In the first part of this paper, a model audience is constructed on the basis of the approaches of the so-called Konstanz School of aesthetics of reception, with the aim of bridging the methodological difficulties arising from the lack of evidence of reception. The second part focuses on the object of my investigation, which I critically revise. My aim is to make it easier to grasp some phenomena which I incorporate into my analysis with the concept of implicit ritual. The third part is a case study in which I try to define by means of an example from the Mostellaria (The Haunted House) what the concept of implicit ritual encompasses.