Laughter in Plutarch’s lives
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Date
2019Publisher
Fabrizio Serra EditorePlace of publication
PisaSource
Rivista di cultura classica e medioevaleVolume
61Issue
1Pages
43-56Google Scholar check
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This article examines the literary use and significance of laughter in Plutarch’s biographies. It focuses on a number of examples from Plutarch’s Lives where the protagonists, or other secondary characters, or even groups of people appear to laugh in a derisory and mocking manner. This sort of laughter, as I argue, can point to the superior character traits and/or moral status of the laugher; or it can signal the faulty state
of mind and inadequacies of character of the persons who laugh or those who are being laughed at. In that case laughter is ominous and prepares the reader for an upcoming disaster. This function of laughter in Plutarch’s Lives is aligned with Herodotus’ use of laughter in the Histories
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