... example, one Greek theatrical convention was that male actors played all of the characters on stage, including the female characters. This convention was used in both Greek tragedies and Greek comedies, so this in itself would not have been funny. However, Aristophanes makes this convention humorous by playing with it, and he takes it one stage further to do so. As well as the custom that male actors played female characters, Aristophanes uses male actors playing male characters that are dressed up and are pretending to be female. This not only confuses the audience, but also other characters on stage. Aristophanes also uses male actors playing male characters that are so effeminate that they are mistaken for women, which once again confuses both the audience and the other characters on stage. The first type of gender confusion that one encounters when reading The Poet and the Women is male actors playing ...

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