Scènes uit een tragikomisch huwelijk Plautus’ Amphitruo als tragedieparodie

Discussions about the interpretation of Plautus’ self-proclaimed tragicomoedia Amphitruo usually centre on the interpretation of the character of Alcumena, the wife of the eponymous general: should we see her as a tragic heroine or as a comic character? In this paper I will elaborate a third option, in which Alcumena is interpreted as a comic character precisely because her tragic features are grotesquely parodied, and I will argue for an analysis of the Amphitruo as a parody of tragedy. Mercury plays a central role as the divine seruus callidus who brilliantly directs the various reversals throughout the play and ‘performs’ the transition into a tragicomedy on the stage.