Frogs Summary Flashcards
Prologue: Lines 1-315
Describe briefly what happens in the Prologue lines 1-315
- Dionysus & Xanthias embark on a journey
- Advice is given from Hercales
- Negotiating the passage across the marsh to underworld
- Dionysus encounters the frogs
- Dionysus & Xanthias are reunited
Prologue: Lines 1-315
How does the play start
- Dionysus appears on stage dressed as a parody of Heracles, together with a slave, weighed down by baggage, and a donkey
- After a stand-up routine about not making the audience laugh with old, familiar baggage jokes,
- Dionysus reveals that he is on his way to Heracles for advice on a journey to the underworld
Prologue: Lines 1-315
What happens when Dionysus talks to Heracles
- Dionysus tells Heracles that he wants to go there to bring back Euripides because there are no good poets still alive.
- His appearance and plan cause Heracles great amusement and he teases Dionysus with his advice.
- He tells him what to expect.
Prologue: Lines 1-315
What happens after Dionysus encounters Heracles
- After a brief encounter with a corpse who refuses to take all the baggage, Dionysus crosses the marsh on Charon’s boat.
- Charon makes Xanthias take the long way round.
Prologue: Lines 1-315
What happens on Dionysus’ journey to the underworld
- On the journey, a subsidiary Chorus of Frogs engage in a short singing contest with Dionysus, as Charon makes him row across
Prologue: Lines 1-315
How does the prologue end
- After Dionysus and Xanthias are reunited on the other side, they encounter a shape-changing monster.
- Dionysus is seen to be a coward.
- They hear the Chorus of Initiates approaching.
Prologue: Lines 1-315
Name the various types of humour which occur in the prologue
- self-mockery
- visual humour
- topical humour
- surreal humour
- word play
- scatological
- mockery (playwrights, aristocrats)
Parados 316-459
What type of chorus is it
Chorus of Initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries
Parados 316-459
What context can help us understand why the chorus change the mood
- The chorus may have brought a touch of nostalgia;
- while the Spartans occupied Decelea in 413 BC,
- the annual Eleusinian procession in September had to be suspended
Parados 316-459
What do the Chorus of initates repeatedly shout
Iacchus!
Parados 316-459
What is the significance of Iacchus being shouted
- The name of this youthful Eleusinian god who led the Initiates carrying a torch,
- is derived from the joyous cry ‘iacche’
- His image was carried from Athens to Eleusis in the procession
- Dionysus or Bacchus is sometimes also called by this name, like in the Bacchae L725, hence this could be perceived as quite ironic
Parados 316-459
What feature does Aristophanes employ that emphasises the importance of the chorus
- the unusual stage direction for pipes to be played, which is not generally included
Parados 316-459
- Describe the features of the ritual dance that the Initates begin with
- dancing
- the wearing of flower crowns & garlands
- rhythmic stamping of feet
Parados 316-459
- In what way do the initates & Dionysus play on the focus of their worship
- references to Pigs:
- The sacrifice of a piglet formed part of the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Thesmophoria
- Here Aristophanes plays on nostalgia
Parados 316-459
- What do the chorus then emphasise about their worship by referencing light
- That members of the cult have known to see the light in the underworld; & also members would have worshipped nocturnally
Parados 316-459
- How do the chorus then reflect the inclusivity of the Mysteries worship
- The Mysteries were inclusive in a way not typical of Athenian society, welcoming women and men, young and old, Athenian and foreigner, but not those who had shed blood
- Aristophanes’ extended joke lists others who should stand aside
Parados 316-459
- Who do the Initates attack
- Cratinus - A comic playwright who dominated the genre before Aristophanes
- Audience members recipient of the cheap laughs
- Demogogues & Politicans (edp. those involved in Argiunsae)
- Piracy & wartime profiteering
- Himself - for being so critical
Parados 316-459
- In what way do the Chorus lean on the Gods here
- The Initiates sing of a female saviour, who might be Athene, Persephone or Demeter, but it is certainly to Demeter that they pray for safety in lines 387-9.
- Thorycion is named and shamed at line 363 against a general backdrop of wartime corruption and profiteering, which breaks the 4th wall, emphasisng how the audience should too
Parados 316-459
- How do the cults of Dionysus & Demeter mirror eachother here
- Humour and playfulness abound in this Chorus
- The Greek verb paizein - to act childishly - occurs many times & on the procession from Athens to Eleusis was the river Cephissus
- ritual insult and mockery indulged in by participants as they crossed (we also learn this was a long walk - 22km)
Parados 316-459
- Amongst a plethora of smutty humour, which politicans are violated
- Archedemus
- Cleisthenes
- Callias
- Hippocinus
Parados 316-459
- Why must Aristophane’s be cautious when demonstrating the Eleusinian Mysteries
- Aristophanes might have risked angering people in this parodos and in an earlier play Thesmophoriazusae (411 BC)
- Ten years before Frogs was first performed, a group of young aristocrats including Alcibiades had been charged with profaning the Mysteries, a case that had far-reaching implications for Athens
Parados 316-459
At the end of the Parados, how does Aristophane’s present the value of the chorus for driving the plot
- The Chorus have just advised Dionysus and Xanthias that they’ve reached Hades’ front door
- They are pious & undiscriminating with who they help, thus driving the plot, diluted with confused characters
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
Who is Dionysus dressed as in the following scenes
Heracles
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- What is Aeacus’ response to seeing Dionysus dressed as Hercales
- immediately believes that he is seeing the real Heracles returning to the underworld
- he appears as an over-excitable doorman who takes disturbing pleasure in listing the punishments in store to Dionysus & Xanthias
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Aristophanes use social comedy with Dionysus & Xanthias
- The slave is portrayed as more noble & reslient to Aeacus’ threats, wheras Dionysus is divinely mocked & underminned admist a lexis of scatological humour
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does the swapping of Dionysus & Xanthias’ roles climax
Xanthias steps forward with good cheer as he takes on the costume and spirit of Heracles, parodying himself as Xanthacles, & flirting with the maid
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Aristophanes utilise political satyr with Xanthias & Dionysus
- I need a witness! - Xanthias cry, a reminder of the litigious nature of Athenians and their obsession with law-courts suggests that Dionysus becomes physical in his attempts
- Possible comment on how to a Greek Audience the emancipation of slaves will never be taken seriously
Episode 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- What unknowingly intelligent yet deeply ironic comment does Dionysus make
- ‘What gods? How stupid and senseless - the idea that you, a slave and a mere mortal, could be the son of Almene!’
- Zeus slept with Almene disguised as her husband, Amphitryon and fathered Heracles.
- Zeus wife Hera prevented him from becoming the great king that had been predicted by speeding up the birth of another child, Eurystheus
- Heracles had to perform his 12 labours for this master
- Hera ruthlessly afflicted Heracles with a madness that made him kill his first wife Megaera and their children
- emphasises how the Gods rule the constitution of Athens, so in all manner of things, the emancipation of slaves is impossible, but also deeply ironic because growing sophistry undermines this, through D’s stupidity
Interlude 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
What do the chorus comment on here
- The Chorus reflect on Dionysus change of plan while making a political point.
- Politicians always struggle to present U-turns convincingly and risk being mocked for them.
- Dionysus has decided to reverse his previous decision to let Xanthias play Heracles.
- In the first lyric stanza the Chorus appear to praise him for this until the sting comes at the end of their verse, so their structure mimics what they mock
Interlude 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
What political satyr does Aristophanes make about Politicians
- ‘Safe side of the ship’ - calls out those who did not question the Demagogues
- Thermaenes - Mr.U-turn - helped to establish and then overthrow the Four Hundred, the oligarchic government imposed on Athens in 411;& he commanded a ship at the Battle of Arginusae in 406 BC and was instrumental in bringing the generals to trial for failing to collect their dead
Interlude 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Aristophanes potentially blasphemously satyr Dionysus
- I start buffing my chick-pea - a bizarre euphemism
- Masturbation is commonly referred to in Greek comedy
Interlude 1: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does the chorus undermine Dionysus
- chorus / Of teeth - metaphor suggesting that a row of teeth are like a ring of dancers has particular force as Dionysus is in feisty dialogue with his own chorus
- basically saying why won’t you guys just back me here
Episode 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- What can we learn about costume here
- High-heeled boots (kothornoi) are referenced
- Actors wore these to make them more visible
- Dionysus is wearing them, like his yellow gown, as god of drama
- A lot of self-reflective comedy is generated by dressing up in this play, but also Aristophanes could be commenting on the mechanism of early theatre, as it perhaps doesn’t mirror social hierachy
Episode 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- What happens now Dionysus is switched back to Heracles
- two angry female innkeepers, who accuse Heracles of previosuly taking food from them
- Xanthias feeds into this
- They call for Cleon & Hyperbolus to protect them (they’re already dead -surreal humour)
Episode 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- Explain Aristophanes’ surreal comedic reference to Cleon & Hyperbolus
- The women call to their defence two nasty, dead demaogogues -politicians- to attack the villain
- Cleon, presented as a loud and aggressive politician, attempted to prosecute Aristophanes
- He was killed in action in 422 BC, but Aristophanes continued to resurrect old jokes long after his death
- Hyperbolus was ostracised in about 416 BC and killed in 411
Episode 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Xanthias & Dionysus’ social norm behaviour completely invert
- ‘a slave and a mere mortal’ Xanthias throws Dionysus’ own words back at him
- ‘my wife, and my children’ Dionysus is reduced to pleading with his slave by swearing an oath
- Gods usually swear by the river Styx, but Dionysus chooses a domestic oath that feels suspicious, given the lack of evidence of a wife or children in the play
Episode 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How is Dionysus’ plea undermined
- Archedemus - this reference undercuts the seriousness of Dionysus oath
- Archedemus was ridiculed as the ambitious outsider who brought charges of embezzlement against Erasinides, one of the generals at Arginusae
Interlude 2: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
What is significant about the Chorus’ encouragement
- Equal encouragement
- The Chorus’ song and Xanthias (now Heracles) response mirror the form of the exchange at 533-49
- In both the Chorus try to put heart into the hero, who is now Xanthias, the slave, not the god
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- Who are the men who are going to torture the slave
- Ditylus, Sceblyas, Phartphace - their names sound foreign
- they may have been represented as Scythian archers, the only form of official law enforcement in Athens
- Their names begin a scatological sequence
- The name of the third thug is really Pardocas, perhaps suggesting the Greek verb perdomai (fart)
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How do they resolve who should be punished, the ‘slave’ or the ‘God’
- Dionysus shows himself a true coward here as he sides with the stronger force against his own slave and comrade
- Yet Xanthias intelligently, or just awarely suggests ‘his slave’ Dionysus (his slave) should be tortured
- Xanthias returns his master’s disloyalty (see 610) with interest, relishing the reversal of the status quo and co-operating fully with the torture of his slave, rashly diregarding the convention of compensation
- D says Xanthias claims to be a God, so to test him, D suggests they will be equally tortured
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Xanthias react to his beating
- Attatai!!!!! The Greek attatai is a common exclamation of pain or distress
- The festival of Heracles took place in Diomea, a deme south of the Acropolis,
- Perhaps Xanthacles is feigning anxiety about missing his festival.
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Dionysus react to his beating
- Men on horseback - Dionysus tries to pass his exclamation off as if it were one of excitement, perhaps at seeing a procession or military force setting out
- Aeacus isn’t quite convinced, so Dionysus invents the onions (654), presumably because the pain has brought tears to his eyes
- This could be consistent with his first story since onions were a staple part of army rations
- evidence of D’s intellect?
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- What is ironic about who it is that Dionysus calls out in pain to
- Delos and Delphi - The island of Delos was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis
- Delphi was the site of Apollo’s famous oracle
- Again quite smart & spontaneous as its actual pain that made him say this, as Delphi was a location without much sophistry
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- How does Dionysus then undermine his innovative exlamations of pain
- ‘headland of Aegeus’ - Returning from a dangerous mission to kill the Minotaur in Crete, Theseus failed to signal his triumph to his father Aegeus, king of Athens, by changing the sails from black to white
- Believing his son dead, Aegeus threw himself into the sea
- He’s basically saying hes not the slave, & he lacks composure, his intellect bursts are merely spontaneous
Episode 3: Preliminary Encounters in the Underworld (460-674)
- Who wins?
- There is no final result, because Aeacus confesses himself baffled and thinks up an easier way of getting to the truth, of Persephone & (Hades) identifying them
- However, Xanthias has shown superior cunning and, arguably, courage
- He gleefully diverts what should have been his fourth blow into an extra painful thwack for his master
Parabasis 674-737
What is the purpose of the parabasis
- The parabasis occurs at the midpoint of the play, providing a change of tone and atmosphere
- The Chorus often step out of character and the Chorus leader (coryphaeus) addresses the audience directly, airing views on anything from what the audience think of the show so far and why this play deserves to win, to completely unrelated news and scandals of the day
- The task they take on, to instruct the city, becomes an important theme as the role and importance of the poet is discussed and analysed
Parabasis 674-737
- How does the chorus initially flatter the audience
- ‘Come, Muse’ - After seeking inspiration from the Muse, the Chorus flatter the clever audience as a way of unifying ‘The people vs Cleophon
- Cleophon was an opponent of peace with Sparta & the most prominent demagogue of his day once democracy was restored after the brief rule of the Four Hundred in 411 BC
- Cleophon was tried for treason in 405 BC
- His condemnation in 404 BC and execution paved the way for Theramenes to negotiate peace,
- hence the chorus establish their inclusive notion that this play does strive to achieve something for Athens
Parabasis 674-737
- What is the chorus’ 1st message
- Now a democracy has been restored we should emphasise equal status with all citizens & be forgiving to those indoctrinated
Parabasis 674-737
- How do the chorus explain their 1st message
- Phrynichus is referenced and one of the Four Hundred
- A decree was passed after his fall in 410 Bc labelling all officials of the fallen regime enemies of Athens
- Using a wrestling metaphor,the Chorus advocate clemency, empathy & foregiveness for those who were tricked or bullied into following his lead, suggesting that now we have a democracy we should emphasise equal status with all citizens
Parabasis 674-737
- What is the chorus’ 2nd message
- No man in Athens should be without rights
Parabasis 674-737
- How do the chorus explain their 2nd message: Platacan citizenship
- The Spartans destroyed Athens ally Plataca in 427 BC
- Refugees who fled to Athens were given citizenship with some restrictions, like the slaves who fought at Arginusae, which Aristophanes agrees with, but he thinks more should be done
Parabasis 674-737
- How do the chorus explain their 2nd message: Arginusae
- This Athenian naval victory was still the ‘headline story’ in Athens at the time of Frogs because of the controversy over the generals’ conduct and their trial in late October / early November 406 BC
- The Chorus draw a rhetorical contrast between the new security of former slaves and the insecurity of experienced naval officers, like those who fought in the sea-battle
- They appeal to the common sense and humanity of the audience in emotive language
- ‘Men who’ve fought at sea with you many times…should be forgiven that one disaster’, & given equal citizenship
Parabasis 674-737
- What is the significance of the humorous stanza
- Cleigenes
- runs a series of Laundrettes, usually would be ran by aristocratic generational land owning disreputable politicians
- accusing him of looking like a monkey - mocking his physical stature & size
- mocking individuals within Athenian society, adding a humerous edge to his all encompassing points about equal rights
Parabasis 674-737
- What is the chorus’ 3rd message
- Coins analogy: change our politicians, as the front that politicians present is widely accepted, yet deceiving
- Athens should seek more honourable politicians
Parabasis 674-737
- How do the chorus explain the 3rd message: coins
- The Chorus introduce an analogy between the quality of political leaders and of coinage
- War also led to a downgrading of currency: base metals (copper/ bronze) plated with silver came into circulation
- Politicans look promising, but should not be trusted
- Base types would presumably include the likes of Cleophon & Alcibades; it is harder to identify the finest men
- The phrase go for gold (734) more literally means ‘use the best’
Parabasis 674-737
What external evidence is there of the Parabasis’ significance
- A decree was passed formally commending this parabasis in autum
Episode 4: Slave Talk (813)
Which stereotypes of what owners think slaves do behind their backs do Xanthias & the slave mention
- cursing your master behind his back
- grumbling
- snooping
- listening in to everything
- gossiping & spreading information about your masters
- sexual activities
Episode 4: Slave Talk (738-1499)
What is the significance of the slave talk to an Athenian Audience
- Most members of the audience would be familiar with the challenges and anxieties of living alongside slaves
- This serves as a plausible plot device to explain the racket inside
- an indiscreet slaves shares this with the outsiders
Episode 4: Slave Talk (738-814)
Which 2 playwrights are squabbling
- Aeschylus & Euripides
Episode 4: Slave Talk (738-814)
Why are Aeschylus & Euripides fighting
- There is a law that all the most important crafts involving skill, the supreme artist receives free meals in the civic hall and a seat next to Pluto himself until someone else even cleverer at his art arrives
Episode 4: Slave Talk (738-814)
How is Sophocles presented
- Sophocles didn’t claim the throne: in a dignified manner he chose to sit in reserve to Aeschylus
- He contrasts with that of Euripides
- Sophocles is shown to be a modest and moderating force, who won over 20 victories in his career
Episode 4: Slave Talk (738-814)
Why is Dionysus the obvious choice for judging the imminent contest
- He is the God of Theatre
Episode 4 First Appearances (814-74)
How does the Chorus begin the contest
- The Chorus of Initiates act like compères, introducing and rallying the contestants
- They use powerful battle imagery, as if this were a Homeric duel
- Similes liken their fighting strength to bulls
- There is echoes of chariot, naval and equestrian warfare
- The two contestants are not named, but are clearly differentiated, building tension
Episode 4 First Appearances (814-74)
In lines 814-715, what do Euripides & Aeschylus do
- The 2 Tragedians hurl insults at eachother
Agon: Opening Prayers (875-94)
Summarise what happens here
- The Chorus invoke the muses:
- Aeschylus swears by the traditional Olympian Gods, invoking Demeter, a choice likely to be approved by the Chorus
- Euripides swears by his own new Gods, rejecting the incense & conventional gods
Agon: Prelude (895-906)
Summarise what happens here
- The chorus hype up the Agon, using a lexis of war imagery, expressing their eagerness for the contest to start
Agon: Round 1 (907-91)
How was Euripides attacked by Aeschylus in this section
- The overall structure of Aeschylus plays:
- The long silences of his central characters
- The dominance of the choral odes (914-15)
- The obscurity of his complex, pretentious poetic language ‘Aeschylean language’
- Difficulty of following his plays
- His plays aren’t rooted in reality, but linked to a Homeric, mythical past
- The way he treats his audience
Agon: Round 1 (907-91)
How has Euripides promoted his own dramatic style
- Brags of his great prologues which ensure the audience isn’t confused
- Says he writes for the pople
- Has a greater range of characters compared to Aeschylus
Agon: Round 1 (1007-1098)
How has Aeschylus attacked Euripides in this section
- E’s work is less privotal & influential in a climate of war
- E’s does not censor/filter his work
- E’s work dismantled Aeschylus’s previous framework & art form of eloquence in Tragedy
Agon: Round 1 (1007-1098)
How has Aeschylus promoted his own dramatic style
- Encouraged men to fight - as courageous role-models can instil courage & military discipline in a citizen body
- He has pride for his noble characters
- His style is founded in previous Great poets e.g Homer
- On the contrary, he flatters the audience’s intelligence
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
What do the Tragedians focus their attacks on here
- Each other’s prologues
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
How does Euripides attack Aeschylus
- He nit-picks as the specific issues of the prologue
- His prologues fail to set out the story effectively
- Consist of making verbal quibbles about the content
- He takes examples from five lines of one of Aeschylus’ plays (1119-77)
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
How is Eurpides argument slandering Aeschylus flawed
- Nit-picking approach is a style associated with the sophists
- Such arguments appear clever, but often defy common sense
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
How does Aeschyus attack Euripides
- Criticising Euripides’ choice of words,
- Parodies the rhythm, iambics, & predictability of his rival’s verse,
- quoting the opening lines of several plays, & finishes them all with a reference to a ‘little bottle’
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
What does Aeschylus mean by his ‘little bottle’ reference
- The Greek, lekythion, is a, a flask used for olive oil and at funerals
- Some scholars see sexual innuendo (1215)
- but the humour in this part of the agon lies chiefly in the bathetic effect of this small household object deflating the tragedian through the joke’s repetition
- Euripides use of metre look too predictable
Agon: Round 2 (1119-1248)
At the end of round 2, who does Dionysus’ sympathies lie most with
- More towards Aeschylus
Agon: Round 3 (1249-1363)
How was round 3 peformed
- This verse, more poetic and elusive in content, was accompanied by music and resembled a modern opera rather than a play
Agon: Round 3 (1249-1363)
What do the Tragedians focus their attacks on here
- lyric poetry - the poets appear to know each other’s work well and several lines from surviving plays can be identified, as the parody eachother’s choral odes & lyrics
Agon: Round 3 (1249-1363)
Briefly, what does Aeschylus parody of Euripides here
- Criticising the predictability of his choral odes & refrains
- He then parodies Aeschylus’ style of solo song
Agon: Round 3 (1249-1363)
Briefly, what does Euripides parody of Aeschylus here
- He parodies Euripides’ music and his banal (borring) content, unworthy of tragedy
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
The scales are now introduced at the request of…
Aeschylus
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
What do the Tragedians focus on here
- Unlike the Egyptian Scales of the Dead, setting the soul against the feather of Truth, this contest is comically mercantile:
- rather than proving worth, they reflect sheer weight, quantity with no reference to quality
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
How might the Mechane be used in this scene
- The great balance that will weigh the poetry, perhaps the mêchane, a crane designed to fly in gods to bring closure at the end of a tragedy,
- could be elaborate, a way of reflecting the sponsor’s wealth and generosity,
- often used in the Festivals of Dionysus
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
What happens in the 1st attempt
- Euripides’ line is the famous opening to his Medea, when the nurse wishes ‘If only…’
- weighty thought, wishing history could be written again.
- Aeschylus wins, however, with a landscape, Spercheius (1383) is a river in Malis where Philoctetes came from, which is more hitting as its about the present moment
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
What happens in the 2nd attempt
- Each poet goes for an abstract concept:
- Persuasion the purpose of rhetoric, characterises Euripides as sophistic
- Dionysus utters his first weighty remark for some time, that Persuasion has no substance: you can persuade someone of anything, quoting Aeschylus’ Niobe and a lost Antigone by Euripides
- Wheras Aeschylus’ is more fitting (in the underworld) & extistential questioning the forgiveness of death
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
What happens in the 3rd attempt
- Dionysus teases Euripides by seeming to help him - with a heroic throw of dice, three light-weight scores
- Undismayed, Euripides tries his best and is roundly defeated
- He still seems none the wiser, inferior to Aeschylus
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
Who wins this round
- descisively, Aeschylus
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
What can be inferred from Aeschylus’ victory speech
- It is conventional for Greek victors to taunt the defeated, and Aeschylus concludes his triumph by suggesting that Euripides and his works have no gravity
- Mentioning Euripide’s wife and Cephisophon, intensely & all-encompassingly shames him
Agon: Round 4 (1364-1410)
Explain Dionysus’ confusion at the end of round 4
- Dionysus came down to the underworld because of his passion for Euripides
- Unclear who he speaks of, far more ambiguous than the earlier distinguishing between the Tragedians:
- One I consider clever, the other I enjoy
- One speaks cleverly, the other clearly
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
Which character arrives now
Pluto
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What does Pluto’s character serve as
- The final character to appear in the play is a sort of deus ex machina figure
- & he may literally have appeared ex machina, using the ekkyklema
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What does Pluto allow & influence Dionysus to do
- Pluto grants the release of one or other poet with no conditions attached, unlike Orpheus, or Persephone
- Dionysus is encouraged to make his final decision and adopts a simple and sensible method, asking the poets for advice on 2 pressing issues: Alcibiades & how to keep the city safe
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
Who was Alcibiades, what’s the deal with him
- Plutarch describes the atmosphere later in Athens, in 404 BC, just after her defeat by Sparta and the imposition of the Thirty Tyrants:
- There had been much oppositin to him, yet
- he was the finest and most experienced general they possessed
- And yet in the midst of all their trouble, there was hope as Alcibiades was alive
- The Spartans ordered their commander Lysander to have him killed
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What advice does Euripides offer on Alcibiades
- ‘I hate a man who’s slow to aid his country’
but quick to cause deep harm; good at helping himself, but not at helping the city - blameful
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What advice does Aeschylus offer on Alcibiades
- The better solution
- One shouldn’t raise a lion cub in the city.
But once it’s grown, you’d better treat it well - We musn’t destroy destroy ourselves, if the issues we seek to fix are not those instilled in the constitution
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What advice does Euripides offer on how to keep the city safe
- If we didn’t trust the citizens we trust now, but used those we currently reject…
- DIONYSUS Wed be saved
- If our current misfortune is down to them, mightn’t we
- find salvation by doing the exact opposite?
- uncoherent repsonse & Dionysus has become dismissive
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
What advice does Aeschylus offer on how to keep the city safe
- Aeschylus begins cautiously, with a question, as at 1424.
- He doesn’t give his final answer until 1463-5 and then it is enigmatic, like an oracular response.
- He emphasises the navy, as Themistocles had done, and supports Pericles policy, which had been to attack the Peloponnese, withdraw into the city and accept the loss of Attica temporarily.
- His earlier remark on cloak and goatskin (1459) - town and country - like his image of Alcibiades as lion cub, implies that the Athenians must work together and not let any faction dominate
Agon: Round 5 (1411-81)
Who does Dionysus choose to win
- Aeschylus
Chorus (1482-99)
Do the chorus agree with Dionysus’ decision
- The Chorus prove the choir
- They devote one verse to praising Aeschylus for his understanding
- & end with one that sums up Euripides weaknesses
Chorus (1482-99)
What is the significance of Socrates’ mention
- This is the only direct mention of Socrates in the play, but there is significant overlap between themes in this play & in A’s Clouds, which satirises Socrates’ teachings
- Euripides and Socrates were both seen by some contemporaries as undermining old-fashioned values, in particular religious and moral values
- Socrates quickly became a martyr for independent thinkers, yet 21st century depictions are kinder
Exodos (1500-1533)
What does Pluto offer to Aeschylus & why
- He wishes Aeschylus well as he returns to save the city, & educate the citizens, generously offering the means of reaching his realm early to some of the undesirable politicians on earth
Exodos (1500-1533)
Who is an example of a politcian Pluto name drops to be brought to the underworld
- Cleophon - played a crucial role in rejecting peace in 410BC
Exodos (1500-1533)
What does Aeschylus say should happen
- Aeschylus says that Sophocles can be his deputy and have the chair of tragedy - Euripides is definitely not allowed to sit in it
Exodos (1500-1533)
What does the Chorus’ final prayer wish for
- The final prayer is for Athens and her safety
- This was a frightening and uncertain time for the city,
- & worse was to come in the months ahead, with an end to war but crushing terms for Athens and her democratic institutions
