The spoken word, the recitative, and the sung word: the structure of action in the Roman comedy

Abstract

This essay contains some considerations about the Roman comedy and the structuring of the action observed in it. It briefly discusses the question of the division of the action into acts. It also proposes that the comedy of Plautus e Terentius should be considered as a set of segments constituted, in theory, of an array of spoken and sung parts, organised in accordance to certain rules. The essay aims at contributing to the clarification of important points in literary history, especially in the field of comic theatre.