The Introduction of Young Women in Menander: Variation within the constraints of the genre

Menander worked in a restrictive genre that limited his opportunities to create variation between plays. However, as scholars have shown (notably Brown, Zagagi, Lowe, and Traill), he still produced a diverse range of plots and plays, making excellent use of the room that New Comedy did give him to manoeuvre. Since a full investigation of variation in Menander could never fit within the scope of this thesis, I instead focus on how variation manifests differently in a narrow area where we might expect a greater degree of uniformity: the introduction of young citizen women and their initial circumstances, as established in the opening act of each play. Even though the first act is restricted both by its adherence to formal structure and its obligation to set up an appropriate plot, and even though young citizen women only rarely get the chance to express themselves on stage, variation still shines through the cracks when we examine how these women experience the world and events of each play.

Young citizen women in different plays often find themselves living in completely different circumstances, with unique past experiences and future trajectories. The first act’s focus on exposition emphasises this circumstantial variation. In later acts, by contrast, the developing action distinguishes plays more visibly. Because of their relative invisibility, we must reconstruct the circumstances and experiences of these women largely through what other characters say and do. Nonetheless, these women are fundamental to the marriage plot, and they act as a focal point that unites the other characters, bridging the gap between separate households. As a result, the variation between these women, and hence their flexibility, allows Menander to weave diverse combinations of characters and events into a network compatible with New Comedy and its teleological focus on the young citizen woman’s eventual marriage.