Show and Tell Post #3

This time around I chose to pick an older text for my show and tell post. The play I read is The Frogs by Aristophanes. The Frogs was first produced in 405 B.C. It was produced at the Lenaia and won first prize when it was presented in the archonship of Kallias. This play can be found in a book called Four Plays by Aristophanes. This book also contains the plays The Clouds, The Birds, and Lysistrata. The Frogs is a satirical comedy in which Aristophanes determines who the best of the deceased tragic playwrights are, namely between Aeschylus and Euripides. The play opens with the god Dionysos  in search of better playwrights, for the ones now living are not near as good as those who are dead. Dionysos decides that with the help of his slave, Xanthias he will travel to the underworld to bring back Euripides, the greatest of the tragic playwrights. In order to travel in secret, Dionysos dresses like Herakles, who has given him nothing but trouble since their most recent meeting. Dionysos and Xanthias cross the river Styx and enter the underworld where Dionysos is discovered as the god of theatre. At that point a quarrel between Euripides and Aeschylus reaches its peak. The quarrel is to determine who the best playwright and who should be the King of Tragedy in the underworld. Dionysos, as the god of theatre, decides he is to determine the fate of these playwrights, and weighs their lines to see whose writing is heaver. Aeschylus’s lines are heavier, and therefore he is crowned the king of tragedy. However, remembering his mission, Dionysos changes his mind about taking Euripides back from the underworld and takes Aeschylus instead. This play pokes fun at the gods and demigods that were admired, the government of the time, and the playwrights of the past. Aristophanes holds nothing back as he changes beliefs and inspires change in a wartime ancient civilization.

One dramaturgical choice that I found interesting was the choice Aristophanes made to have Dionysos dress as Herakles. This was clearly intended to create laughs and for me, it did just that. However, there are hidden meanings to why this occurred as it did. For one, this choice pokes fun at Dionysos. Dionysos is depicted as a fat, lazy old man with rosy cheeks and glass of wine in hand. Herakles, however, is depicted as strong and honorable. Aristophanes uses this choice to accent the fact that Dionysos is not the kind of person to make a grand and dangerous journey to the underworld. He in fact has no business being there at all. The amount of contrast between Dionysos and Herakles shows us just how ridiculous this journey is. However, it does indeed make things interesting, especially when Dionysos keeps changing costumes with his slave in hopes that he will not be blamed for Herakles mistakes, and later, in hopes that he will be admired by women as Herakles. This of course does not happen. The second dramaturgical choice that I really admired was the amount of irony in the play. Because this play is a satire, Aristophanes uses a lot of irony when dealing with the conditions of the citizens and the politicians of the time. However, he also uses a lot of irony within the text of the play. One example of irony in the play occurs when Dionysos does not return to the world of the living with Euripides. Dionysos begins his entire journey just to bring Euripides back from the underworld. He wants to find the best playwright and bring him back. However, when he weighs the lines of both Euripides and Aeschylus, he realizes that Euripides is not the best playwright, and takes Aeschylus instead. This ironic notion not only supplies fodder for comedy, but also tells us what Aristophanes really thinks about the late Euripides. More irony ensues when Aeschylus, the crowned king of tragedy in the underworld, does not get his place on the thrown because he is taken by Dionysos instead. This also tells us what Aristophanes thinks about the way the world views playwrights and that nothing is truly in the place where it belongs. This idea is persistent throughout the play, for Dionysos is wondering around the underworld when really he should be up in Olympus drinking his wine and enjoying his grapes.