Euripides' Ion up to line 1105 by Rosemarie Polanco

Euripides comic

polancorosemarie — 2024-09-05 05:47:40 UTC

I would say the fact that Ion dosen't understands Xuthus's emotions towards him and believes he's delusional makes this scene funny because as the reader we know that's not his actual son, yet Xuthus is overcome with emotion while Ion is saying things like "Are you sane? Or has the god made you mad somehow?" I guess this serves to lighten the mood of the story and create a sort of cosmic irony that Xuthus who has no son belives he does while his wife creusa has a child when she thinks she no longer does.

Euripides’ Ion

Mariane_Boulhan — 2024-09-05 06:02:59 UTC

The scene where Xuthus comes in with certainty that Ion is his son because the oracle told him the first person he’ll see will be it. And the funny part is how persistent he is about wanting to finally touch his son, but on the other side Ion is completely clueless not knowing about what this stranger has been told, and thinking he is crazy. He could have just said what he knew and explained it to Ion but it would have been a serious talk instead of the whole nonsense conversation they had ! And since there are already so many serious talk about Apollo taking advantage of Creusa, Xuthus and Ion’s part was funnily unexpected.

Mariane

Comedy Between Xuthus and Ion

ginadigraziano80 — 2024-09-05 08:08:05 UTC

The comedic timing of this episode lies almost entirely at the beginning of the interaction between Xuthus and Ion where Xuthus immediately begins to show affection toward Ion without yet explaining that the oracle told him they were father and son and Ion's confusion causes him to repeatedly ask Xuthus if he is crazy. This is then followed by Ion saying "Must I shoot this arrow first, or will you let me go?" (line 524). This paints a hilarious image in the audience's head of Ion attempting to reach for his bow while Xuthus hugs him and pins his arms to his side. Including a humorous scene in this episode of the play helps to alleviate some of the intense and tragic topics lengthily discussed in the episodes following and preceding it, essentially giving the audience a well-deserved break.

Comedic Interaction between Xuthus and Ion

2024-10-12 05:24:43 UTC

During this scene, the joy of Xuthus of finding his ‘son’ and the confusion of Ion sells the comedy of the moment. When Xuthus first rushes to hug Ion, he exclaims “My boy, be happy: this is a fitting way for me to address you.” and Ion replies “I’m happy, but you be discreet and we’ll both be fine.” The different reactions between the two from the overreaction of Xuthus to the under reaction of Ion is what makes this scene funny.