Critics Say...

I'm going to post links to different scholarly articles that give their opinions on The Rope by Plautus. I feel that seeing different reviews of the script itself can open up new ideas of how to interpret the script. I think that it is helpful to see how people react to just the script. This will also provide new insight on who other's view and analyze Plautus's work.

The first link is to an article from Cambridge Journals Online. The author of this review is C.J. Herington. The overall idea of his is that the plot is not very original and simple. But that the play overall has some very funny parts and action.

Article 1

The next link is a review from The Classical Review. This review was written by H.D. Jocelyn. In this article he talks not only about The Rope but also the play that Plautus adapted it from. The article talks about how Roman morals influenced Plautus. It also talks about the different contrasts within the play.

Article 2

The final article is from The American Journal of Philology and the article is by George Fredric Franko. In the article Franko talks about Plautus's use of the chorus. He seems to the think that Plautus created these ensemble roles by changing entrances and exits of certain characters. By doing these things Plautus created a different dynamic that was not in the original play. Franko states that, "Plautus probably created ensemble scenes by rearranging entrances and exits and by endowing mute characters with speech" (Franko, pp.27).

Article 3


Sources:
C. J. Herington (1943). Rudens. Greece and Rome, 12, pp 78-79 doi:10.1017/S0017383500008160

Plautus, Rudens 83-88 H. D. Jocelyn The Classical Review New Series, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Jun., 1966), p. 148 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/708212

 Ensemble Scenes in Plautus George Fredric Franko The American Journal of Philology Vol. 125, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 27-59 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1562209