The Rope and Other Plays

Resumen del libro

Brilliantly adapting Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences, the sublime comedies of Plautus (c. 254 -184 bc ) are the earliest surviving complete works of Latin literature. The four plays collected here reveal a playwright in his prime, exploring classic themes and developing standard characters that were to influence the comedies of Shakespeare, Moliere and many others.

In The Ghost, a dissolute son who has squandered his father's money is thrown into disarray when he returns from abroad, a theme that is explored further in the comedy of errors A Three-Dollar Day. In The Rope - regarded by many as the best of Plautus' plays - the shipwreck of a pimp and his slaves leads to the touching reunion of a father and his daughter, while Amphitryo, Plautus's only excursion into divine mythology, offers a cheerful account of how Jupiter became father to Hercules.

Biografía del autor

Plauto (Sàrsina, 259/4 aC-Roma, 184 aC). Llegado a Roma en su juventud, dedicándose a diferentes tareas teatrales, a través de las cuales habría aprendido de primera mano el arte de la comedia. Ya desde la antigüedad se le han atribuido con seguridad veintiuna una obras, con las que alcanzó el éxito entre los romanos de su tiempo. Las más conocidas, por haber influido en los grandes comediógrafos europeos de todos los tiempos, son Psèudolus, Anfitrión, La olla, Los gemelos, El soldado fanfarrón y La comedia del fantasma.