Modern Scholarship - Frogs! Flashcards
“The primary function of the play, however, is not literary criticism, but political action.”
Bettendorf.
What does Bettendorf say about the purpose of the play?
“The primary function of the play, however, is not literary criticism, but political action.”
“The traits given to ‘Aeschylus’ and ‘Euripides’ are amusing, and the contrast between them makes comic sense, but they are without value as an index of how Aristophanes or his contemporaries really valued them.”
Kovacs.
What does Kovacs have to say about the real Aeschylus and Euripides?
“The traits given to ‘Aeschylus’ and ‘Euripides’ are amusing, and the contrast between them makes comic sense, but they are without value as an index of how Aristophanes or his contemporaries really valued them.”
“The victory of Aeschylus is a rejection of the new lifestyle, a return to the old moral centre.”
Redfield.
What does Redfield say about Aeschylus’ victory, that we can link to the parabasis?
“The victory of Aeschylus is a rejection of the new lifestyle, a return to the old moral centre.”
“[Frogs is] generally reckoned to be the finest of Aristophanes’ surviving plays.”
Cartledge.
What does Carledge say about Frogs in comparision to the rest of Aristophanes’ plays?
“[Frogs is] generally reckoned to be the finest of Aristophanes’ surviving plays.”
“One purpose is to hold up the serious poetry itself in criticism and ridicule; parody suggests, by selection and exaggeration, “this is what Euripides is like.” The second, and commoner, purpose of parody is to exploit the humorous potentialities of silliness by combining high-flown tragic diction and allusions to well-known tragic situations with vulgarity or trivial domestic predicaments.”
Dover.
What does Dover say about comedy and the way it might parody contemporary figures or plays?
“One purpose is to hold up the serious poetry itself in criticism and ridicule; parody suggests, by selection and exaggeration, “this is what Euripides is like.” The second, and commoner, purpose of parody is to exploit the humorous potentialities of silliness by combining high-flown tragic diction and allusions to well-known tragic situations with vulgarity or trivial domestic predicaments.”
“Aristophanes is using the gods as comic characters and wants the audience to laugh at them, but this does not necessarily mean that he and the audience do not believe in their real existence. Rather, the performance of a comedy was the right time and place for making fun of everyone, and the gods were assumed to be sensible enough to take a joke.”
Macdowell.
What does Macdowell say about an ancient audience ‘laughing’ at Dionysus?
“Aristophanes is using the gods as comic characters and wants the audience to laugh at them, but this does not necessarily mean that he and the audience do not believe in their real existence. Rather, the performance of a comedy was the right time and place for making fun of everyone, and the gods were assumed to sensible enough to take a joke.”
