OCR Classical Civilisation A-Level Greek Theatre Revision Guide - 1.6 Social and Political Themes in Comedy

The Representation and Satire of Tragedy

1. Represent it as having a civic function

> central to Athenian life

> change the city

> the debate of what makes a good poet in the agon

> didactic function

> comedy's representation of tragedy reveals how central tragedy was to Athenian cultural life

- Euripides in Frogs: "we make people in our cities better"

- Aeschylus: "children have teachers to instruct them, young men have poets"

2. Shows the established canon of the 3 tragedians

- his focus on Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus demonstrates how the canon of the three great tragedians was already being established

3. Satirised Tragedy

> Dover - old ways good, new ways bad

> Kovacs - wayward

> the presentation of Euripides and Aeschylus

> high flown language of the chorus

> Frogs is dominated by the personalities if the individual tragedians and the idea that tragic poetry can save Athens: "I came down for a poet. Why? So that the city could be saved and put on plays."

> Aristophanes' satirises the tragedians themselves as well

The Role of the Gods

1. Representation of Dionysus

> Aristophanes' representation of Dionysus is far from his character in Bacchae - he is cowardly and a buffoon.

- mocking the gods in comedy was not considered blasphemous

- especially as it is at the festival to Dionysus

- Cartledge

> MacDowell - assumed

> Other comics used Dionysus' character in their plays (Cratinus' 'Dionysus as Paris')

> In Frogs, he overturns the traditional attributes of Dionysus - eg. the scene in which both he and Xanthias are whipped - they both feel pain / he is cowardly and lazy

- in Bacchae he is beautiful whereas he is out of shape and ugly in Frogs (POTS)

- he represents the 'everyman' figure, he is not unlikeable.

> Dionysus starts off as a comic character but becomes gradually less of one at the end - he is still the saviour of Athens in bringing Aeschylus back.

> Stanford - "fickle, wayward Athenians of the time"

Death and the Afterlife

1. Traditional

> Frogs depicts the traditional poetic view of the afterlife - eg. the dead as ghosts with their old personalities and memories

- Hades is neither a place of punishment or blessing, but they're prefer to be alive

2. Parodied

- many of the elements are gently parodied however: Charon the ferryman / Heracles is simply a dog-thief / Pluto is a genial host

- Dionysus travelling down to the underworld is repeating of a folkloric story-pattern of the hero travelling to the underworld alive to fulfil a quest.

3. Eleusinian Mysteries

> The Chorus of Initiates represent a strand in Greek beliefs about the afterlife, since they consist of the Eleusinian Mysteries - it was open to everyone in the Greek world

- to reveal the secrets of the cult was considered a serious offence and making fun of them would considered deeply shocking, and so Aristophanes had to deal with the subject delicately to avoid upsetting his audience

- they pray to Iacchus and Demeter

- the resurrection of Aeschylus at the end of the play is referential to the promises of the cult of being reborn after death

- A sense of Hope to the audience to be saved from their current state.

Eleusinian Mysteries

The cult of the mother goddess Demeter and a very popular Athenian festival celebrated each year for the mother and the maiden, Persephone. This cult promised all its members a blissful afterlife.

The Importance of the Polis

> the preoccupations of Athenian citizens are central to comedy's themes.

> jokes are made at social / political / domestic matters

> comedy makes fun of daily life and makes fun of its members, regardless of class

Position and Role of Women

1. Tragedy teaches them

> there are a few female characters in Frogs - although women's place in society is still discussed

- Aeschylus: "you persuaded noble ladies, wives of noble husbands, to drink hemlock because they were ashamed of your Bellerophon" ('Stheneboeas' by Euripides)

- Aeschylus argues that this portrayal of women brings shame on the whole female sex, going as far as claiming it caused an epidemic of suicide

- adulterous women (like Stheneboeas) were dangerous to the citizen rights of children and husbands and so featured heavily in both tragedy and comedy - matter of serious concern

> Dionysus also claims that Euripides' own wife was adulterous, making him a laughing stock who is unable to avoid the same fate that befell his characters

2. Polemic presentation of them

> Sexual maid

> Panoceutria and Planthane

Political Ideas and Ideals

1. Written in a time of crisis and desperate fear

> Frogs was produced at a very dark time of crisis in Athens - the impending defeat from Sparta as they ran out of manpower and money - they were at risk of exile / death or imprisonment of the whole male population / enslavement of the children and women - very real danger

2. Nostalgia in Aeschylus

> Tone of nostalgia and returning to old ways in seen in the whole of the play - Dionysus' quest

- Aeschylus winning encapsulates a desire to return to virtues of the past

- current state of Athens: "shirkers and layabouts, the cheats and villains"

- he also refers to his play 'Persae' - a time when Greece was united against a mighty power and won

- Ruffell

3. Parabasis

> THE PARABASIS - nostalgia becomes political - the imagery of the coins / the foreign stock of Athenian generals

> Aristophanes specifically gives advice on the recalling of the citizens who ruled during the oligarchic coup of 411 - this advice must have been controversial as it support traitors of democracy.

- although the advice was followed the next year, after they lost the war.

- Cartledge

Role of Slaves

1. Xanthias and Dionysus

> Frogs generates humour from the boundary between slaves and citizens

- the relationship between Dionysus and Xanthias is one of competition and 'banter'.

> Xanthias overturns the idea that slaves are inferior to free men (and even gods) and openly calls Dionysus a "fool" - outwitting him with the Heracles costume frequently

> They both turn out to be equal in withstanding pain

- Cartledge - bold

2. Pluto's slave and Xanthias

- in talking to Pluto's slave he also shows how he constantly gets away with insubordinate behaviour.

> the intelligence and resilience of the slaves could just be a feature of comedy, inverting real life to parody - much like Dionysus as the fool - it is not calling for social change

> the conversation between Pluto's slave and Xanthias would have touched a nerve with the audience - they make allegiance to each other and talk about eavesdropping and cursing their masters - revelling in it almost sexually

3. The Plataean citizen/slaves

> However, the references to the Battle of Arginusae, and the freeing of the slaves being "the only sensible thing you've done!" parallels the blurred boundary in the play

Topic Review: How does Aristophanes present tragedy? How accurate do you think his parody is?

Topic Review: Is Dionysus in Frogs simply a figure of fun? Does he tell us anything about how the Athenians views their gods?

Topic Review: What picture of the underworld do we find in Frogs?

Topic Review: What sought of stereotypes do we find in Frogs about the roles people from social positions should adopt?