Allie Pohler, University of Cincinnati
Alcmena and Sosia of Plautus’ Amphitruo both become targets of psychological manipulation as they are gradually pressured to accept narratives that they know to be untrue. In a play famously about doubles (Dupont 1998, Christenson 2000), I treat Sosia’s perpetuation of the psychological abuse he endures as a foil to Alcmena’s unwavering rejection of similar treatment. My study contributes to our understanding of the matrona's ambiguous characterization as a tragicomic figure (Perelli 1983, Phillips 1985, Moore 1995, Bleisch 1997, Bond 1999, Christenson 2001) by highlighting Alcmena’s skillful negotiation of comic gender norms and demonstrating how her resistance to Amphitruo’s manipulations and refusal to perpetuate cycles of abuse are thrown into sharper relief by Sosia’s failure to do the same.
I first identify a consistent pattern of psychological tactics deployed by Mercury and Amphitruo to undermine Sosia’s and Alcmena’s credibility: they accuse them of physical illness (574-5, 581, 729), mental illness (585, 604-5, 719, 777), mistaking dreams for reality (620, 726), willfully lying (565, 571, 585-9, 789), and transgressing patriarchal codes of conduct (709, 818, 836). I next highlight the striking verbal parallels between Alcmena’s and Sosia’s immediate reactions to these accusations, as both defend their health (582-3, 720, 730), honesty (562, 736, 835), and vigilance (621-4, 698, 726). Sosia’s resolve, however, soon wavers as Mercury successfully robs him of his identity (341-462) and Amphitruo accuses him of fabricating the incident (553-632). Importantly, when Amphitruo later accuses Alcmena of lying and adultery, Sosia participates in the abuse, reproducing the language of his own manipulators (697, 703-4, 719, 727-8, 738).
Alcmena, by contrast, keenly navigates gender and power dynamics throughout the confrontation, confidently defending herself and the truth of her narrative (mihi plurumum credo et scio istaec facta proinde ut proloquor, 756-7). While she maintains a deferential, i.e., feminine, discourse with her husband (Dutsch 2008, Barrios-Lech 2014, James 2015, Parisi 2019), Alcmena also refuses the generic role of the nagging comic matrona. She expresses dismay at her husband’s misconduct (nimis ecastor facinus mirum est qui illi collubitum siet meo viro sic me insimulare falso facinus tam malum, 858-9), but she does not directly challenge the veracity of his account or question his health. Instead, Alcmena exercises her authority as a wife by threatening to divorce Amphitruo if he does not apologize for and recant his allegations against her (887-90, 928).
Finally, when Jupiter-in-disguise tries to excuse Amphitruo’s behavior as a joke (equidem ioco illa dixeram dudum tibi, ridiculi causa, 916-7; 920), Alcmena rejects the pretense and makes explicit the emotional injury that he has caused her (ego illum scio quam doluerit cordi meo, 922). Alcmena’s metaphor of bodily pain recasts her husband’s verbal accusations as a form of physical harm and reasserts her trust in her knowledge of herself (scio). Alcmena, I conclude, models a response to psychological manipulation which acknowledges its harm and declines to perpetuate it; the exceptionality of this self-confident response is underscored by Sosia’s vulnerability to similar abuse and his subsequent eagerness to inflict it upon others.