Plautus Plays - Sophia Kaplan

 Both Casina and The Braggart Soldier are comedic plays written by Plautus, and they are pretty similar. It was interesting how current they feel and how the jokes/wording are actually fairly up to date. All the silly descriptions used in Casina like “love-bird, lovey-dovey, and cuddly-bunny” (line 138) made it genuinely funny and I was more compelled to read the entire thing. Right off the bat in The Braggart Soldier, Pyrgopolynices (the soldier) is portrayed as cocky and arrogant. Personally, I think he is an annoying character, but he adds an interesting flare to the play. I preferred reading Casina because of the two-sided conflict between Cleostrata and Lysidamus. Overall, though, I feel The Braggart Soldier would be a better film because there was a more complex plot. I did find it difficult to follow while reading because of all the long and similar names, so hopefully it would be better in the film version.

 - Sophia
 

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