Rhetoric of Corporality: Representation and Apprehension of Bodies in Aristophanes' Plutus

Abstract

In Plutus, Aristophanes' last extant comedy, bodies are at the limelight, insofar as they are substantially integrated into the development of the plot. The blind body of the god of wealth, for example, is the cause of the evils of Athens (the only rich are the wicked) and also the solution to the problem (through the cure of that sick body). The purpose of this paper is to examine the modes, uses and regulations of the representation and apprehension of bodies in this comedy, essentially with regard to the threat posed by disease and old age in them, as well as exploring the sensory and affective experiences that they undergo through the relationship with the world around them.