Aristophanes` Frogs - harvey.binghamton.edu

Aristophanes’ Frogs Drama to the Rescue…

Agenda • Drama in Performance 1 – Frog Chorus (pp. 106 ff.)

• Aristophanes’ Frogs – Background, Structure, Themes, etc.

• Drama in Performance 2: “To Hit or not to Hit…” – A Serious Side to Drubbing? Or, What Would Plato Say?

Drama in Performance 1 Frog Chorus (pp. 106 ff.)

Frog Chorus … the Point?? • add to setting • Charon says frogs help him to row • making d mad • interact – have say in what’s going on • let us sing! – thematically significant – foreshadowing » forbidding frogs

• invading frogs home – trespasser

• serious place – comic relief

• satire – makes fun of dio every chances gets

• not frightening – yet threaten d

Aristophanes’ Frogs Background, Structure, Themes, etc.

Background Historical • Production – 405 BCE – Lenaea (Jan/Feb) – 1st prize, crown, encore

• Politics etc. – 413 Sicilian disaster – 411 exile of oligarchs – 405 » material pressures » military uncertainties » political tension

– 404 » final defeat » democracy dissolved

Religious • Dionysian festival • mystery (Eleusinian) evocations – Demeter, Persephone, Iacchos-Dionysos – ritual insult – Chorus of Initiates » us???

Dramatic • Aischylos, Sophokles, Euripides, Agathon dead • Dionysos “yearning” • Athens bereft, desperate

Analysis • prologue (pp. 90 ff.)

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– lyric dialogues. Chorus, D, X. Warning, fear, etc. – Aiakos, D, X. Drubbing scene

– Xanthias, Dionysus, Herakles, Corpse, Charon

• choral dialogue 1 (106) – Frog Chorus (off-stage), Dionysus

• scene (109)

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– lyric, chanting, dialogue. Mystic Chorus of initiates, D, X. hymn D, sex, personal abuse

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• scene (124) – dialogue, lyric. Chorus, D. Persephone’s invite to “Herakles.” – Barmaid, Plathane, X, D. Deadbeat “Herakles”

scene (135) – Pluto’s servant, X. Slave dialogue: trouble in Hades

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choral ode (140) – tragic parody: consternation over poetic quarrel. (agōn prelude)

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AGŌNES (141-175) – Euripides v. Aischylos. Chorus, Pluto. Contest in tragic poetry

• scene (119) – D, X, Aiakos, Maid. Door comedy

parabasis (133) – advice to the city

– Charon, D, X (Empusa)

• parodos (114)

scene (cont.)

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exodos – Pluto, Aischylos, Chorus. Farewell

“Are You Serious?”: “Comic Formula” & (serio?)-Comic Theme

• Plot contours – Return of Hephaestus – Aristophanes’ Frogs

Return of Hephaestus

“To Hit or not to Hit…” A Serious Side to Drubbing? Or, What Would Plato Say?

Drubbing Scene (pp. 127 ff.) • Aiakos – gatekeeper of Hades

• Dionysus – god of drama

• Xanthias – Dio’s slave The Three Stooges

What Would Plato Say? Positive • Herakles is getting his just deserts • the punishment of an imposter!! – of impious impersonation

Negative • gods should not be seen in lesser form • threat to the social structure • Hubristic ambiguity – issue with the forms » glorification of masks/costumes