ENGL 315 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Plautus
13 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Notion of guiding providence, or a fate scripted by god. The story is part of a larger story that"s beneficent. Shipwreck - romance plays part of culture. Focus on family relations: distinction between other romantic comedies, where focus on young lovers. Whereas here, families that have been torn apart and come together for a miraculous ending. Providence, in the end, presides over human-made laws. Animosity between two cities is thrown aside as duke allows egeon to live and family to get back together. Egeon comes to ephesus, way in which he"s recognized and referred to by the duke is as a merchant - laws in place that say we can"t trade with other city. But egeon doesn"t come to ephesus as a merchant - his purpose is not to trade. He comes there primarily as a father, searching for his family. Places him more in the romance frame.
