Palavras Aladas: Uma pequena teoria do sublime n'as Aves de Aristófanes

Abstract

Aristophanes' Birds’ main theme is the power o f words. Though its plot may seem fantastic at first, the Athenian democracy is constantly referred to throughout the play, represented by its main pillar, le. public debate. Exploring several posssibilities o f employing speech in convincing and manipulating people, o f using words as the means to attain the most extravagant aims, Aristophanes puts on stage the true benefciaries o f rhethoric: poets, seers, lawyers, politicians. In sucessive confrontations to the hero, a brief theory o f the sublime is sketched, as an attempt to describe the effects o f speech upon man. Despite its brevity, this theory is surprisingly coincident with Longinus' definition, as developed, centuries later, in his essay On the Sublime.