Metatheater and Showing in Menander’s Epitrepontes

Abstract

In Menander’s Epitrepontes, Charisios acknowledges his own faults and mistreatment of his wife Pamphile in an act 4 speech. During his confession, he repeats the verb δείκνυµι three times within six lines. In this article, I argue that such a verb has a double meaning. Charisios’ explicit use of the verb conveys a ‘revelation of character’ as Charisios and the daimonion he invokes ‘reveals’ that he has erred in his actions. On a metatheatrical level between the audience and playwright, the verb also conveys the literal meaning of ‘showing’, as it nods to the playwright putting Charisios onstage (and thus ‘showing’ him) for the first time in this scene. This double meaning of δείκνυµι adds to the other metatheatrical moments in the play illuminated by other scholars and reveals in Menander a close attention to the power of absence and presence in his plays.