A culture of a different kind

Menander's The Arbitration is the work of a stronger playwright. This impression is left by the play's nested plots.

On top of the general plot about another classic mix up involving a father, a son, and a baby of "mysterious" origins, the play also involves a sub-plot wherein the shepherd who found this baby and the servant of its unwitting father seek an arbitrator to settle the matter of who owns the trinkets found with the baby.

What's troubling about this play though, is it's casual treatment of rape. The baby at the plot's center is the result of the main character's raping his wife four months before they're married. As to why he doesn't remember this incident, it's revealed that he had done it while drunkenly barging into a women's festival. Given this context (and what Marrou mentioned about the mixing of the sexes at festivals), I can understand how such a rape could be a plot device.

But, the coolness with which the characters treat the rape sets a strange scene for a comedy. The play's jokes aren't that dark, though. Generally speaking, they're more like verbal slapstick.

It may be that the bits missing from the play contextualized its plot's rape to some extent. As it is, though, and as a modern reader, a rape is out of place in a comedy. Unless Menander pioneered dark comedy.

A marked improvement

A brief introductory note mentions that The Girl from Samos is the work of a more experienced and mature Menander. This turns out to be more than just blather.

For starters, most of the women in this  play are named. Though only the title character has any lines among them. Plus, in a curious reversal, tthe only wife in the play is never seen.

Though this play is more fragmented than Old Cantankerous, the story holds together nicely. The comedy inherent in the play's central misunderstanding holds up pretty well, too. Not to mention the fourth wall-breaking jokes and effective use of addresses to the audience. Such addresses must have been the norm, or the mark of a particular character type, though, since they do happen rather frequently.

Menander's made quite a jump, but how did he manage between these plays? Perhaps we'll find out in The Arbitration.