The Carnivalesque/Bakhtin in Plautus
The Carnivalesque/Bakhtin in Plautus
The Carnivalesque/Bakhtin in Plautus
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Vishal Ganesan<br />
Lat<strong>in</strong> 530<br />
10/3/2012<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Carnivalesque</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Plautus</strong><br />
• “S<strong>in</strong>ce everyone is subord<strong>in</strong>ated <strong>in</strong> some sense, the desire to participate<br />
imag<strong>in</strong>atively <strong>in</strong> staged rebellion does not divide the audience (say, between<br />
masters and slaves or between fathers and sons) but unifies it” (McCarthy 20).<br />
• Recall the end<strong>in</strong>g of Pseudolus (Ps. 1327-29), <strong>in</strong> which slave and master<br />
leave the stage to dr<strong>in</strong>k together. <strong>The</strong> question of Pseudolus’ liberation<br />
rema<strong>in</strong>s unresolved, though the power dynamic between the two<br />
characters is undeniably altered.<br />
§ Alternatives?<br />
• <strong>The</strong> safety-valve theory is <strong>in</strong>tuitively appeal<strong>in</strong>g, but ultimately unpersuasive. It’s<br />
hard to believe that these performances had no residual impact on the audience<br />
members.<br />
• <strong>Bakht<strong>in</strong></strong> described the carnival as a “utopia,” a glimpse <strong>in</strong>to what the world could<br />
be like (<strong>Bakht<strong>in</strong></strong>, Rabeleis, 9).
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