The Frogs" a Greek comedy written by Aristophanes

Questions 


Discuss The Frogs as a Drama of Ideas?


Tow poet author :

01 Aeschylus 
02 Euripides ( Dionysus wants to get him back to live )

Half brother :
Heracles

Journey to :
Hades

meeting with

Aeacus

Summery :

The Frogs tells the story of the God Dionysus, who, despairing (নিরাশ্বাস) of the state of Athens' tragedians, travels to Hades (the underworld) to bring the playwright Euripides back from the dead. (Euripides had died the year before, in 406 BC.) 

He brings along his slave Xanthias, who is smarter and braver than Dionysus. As the play opens, Xanthias and Dionysus argue over what kind of jokes Xanthias can use to open the play. For the first half of the play, Dionysus  makes critical errors, forcing Xanthias to improvise in order to protect his master and prevent Dionysus from looking incompetent.

To find a reliable path to Hades, Dionysus seeks advice from his half-brother Heracles, who had been there before in order to retrieve(উদ্ধার)  the hell hound (শিকারি কুকুর ) Cerberus. 
Dionysus shows up at his doorstep dressed in a lion-hide and carrying a club (গদা ) . Heracles, upon seeing the effeminate (মেয়েলি) Dionysus dressed up like himself, can't help laughing. When asked which road is the quickest to get to Hades, Heracles replies that you can hang yourself, drink poison, or jump off a tower. 
Dionysus opts for the longer journey, which Heracles himself had taken, across a lake (possibly Lake Acheron).
When Dionysus arrives at the lake, Charon ferries him across. Xanthias, being a slave, is not allowed in the boat, and has to walk around it, while Dionysus is made to help row the boat.
This is the point of the first choral (parodos), sung by the eponymous chorus of frogs (the only scene in which frogs feature in the play). 
Their croaking refrain – Brekekekèx-koàx-koáx (Greek: Βρεκεκεκὲξ κοὰξ κοάξ) – greatly annoys Dionysus, who engages in a mocking debate with the frogs. 
When he arrives at the shore, Dionysus meets up with Xanthias, who teases him by claiming to see the frightening monster Empusa. A second chorus composed of spirits of Dionysian Mystics soon appear.

The next encounter is with Aeacus, who mistakes Dionysus for Heracles due to his attire. Still angry over Heracles' theft of Cerberus, Aeacus threatens to unleash several monsters on him in revenge. Frightened, Dionysus trades clothes with Xanthias. A maid then arrives and is happy to see Heracles. 

She invites him to a feast with virgin dancing girls, and Xanthias is more than happy to oblige. But Dionysus quickly wants to trade back the clothes. Dionysus, back in the Heracles lion-skin, encounters more people angry at Heracles, and so he makes Xanthias trade a third time.

When Aeacus returns to confront the alleged Heracles (i.e., Xanthias), Xanthias offers him his "slave" (Dionysus) for torturing, to obtain the truth as to whether or not he is really a thief. The terrified Dionysus tells the truth that he is a god. After each is whipped, Dionysus is brought before Aeacus' masters, and the truth is verified. The maid then catches Xanthias and chats him up, interrupted by preparations for the contest scene.

Bust of Aeschylus from the Capitoline Museum
The maid describes the Euripides-Aeschylus conflict. Euripides, who had only just recently died, is challenging the great Aeschylus for the seat of "Best Tragic Poet" at the dinner table of Pluto, the ruler of the underworld. A contest is held with Dionysus as judge. The two playwrights take turns quoting verses from their plays and making fun of the other. Euripides argues the characters in his plays are better because they are more true to life and logical, whereas Aeschylus believes his idealized characters are better as they are heroic and models for virtue. Aeschylus mocks Euripides' verse as predictable and formulaic by having Euripides quote lines from many of his prologues, each time interrupting the declamation with the same phrase "ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν" ("... lost his little flask of oil"). (The passage has given rise to the term lekythion for this type of rhythmic group in poetry.) Euripides counters by demonstrating the alleged monotony of Aeschylus' choral songs, parodying excerpts from his works and having each citation end in the same refrain ἰὴ κόπον οὐ πελάθεις ἐπ᾽ ἀρωγάν; ("oh, what a stroke, won't you come to the rescue?", from Aeschylus' lost play Myrmidons). Aeschylus retorts to this by mocking Euripides' choral meters and lyric monodies with castanets.
During the contest, Dionysus redeems himself for his earlier role as the butt of every joke. He now rules the stage, adjudicating the contestants' squabbles fairly, breaking up their prolonged rants, and applying a deep understanding of Greek tragedy.
To end the debate, a balance is brought in and each are told to tell a few lines into it. Whoever's lines have the most "weight" will cause the balance to tip in their favor. Euripides produces verses of his that mention, in turn, the ship Argo, Persuasion, and a mace. Aeschylus responds with the river Spercheios, Death, and two crashed chariots and two dead charioteers. Since the latter verses refer to "heavier" objects, Aeschylus w



Question summery full content :

Frogs, or The Frogs, is one of Aristophanes's greatest comedies and is justly celebrated for its wit and keen commentary on Athenian politics and society. It is the last surviving work of Old Comedy and is thus also notable for heralding a passing era of literature. While it is a comedy, it is also a trenchant political satire and expresses Aristophanes's views on Athenian democracy, the value of poetry The play begins with Dionysus, dressed up as Heracles, and his servant Xanthias, riding a donkey, traveling to Heracles' house. Heracles is amused at Dionysus's costume. Dionysus asks him how they can get to the underworld to fetch the poet Euripides for Athens, and what sort of obstacles they might expect to encounter. Heracles provides them with information, and the travelers depart.

Dionysus is ferried across the lake by Charon, but Xanthias has to travel around because he is a slave. Along this journey, a chorus of frogs bursts out into song, annoying Dionysus. However, the god then joins in their boisterous song.

Dionysus and Xanthias join up on the other side of the lake, but before they can go very far they encounter the monster Empusa. Dionysus is extremely frightened and soils his clothing. The Chorus of Initiates, part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, enters and sings a song to Iacchus, Demeter, and her daughter Persephone.


Arriving at Pluto's house, Dionysus and Xanthias knock on the door. Thinking he is Heracles, the doorman, Aeacus, curses him. Dionysus tells Xanthias to wear his disguise, but asks for it back once a beautiful woman comes outside and invites "Heracles" to a banquet with other ladies. The innkeeper and Plathane come out and lambast the supposed Heracles as well, prompting Dionysus to once more give the costume back to Xanthias.

Aeacus returns and orders the seizure of Heracles for past his bad deeds. Xanthias-as-Heracles says Aeacus ought to torture his slave (Dionysus) to prove his own innocence. Eventually both claim to be gods, and Aeacus tortures both to see if this is true. Both Xanthias and Dionysus feel pain but pretend not to, as gods normally are not supposed to feel bodily pain. Finally, Aeacus says he will see if Pluto and Persephone will vouch for their divinity.

Inside, Aeacus talks to Xanthias about how Aeschylus and Euripides are fighting over who is the most accomplished tragic poet. Aeschylus already possesses the chair but Euripides is challenging him for it. Pluto calls a contest and Dionysus is made the judge. Both poets criticize each other, and then pray to their respective gods. The competition begins.

In a series of contests, Aeschylus and Euripides discuss who is better at prologues, lyrics, and making their audience better citizens. Euripides claims to have slimmed tragedy down from its ponderousness and made it more accessible to the common person. He also says Aeschylus is verbose. Aeschylus, for his part, criticizes the meter of Euripides' work and claims that his verse is wanton.

Dionysus cannot seem to come to a conclusion, so he orders the two poets' verses to be weighed. Because he refers to lofty things such as death and rivers, Aeschylus wins the weighing.

Finally, the two poets are asked to comment on how the Athenians should deal with the statesman Alcibiades. Dionysus decides Aeschylus is the overall winner, and he, the poet, and Pluto return to Pluto's house for a banquet. Aeschylus tells Pluto to give his chair to Socrates once he departs for the upper world. The chorus praises Aeschylus and proclaims that it hopes he will assist Athens with sound advice.