lock the old man in the house? What kind of luck did he have with these
attempts? (115 ff.)
7. Why does LOATHECLEON mention Odysseus, and why does PROCLEON say that
his name is ‘no one’? (175 ff.)
8. What excuse does the Chorus Leader use to begin a song with the Chorus?
(267)
9. Where does LOVECLEON want to be buried, if he dies attempting to escape
from his own house? What does this tell us about his character? (385-386)
10. When LOATHECLEON insists on keeping his father at home, what political
charge does the CHORUS make against him? Why do they say this? (345; see
483) What other political charge do they make at 417? At 464? At 474? At
475?
11. What does LOATHECLEON claim that the CHORUS charges their opponents
with? (488-507) What kind of atmosphere does this engender? How is it
carried to the extreme? How does LOVECLEON re-introduce the theme in the
trial of the dog? (953)
12. Who makes up the ‘jury’ in the AGON between LOVECLEON and LOATHECLEON?
What is their ‘verdict’ (725-735)? Why is the makeup of the jury an appropriate
or inappropriate choice?
13. Give three arguments which LOVECLEON uses in the Agon to prove that
he is not a servant. (548-630)
14. What is the argument which LOATHECLEON uses in the Agon to prove
that his father is a victim, and not a master? (655-724)
15. What physical indication does LOVECLEON give that he has been defeated
in argument? (713) How might this be related to his costume?
16. What compromise does LOATHECLEON offer to LOVECLEON, since the latter
does not want to stop attending trials? (764-798) What about this offer
does LOVECLEON like?
17. Why is GRABES the dog put on trial, and what are two important implications
of his name? (837 ff., 894ff.)
18. What is used as a water clock in the dog’s trial? What kind of tone
doe this set for the scene? (855) How does LOVECLEON later use the ‘water
clock’? (935-941)
19. How does the prosecutor DEMADOGUE show his own greediness and self-interest
in his prosecution speech against the dog GRABES? (914-926)
20. Considering who DEMADOGUE is supposed to represent, what kind of
mask might he have worn? (note 53 to line 895)
21. What makes LOVECLEON begin to cry in the trial of GRABES? (973)
What real-life practice does this comic scene recall?
22. Why does LOVECLEON fall down in a faint when his juryman’s ballot
is counted (994ff)? What does this tell us about his character?
23. What is the message of the PARABASIS to the Athenians? (1009-1070)
24. What is the CHORUS Leader’s explanation of the Wasp costumes? (1071-1121)
(How does this match Loathecleon’s earlier description (223-227) and that
of Xanthias (420)?
25. Afer he has dressed him, how does LOATHECLEON try to prepare his
father LOVECLEON to behave at a symposium? (1208-1248)
26. What is LOVECLEON’S first reaction to the notion of going out to
drink at a symposium (1253ff), and how does CONTRACLEON react in defense
of the symposium (1256)? What is the literal meaning (and etymology) of
“symposium”? Write it in Greek letters.
27. What is the basic message of the SECOND PARABASIS? Give one quotation
to support your answer.( 1264-1291)
28. How does LOVECLEON attempt to hide the dancing girl from LOATHECLEON?
Why does he want to do so? What is humorous about this scene? (1342-1386)
29. How does LOVECLEON react to the baking woman MYRTIA’s complaint about
him? How does this reaction emphasize his character? (1388-1412)
30. Whom does LOVECLEON challenge to a dancing match, and who answers
his challenge? Why does the play end this way? (1496-1537)
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