Clouds, Birds, Lysistrata, Women of the Assembly

It's quite a shift to go from the tragedies to the comedies. Within the tragedies, there was a genre of satyr plays that would be performed at the conclusion of a set of three tragedies. These satyr plays were akin to a college fraternity putting on a play with the expected instances of bawdy jokes, multiple farts, and an overall sense of bawdiness. Comedy takes it to the next level by doing two things - taking place in modern time as opposed to a mythic past and roasting politicians, poets, and philosophers who likely would have been in attendance. I've read 5 plays by Aristophanes now and I find them a bit much. They are funny, but they also cross a line into desecration. They desecrate individuals, the theater, and the art form. Clouds by Aristophanes may also have played a part in the eventual death of Socrates 24 years later.

The subject matter of these four comedy plays was quite interesting. Clouds considers a replacement of the gods. Birds considers a replacement of society and the gods. Lysistrata considers the withholding of sex by the women until the men establish peace. Women of the Assembly considers replacing men with women in the government and ushering in a communistic state both economically and familially.