Margaret Danaher, Brown University
In this paper, I argue that Knemon, the main character of Menander’s Dyskolos, is disabled; I examine his characterization in the play by reading him alongside tragic figures with disabilities (Oedipus, Philoctetes) and other prominent disabled figures in Greek literature (Hephaestus, the Euripidean Cyclops) in order to better understand the role of disability in ancient comedy. Before Act IV begins, Knemon falls into a well, and this incident ultimately inspires his conversion and resolves the main conflicts of the play. While Knemon’s fall and speech have often been identified as the height of dramatic and tragic tension in the play (Anderson, Handley), the focus on Knemon’s temperament and his ideological conversion has caused scholars to overlook the significance of the physical experience of Knemon’s fall. Furthermore, Garland (2017) notes there are no extant disabled characters in Menander. Through a close reading of the text, I argue that the use of specific terms such as ἀνάπηρον (662) and χωλόν (662) to describe Knemon after his fall as well as the subsequent emphasis on Knemon’s lasting physical suffering suggests that Knemon is disabled and can be placed in conversation with other physically disabled figures from tragedy and elsewhere in Greek literature.
I examine the many references in the play to Knemon’s embodied experience, both before and after the fall, including his own reflections, what other characters say about him, and how other characters treat him. I then compare his portrayal in the play to that of prominent figures from tragedy such as Oedipus and Philoctetes. Many scholars have investigated the exploitation of tragic influences in Menander (Garzya, Katsouris) and I argue that the relationship between the Dyskolos and its tragic models can be further strengthened by discussing Knemon alongside these tragic characters with an eye to the way their disabilities are presented. Finally, I discuss Knemon in relation to other disabled characters, Hephaestus and the Euripidean Cyclops, who feature in comic contexts and are humiliated becuase of their disability. As Knemon is ridiculed and humiliated in his physically disabled condition, I argue that the comparison with these figures helps to clarify Knemon’s treatment at the end of the play.
In this paper, I engage with recent work on disability in antiquity (Garland 2010, Laes) and I follow Silverblank and Ward in my commitment to applying critical disability studies to the study of ancient literature. Through recognizing Knemon as a disabled character and reading him alongside other disabled figures from Greek literature, I demonstrate that it is important to highlight characters with disabilities in ancient texts and to reckon with their treatment in comic contexts.