Aristophanes, Frogs -- some notes

1. BIOGRAPHY

2. Speech of Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium (worth reading 189c-193d)

3. Comedy: the structure is much looser than the formal structure of tragedy. It often jumps from place to place and "lurches through time." Unlike tragedy which works with traditional material, comedy is fictional fantasy.

Prologue-- gives the basis of the plot-- the wild and crazy scheme of the comic hero which he/she pursues throughout the play (Frogs: to go to Hades and see Euripides because there are no good poets left)

Parodos -- often in opposition to the "hero" (Frogs unusual because it has two choruses)

Parabasis -- the chorus addresses the audience on various issues (often dropping any dramatic pretense) -- topical allusions seem to be added up to the last minute

first song of principal chorus

praise of comedy and putdown of various individuals and types-- includes language suitable to ritual [remember the Bacchae where Dionysus also appears in human disguise and there is a lot of hymnic language]

after beating of Dionysus and Xanthias:

advice to citizens: amnesty for those involved in oligarchic revolution, 411

After the parabasis ("stepping aside") the play returns (loosely to the plot): the "hero" acts on the wild and crazy scheme with a variety of characters coming in and out

Frogs -- second half is taken up with the debate between Euripides and Aeschylus. It ends with Dionysus taking Aeschylus back to earth. Most comedies end with a celebration of food, drink, and sex. A banquet or wedding is common.

There seem to have been four actors available for comedy. Masks were exaggerated portraits of contemporaries.

4. Beginnings of Literary Criticism -- Criticism before Aristotle.