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The Wasps / The Poet and the Women / The Frogs
Aristophanes; tr. by David Barrett, Wasps, The; the Poet and the Women; the Frogs
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 423
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1874 people want to read
About the author
Aristophanes
2,079 books746 followersAristophanes (Greek: Αριστοφάνης; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
January 30, 2018
Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax!
August 6, 2020
fun!!! but not enough frogs
September 12, 2016
59. The Frogs and Other Plays (The Wasps & The Poet and the Women) by Aristophanes, translated by David Barrett
translation 1964
format: 217 page Penguin Classic paperback, 1966 re-print
acquired: 2006, from my neighbor
read: Sep 6-8
rating: 3½ stars
The play Frogs is a gem, and includes maybe the earliest literary criticism available, albeit done in humor. The other two plays were more like meh sitcoms, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood.
Greek comedy had a long history and even the tragic playwrights wrote raunchy, silly comedies in the form of satyr plays. But that's all lost. Aristophanes is the only representative of Old Greek Comedy remaining. We have eleven of his plays. In general they are raunchy and funny, but also have very serious points, even direct political advice for wartime Athens.
Wasps 422 bce
Aristophanes mocks on the Athenian leader at the time, Creon. Here an old father, named Procleon, is obsessed with being a juror in Athenian courts everyday. He only convicts. His wealthy son, named Anticleon, tries to curtail this obsession, even imprisoning Procleon in their home. The wasps are a group of old cranky jurors who come to bring Procleon to court. They form the chorus.
Aristophanes was somewhere around 20 years old when this was produced, which was very young for Athenian playwrights. That's maybe impressive or maybe just why the play seems immature. I never could really get into it.
The Poet and the Women 411 bce
(aka: Thesmophoriazusae, or Women at the Thesmophoria)
Euripides was famous for treating women poorly in his plays, even though he really has strong female roles. He made fun of this criticism of himself in his own plays. Here, Aristophanes plays on this idea in a ridiculous way. I can see this working well in performance.
Themophoria was an all-women religious ritual. Euripides is afraid because he heard the women are so upset about his treatment of women in his plays that they are going to work out revenge against him during the festival. He recruits an aged, and bearded in-law to dress as a woman, infiltrate the gathering and defend him. Things don't work out quite as planned.
Frogs 405 bce
By the time this play was performed Athens had all but lost the its 30-year war with Sparta. It is quite amazing that Athens still held this festivals for these comedies and even still allowed public criticism of the government within them...even if it is provided by a chorus of croaking frogs. (Aristophanes would continue to write plays after Athens did lose, but they no longer contain political criticism. It seems this was may no longer have been permitted. )
The depressing real world position of Athens makes this play quite meaningful and touching. Aristophanes was trying to be funny, and give his commentary, but how to find a form that would be watchable at this time? He seems to have pulled it off.
Sophocles and Euripides have passed away (in real life too) and left Athens without a poet to help them in their desperate need. The God Dionysos decides he must go down to Hades and bring Euripides back to Athens to save the city. (Silly elements include Dionysos's poor-luck assistant who must carry his gear, and the leopard coat he wears to disguise himself as Herakles. At one point, in the underworld, he tries to hire a corpse to carry his stuff - the corpse refuses.)
Instead of rescuing Euripides, Dionysos holds a competition between Euripides and Aeschylus to find which one is better to bring back and help Athens. Both playwrights read parts of their plays (some parts of which are otherwise lost) and then get judged. They both come out pretty badly, but Dionysos decides Athens needs old Aeschylus more and declares him the winner.
As for the frogs, they croak and give direct advice to Dionysos on how to help Athens, naming names.
translation 1964
format: 217 page Penguin Classic paperback, 1966 re-print
acquired: 2006, from my neighbor
read: Sep 6-8
rating: 3½ stars
The play Frogs is a gem, and includes maybe the earliest literary criticism available, albeit done in humor. The other two plays were more like meh sitcoms, or maybe I just wasn't in the mood.
Greek comedy had a long history and even the tragic playwrights wrote raunchy, silly comedies in the form of satyr plays. But that's all lost. Aristophanes is the only representative of Old Greek Comedy remaining. We have eleven of his plays. In general they are raunchy and funny, but also have very serious points, even direct political advice for wartime Athens.
Wasps 422 bce
Aristophanes mocks on the Athenian leader at the time, Creon. Here an old father, named Procleon, is obsessed with being a juror in Athenian courts everyday. He only convicts. His wealthy son, named Anticleon, tries to curtail this obsession, even imprisoning Procleon in their home. The wasps are a group of old cranky jurors who come to bring Procleon to court. They form the chorus.
Aristophanes was somewhere around 20 years old when this was produced, which was very young for Athenian playwrights. That's maybe impressive or maybe just why the play seems immature. I never could really get into it.
The Poet and the Women 411 bce
(aka: Thesmophoriazusae, or Women at the Thesmophoria)
Euripides was famous for treating women poorly in his plays, even though he really has strong female roles. He made fun of this criticism of himself in his own plays. Here, Aristophanes plays on this idea in a ridiculous way. I can see this working well in performance.
Themophoria was an all-women religious ritual. Euripides is afraid because he heard the women are so upset about his treatment of women in his plays that they are going to work out revenge against him during the festival. He recruits an aged, and bearded in-law to dress as a woman, infiltrate the gathering and defend him. Things don't work out quite as planned.
Frogs 405 bce
By the time this play was performed Athens had all but lost the its 30-year war with Sparta. It is quite amazing that Athens still held this festivals for these comedies and even still allowed public criticism of the government within them...even if it is provided by a chorus of croaking frogs. (Aristophanes would continue to write plays after Athens did lose, but they no longer contain political criticism. It seems this was may no longer have been permitted. )
The depressing real world position of Athens makes this play quite meaningful and touching. Aristophanes was trying to be funny, and give his commentary, but how to find a form that would be watchable at this time? He seems to have pulled it off.
Sophocles and Euripides have passed away (in real life too) and left Athens without a poet to help them in their desperate need. The God Dionysos decides he must go down to Hades and bring Euripides back to Athens to save the city. (Silly elements include Dionysos's poor-luck assistant who must carry his gear, and the leopard coat he wears to disguise himself as Herakles. At one point, in the underworld, he tries to hire a corpse to carry his stuff - the corpse refuses.)
Instead of rescuing Euripides, Dionysos holds a competition between Euripides and Aeschylus to find which one is better to bring back and help Athens. Both playwrights read parts of their plays (some parts of which are otherwise lost) and then get judged. They both come out pretty badly, but Dionysos decides Athens needs old Aeschylus more and declares him the winner.
As for the frogs, they croak and give direct advice to Dionysos on how to help Athens, naming names.
November 22, 2019
This is my first real review in forever. Yay!! I finally felt inspired enough and not too lazy to share my thoughts.
Frogs was my favorite. Then Wasps. Unfortunately, Women at the Thesmophoria doesn’t make the list.
Frogs had everything you could want, or, at least everything I could want in a play: Dionysus, the underworld, and two well established tragedians, Aeschylus and Euripides, taking shots at each other in death over whose writings are best. Old versus new. Oh, Sophocles and Plato were there too.
The same theme of old vs. new is present in Wasps, where Aristophanes has two generations, a father and son, come to blows over the very real political climate in Athens. Seeing that it’s a comedy, you giggle at the ridiculousness of what’s going on while at the same time recognizing it’s a stand in for Aristophanes’ frustration with a corrupt judicial/governmental system and those economically poor; ignorant people who blindly perpetuate the problem. A quite timely play, unfortunately.
As for Women at the Thesmophoria, I will say I didn’t absolutely hate it, but it was pretty lack luster for me. I won’t say insulting because if you’re reading ancient literature, you probably know there’s going to be misogyny, non-Greeks being referred to as “barbarians," and of course people owning slaves. Although, there was a part towards the end of Act I with the chorus leader and chorus I liked that gave some justice to the plight of women. It's quite long so these are just excerpts:
CHORUS LEADER
Have you heard of a woman who'd steal from the State
to the tune of a million or so,
Then ride in a coach with pockets distended,
Like one politician we know?
CHORUS
Well, you must admit it's true
That it's chiefly among you
That gluttons, thieves and criminals abound.
Have you heard of banditresses,
Let alone hijackeresses?
Are there many female pirates to be found?
Overall, the play was kind of interesting but it didn’t have as much meat to it like the others. I do find it funny though that Euripides is center stage again in Aristophanes’ play.
I'll mostly reread these plays in a different translation at some point because I while I know it can be incredibly difficult to translate ancient texts into English, the stand in English words felt far too modern in my opinion. I want to see how similar and different the translations are from each other and whether David Barrett did the most accurate job.
Frogs was my favorite. Then Wasps. Unfortunately, Women at the Thesmophoria doesn’t make the list.
Frogs had everything you could want, or, at least everything I could want in a play: Dionysus, the underworld, and two well established tragedians, Aeschylus and Euripides, taking shots at each other in death over whose writings are best. Old versus new. Oh, Sophocles and Plato were there too.
The same theme of old vs. new is present in Wasps, where Aristophanes has two generations, a father and son, come to blows over the very real political climate in Athens. Seeing that it’s a comedy, you giggle at the ridiculousness of what’s going on while at the same time recognizing it’s a stand in for Aristophanes’ frustration with a corrupt judicial/governmental system and those economically poor; ignorant people who blindly perpetuate the problem. A quite timely play, unfortunately.
As for Women at the Thesmophoria, I will say I didn’t absolutely hate it, but it was pretty lack luster for me. I won’t say insulting because if you’re reading ancient literature, you probably know there’s going to be misogyny, non-Greeks being referred to as “barbarians," and of course people owning slaves. Although, there was a part towards the end of Act I with the chorus leader and chorus I liked that gave some justice to the plight of women. It's quite long so these are just excerpts:
CHORUS LEADER
Have you heard of a woman who'd steal from the State
to the tune of a million or so,
Then ride in a coach with pockets distended,
Like one politician we know?
CHORUS
Well, you must admit it's true
That it's chiefly among you
That gluttons, thieves and criminals abound.
Have you heard of banditresses,
Let alone hijackeresses?
Are there many female pirates to be found?
Overall, the play was kind of interesting but it didn’t have as much meat to it like the others. I do find it funny though that Euripides is center stage again in Aristophanes’ play.
I'll mostly reread these plays in a different translation at some point because I while I know it can be incredibly difficult to translate ancient texts into English, the stand in English words felt far too modern in my opinion. I want to see how similar and different the translations are from each other and whether David Barrett did the most accurate job.
August 17, 2021
no I miss the frogs
August 11, 2024
actually genuinely hilarious
it felt so so modern like there’s no way that was written thousands of years ago
also i think it was just a really really good translation
it felt so so modern like there’s no way that was written thousands of years ago
also i think it was just a really really good translation
February 25, 2025
Shout out to aristophanes for writing a play in 405 BC that made me giggle in 2025 AD. Featuring such hits as:
“Dionysus: I don’t know how to explain. I’ll paraphrase a parable. Did you ever feel a sudden longing for baked beans?
Herakles: Baked beans? Gosh yes, that’s happened to me a million times.
Don’t need to expound baked beans to me. I get the point.”
and
“Dionysus: How's that again? Please be a bit more stupid, so I'll understand.”
“Dionysus: I don’t know how to explain. I’ll paraphrase a parable. Did you ever feel a sudden longing for baked beans?
Herakles: Baked beans? Gosh yes, that’s happened to me a million times.
Don’t need to expound baked beans to me. I get the point.”
and
“Dionysus: How's that again? Please be a bit more stupid, so I'll understand.”
June 9, 2024
I am slowly working my way through all eleven of Aristophanes' plays. I had already read three (and enjoyed them) before tackling this volume. All three were excellent, but for me THE FROGS stood out as my favourite. I loved the journey to the underworld conducted by the god Dionysus and his slave Xanthias and the entire political-philosophical point of the quest came across strongly across 2500 years. The verbal exchanges between the characters are still funny and the poetry slam between Aeschylus and Euripides is simply brilliant. Wonderful stuff!
June 10, 2025
I really enjoyed The Frogs, the only comedy I read from this set. It pitches Aeschylus vs Euripides in Hades as to who is the better playwright. It was witty, interesting, and not as crude as some of Aristophanes' other works. I'm really glad I read this one.
October 1, 2024
Aristophanes came along in my reading following extensive other readings of ancient Athenian history, heroes and gods throughout many works by Homer, Hesiod, Plutarch, Arrian, Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Ovid. Arriving to Aristophanes with such a knowledge of literary, political and mythical references, it is apparent Aristophanes can be paired well with Cervantes’ Don Quixote mirroring an exhaustion of heroic romances, or even a Greek version of a Dantean escatological interplay between life, an afterlife, and the divine. Aristophanes’ Old Comedy might be a useful source even to compare with Finnegans Wake for their burlesque bawdiness and polyvocal metrical complexity.
Structurally, I am still coming to terms with the complexities of Aristophanic comedy: parodos, agon, strophic pairs of choruses, parabasis, songs, iambic dialogue. I am not sure how well these can be translated but it seems Stephen Halliwell has done an excellent job in his 2015 translation of these works, and I am looking forward to reading his translations of the remaining eight comedies in two by additional volumes. These plays were grouped as the cultural plays (Clouds, Women of Thesmophoria, Frogs). The 1997 first volume included Birds, Lysistrata, The Assembly Women, Wealth, and the 2024 final volume the political plays: Acharnians, Knights, Wasps, Peace.
Clouds was where I had hoped to start coming off reading Plato’s early Socratic dialogues and Xenophon’s four Socratic dialogues. In fact, the order of reading was rather helpful, in particular Xenophon’s dialogue on estate management between Socrates and Ischomachus in Oeconomicus alongside Hesiod’s advice to farmers in his Works and Days.
In Clouds, the father and son incarnations of traditional and modern, Strepsiades and Pheidippides, intimate social tensions of political rhetoric of orators and sycophants (lawyers) in conflict with wealth as represented in land, money lending, aristocratic prestige, new models of education, and generational change. However, Aristophanes depiction of Socrates is so far off Aristotle’s, Plato’s and Xenophon’s likening that it becomes a helpful frame to understand other character adaptations. Herein, Socrates is an incontinent farting machine with oafish sophist teachings. There are only minor hints of the Platonic version, while Xenophon’s more common men of the city, like the estate owner Strepsiades, are heavily featured. The classic Agon I of Clouds is between Moral and Immoral, followed later in Agon II with between father and son, Strepsiades and Pheidippides.
The Women of Thesmophoria is by far the funniest of the three comedies. The Kinsman of Euripides is pure comic relief, and the conceit of the play is masterful. The premise of false gender identities, the maligning of engendered behaviors and practices, and of the infiltration of a women’s only Dionysian festival posits Agathon (one of the unique attendees in Plato’s Symposium and also a tragic playwright) and Euripides as equals in poetic promise yet polarized in appearance, age, and sexuality. The simple inclusion of Agathon here is an interesting selection.
Frogs is a play I first encountered through a performance on the Greek island of Spetses circa 1995. The wild choruses and phalli hanging from the protagonist shaped the ecstatic, cacophonous atmosphere of the outdoor amphitheater on a temperate summer night. At 11 or 12 years old, I hardly knew what tragedy was, and Frogs intellectual narratives and humor hardly touched me.
Now, I can appreciate these retellings of Heraclean (and even Ophic) labors with Dionysiac focus. The central Agon between Aeschlus (spelled Aischylos by Halliwell) and Euripides is a contest of who is to be the greatest poet to sit alongside Plato (spelled Plouton by Halliwell) after death in Hades. I actually found Euripides critic of Aeschylus’ repetition humorous, as well as Aeschylus’ attack of Euripides ubiquitous application of conveniently constructed devices (like his application of deus ex machina to conclude his plays) in any scene. A wholly worthy literary reflection on tragedy and poetic value to a society facing political collapse and destruction.
The fragments are the first I have read of any from the Greek Theater and they emphasize both the great loss of ancient genius as well as the astonishing luck to have any complete plays of Athenian tragedy and comedy remaining. The extensive titles and knowedge of their characters, themes and motifs greatly enhances an understanding of the pervasive 5th and 4th century literary contests in the late winter and spring festivals. Our fragmentary, incomplete awareness of the past sheds light on the fickleness of time and continuity, of our own time in light of an ancient renaissance, and the potential for humanity to transmit excellence across millennia.
Structurally, I am still coming to terms with the complexities of Aristophanic comedy: parodos, agon, strophic pairs of choruses, parabasis, songs, iambic dialogue. I am not sure how well these can be translated but it seems Stephen Halliwell has done an excellent job in his 2015 translation of these works, and I am looking forward to reading his translations of the remaining eight comedies in two by additional volumes. These plays were grouped as the cultural plays (Clouds, Women of Thesmophoria, Frogs). The 1997 first volume included Birds, Lysistrata, The Assembly Women, Wealth, and the 2024 final volume the political plays: Acharnians, Knights, Wasps, Peace.
Clouds was where I had hoped to start coming off reading Plato’s early Socratic dialogues and Xenophon’s four Socratic dialogues. In fact, the order of reading was rather helpful, in particular Xenophon’s dialogue on estate management between Socrates and Ischomachus in Oeconomicus alongside Hesiod’s advice to farmers in his Works and Days.
STREPSIADES. What I mentioned before: that immoral way of debating.
SOKRATES. But you need to learn other things first. Now here's an example:
Which animals rightly belong to the masculine gender?*
STREPSIADES. I know all the masculine ones. Any fool knows that!
The ram, the goat, the bull, the dog, and the cock-fowl.
SOKRATES. You see what you're doing? The word for cock you've used
Is the same one you always use for hens as well.
STREPSIADES. Is that really so?
SOKRATES. But of course: you say 'cock' for both.*
STREPSIADES. By Poseidon, that's right! Well, what should I say then instead?
In Clouds, the father and son incarnations of traditional and modern, Strepsiades and Pheidippides, intimate social tensions of political rhetoric of orators and sycophants (lawyers) in conflict with wealth as represented in land, money lending, aristocratic prestige, new models of education, and generational change. However, Aristophanes depiction of Socrates is so far off Aristotle’s, Plato’s and Xenophon’s likening that it becomes a helpful frame to understand other character adaptations. Herein, Socrates is an incontinent farting machine with oafish sophist teachings. There are only minor hints of the Platonic version, while Xenophon’s more common men of the city, like the estate owner Strepsiades, are heavily featured. The classic Agon I of Clouds is between Moral and Immoral, followed later in Agon II with between father and son, Strepsiades and Pheidippides.
MORAL. Come over here then! Show yourself
To the audience there. What an impudent thing!
IMMORAL. Go wherever you want! The bigger the crowd
The more I'll argue you into the ground.
MORAL. What you?
IMMORAL. With my words.
MORAL. But you're weaker than me.
IMMORAL. All the same I'll defeat
One who makes the claim that he's stronger than me.
MORAL. What's your clever trick then?
IMMORAL. I have new ideas I've discovered myself.
MORAL. Well such things only flourish
(gesturing at audience) On account of these idiots sitting in front of us here.
IMMORAL. But these people are clever.
The Women of Thesmophoria is by far the funniest of the three comedies. The Kinsman of Euripides is pure comic relief, and the conceit of the play is masterful. The premise of false gender identities, the maligning of engendered behaviors and practices, and of the infiltration of a women’s only Dionysian festival posits Agathon (one of the unique attendees in Plato’s Symposium and also a tragic playwright) and Euripides as equals in poetic promise yet polarized in appearance, age, and sexuality. The simple inclusion of Agathon here is an interesting selection.
AGATHON. There's no escaping the link. I've recognized this
And have pampered myself accordingly.
KINSMAN. But why?
EURIPIDES [to KINSMAN]. Stop yapping away. I used to be just the same
When I was the age he is and was starting to write.
KINSMAN. By Zeus I'm glad I wasn't brought up like you!
EURIPIDES. But let me explain the reason I've come.
KINSMAN.
Yes, tell him.
EURIPIDES. Agathon, 'it's the mark of a skilful man to know how
To compress a long speech with a fine concision of words?*
I've been struck down by a blow of fresh misfortune
And have come to you in supplication.
AGATHON. What for?
EURIPIDES. The women have plans to destroy my life today
At the Thesmophoria, because I slander them.
AGATHON. What kind of help do you think that I can give?
EURIPIDES. Every kind that I need! If you infiltrate the meeting
That the women are holding and look like a woman yourself,
You can speak in defence of me and save my life!
Only you can speak in a style that's worthy of me.
AGATHON. Why can't you go and present your own defence?
EURIPIDES. I'll tell you. For one thing, my face is known to all.
For another, my hair is grey and I'm bearded as well.
But your face is pretty, as pale as a woman's and shaved,
You've a woman's voice, you're soft-skinned, and lovely to look at.
AGATHON [hesitating]. Euripides—
Frogs is a play I first encountered through a performance on the Greek island of Spetses circa 1995. The wild choruses and phalli hanging from the protagonist shaped the ecstatic, cacophonous atmosphere of the outdoor amphitheater on a temperate summer night. At 11 or 12 years old, I hardly knew what tragedy was, and Frogs intellectual narratives and humor hardly touched me.
Now, I can appreciate these retellings of Heraclean (and even Ophic) labors with Dionysiac focus. The central Agon between Aeschlus (spelled Aischylos by Halliwell) and Euripides is a contest of who is to be the greatest poet to sit alongside Plato (spelled Plouton by Halliwell) after death in Hades. I actually found Euripides critic of Aeschylus’ repetition humorous, as well as Aeschylus’ attack of Euripides ubiquitous application of conveniently constructed devices (like his application of deus ex machina to conclude his plays) in any scene. A wholly worthy literary reflection on tragedy and poetic value to a society facing political collapse and destruction.
EURIPIDES. What nonsense you're talking. My prologues are beautifully written.
AISCHYLOS. I can't bear to continue this word-by-word dissection
Of every verse. With the help of the gods on my side I'll use a miniature oil-jar to rubbish your prologues.*
EURIPIDES. A miniature oil-jar to deal with my prologues?
AISCHYLOS. Just one.
Your style of writing means any old object will fit—
A fleecelet, a miniature oil-jar, a little old sack—
The iambic lines you compose. I'll show you at once.
EURIPIDES. Oh you will, will you?
AISCHYLOS. Yes.
EURIPIDES. All right then, listen to this.
'Aigyptos, so prevailing tradition relates,
With fifty sons traversed the sea by oar,
Put in to Argos and—*
AISCHYLOS. …lost his miniature oil-jar!
DIONYSOS. What's the point of the miniature oil-jar? It's damned annoying.
Recite him a further prologue let's see what it means.
EURIPIDES. ‘Dionysos, equipped with thyrso and wearing fawnskins,
Among the pine-trees down Parnassos's slopes
Went leaping in dance and—›*
AISCHYLOS. …lost his miniature oil-jar!
DIONYSOS. Oh no, he's struck us again with this miniature oil-jar!
EURIPIDES. I'm not concerned by that. Now here's a prologue
To which he won't be able to tag on an oil-jar.
‘No man exists who's happy in all respects.
Perhaps born noble he falls in penury's way.
Or low by birth—**
AISCHYLOS. …he loses his miniature oil-jar!
DIONYSOS [confidentially]. Euripides—
EURIPIDES. What's wrong?
The fragments are the first I have read of any from the Greek Theater and they emphasize both the great loss of ancient genius as well as the astonishing luck to have any complete plays of Athenian tragedy and comedy remaining. The extensive titles and knowedge of their characters, themes and motifs greatly enhances an understanding of the pervasive 5th and 4th century literary contests in the late winter and spring festivals. Our fragmentary, incomplete awareness of the past sheds light on the fickleness of time and continuity, of our own time in light of an ancient renaissance, and the potential for humanity to transmit excellence across millennia.
December 4, 2018
These dated translations, with occasional, cutesy Britishisms like "guvnor," don't do justice to this trilogy of plays by Aristophanes. At most, you get a glimpse of the comedy peeking through the dialogue of "The Wasps" and "The Frogs." More often, you're slogging through a leaden text for an unwanted class in Ancient Greek literature. "The Poet and the Women" was especially onerous to read but none of these plays conveyed the pleasure I'd previously found in his "Lysistrata" and "The Birds."
November 3, 2007
All I can remember about this was that Euripedes lost his oilcan. And someone made a movie out of it and used Frank Zappa in the soundtrack. It was a pretty bad movie.
August 13, 2022
Surprisingly 'modern', wickedly funny and brilliantly translated.
August 15, 2023
Wonderful little translation by David Barrett that keeps the Aristophanic tone, or rather, what it would sound like (though certainly not in the literal, phonetic sense, as these were all in sung verse! But having read many shitty Victorian English translations of Greek plays in Iambic verse, I guarantee you that this is a good thing) to the Athenian audience, by making it a sort of little ancient Monty Python. The song sections are translated like ballads even if, as Barrett himself admits, the genuine genius of Aristophanes as far as comic poetry is concerned cannot be replicated in any translation - the songs here being translated as ballads.
Comedy is very topical - and it was very topical too. With enough context, cultural and linguistic, lost, a joke can go from simply "no longer funny" to "outright incomprehensible gibberish", like the famous Sumerian bar dog joke (honestly I am fairly certain it was a dick joke). Because of this, ancient comedies, or at least even halfway decent editions of it, come with a entire military corps of footnotes and translator's notes. Having read shitty editions of Aristophanes' works, using public domain translations and containing no footnotes, I assure you you want them, because they're needed to even understand what's being talked about at time.
This is specially true of Aristophanes, because the man made constant references to other poets of the day, the the never-ending Peloponnesian war and its twists and turns, the deteriorating economic situation, the rule of demagogues, etc. That said, I am shocked at the amount of footnotes here - there are relatively few! not even reaching 150 for three plays! And they don't interrupt the reading much, while rarely was there reference to things I didn't know, though sometimes there were and I assume that these are simply things lost to time (sometimes these are noted, when they're more potentially pertinent, or the joke is specially obscure).
Unlike Aeschylus where I am a firm believer that you need to keep in verse, the high and lofty style, however you go about it notwithstanding, with Aristophanes not that much is lost with prose dialogue (except for the songs, of course). Instead of an overly literal translation, the dialogue here is more concerned with capturing the comedic finesse of the original: one bit has the characters speaking with a ridiculous amount of alliteration, and here obviously it's more important to capture that over "accurately" translating the Greek. Sometimes these can be weird - per example, the Scythian guard with an accent in Thesmophoriazusae is translated here as having a racist Italian-American accent. It seemed strange to me but then I also thought, well fuck, what else would you do here? Russian accent would maybe be better, but ayyyy those aren't so well captured in text.
Aristophanes, however, was not just doing shallow vulgar humor here, and he was very much willing to tackle, through comedy, the issues of his day: namely the never-ending war and the economic damage it was causing to most people, the critique of democracy and demagogy, the question of Alcibiades' return, etc. The Frogs, which one is tempted to consider the silliest one despite it being agreed back in its own day as his masterpiece, is probably the most sophisticated in this regard. Sophisticated, too, is how Aristophanes uses characters with opposing viewpoints, some correct here and others there, to make a nuanced point, dialectical rather than the "middle way" of mediocre brains - even if I don't always agree with him.
Ultimately this is a fantastic translation of three of Aristophanes' plays, but I am confused as to why only three were put together here considering the price of the usual paperback in the day. Only three? Come on now, the man has eleven surviving plays, this is just over a fourth! The page count reaches a measly 220 pages! They're not even thematically related. Well, whatever, in any case, I tell you this: Aristophanes still holds up, in fact, IF PROPERLY TRANSLATED, it holds up shockingly well, though in a live performance without the benefit of footnotes, I would guess that some script changes would have to be done, specially because most people would know not even the basics of Aristophanes' world and environment. That said, The Frogs has that musical adaptation from the 70s and which keeps being played - the music is certainly a bop - every other year so, if you don't trust me, just think that the play, in whatever mutated form, is still being played, making it one of the oldest ones around! In any case, the musical treatment would certainly be in the spirit for the Old Comedy originals, as they were played with grand music, costumes, dances, etc, high budgeted stuff.
All in all - really great version of these plays of Aristophanes, however I would wish for more of the corpus.
Comedy is very topical - and it was very topical too. With enough context, cultural and linguistic, lost, a joke can go from simply "no longer funny" to "outright incomprehensible gibberish", like the famous Sumerian bar dog joke (honestly I am fairly certain it was a dick joke). Because of this, ancient comedies, or at least even halfway decent editions of it, come with a entire military corps of footnotes and translator's notes. Having read shitty editions of Aristophanes' works, using public domain translations and containing no footnotes, I assure you you want them, because they're needed to even understand what's being talked about at time.
This is specially true of Aristophanes, because the man made constant references to other poets of the day, the the never-ending Peloponnesian war and its twists and turns, the deteriorating economic situation, the rule of demagogues, etc. That said, I am shocked at the amount of footnotes here - there are relatively few! not even reaching 150 for three plays! And they don't interrupt the reading much, while rarely was there reference to things I didn't know, though sometimes there were and I assume that these are simply things lost to time (sometimes these are noted, when they're more potentially pertinent, or the joke is specially obscure).
Unlike Aeschylus where I am a firm believer that you need to keep in verse, the high and lofty style, however you go about it notwithstanding, with Aristophanes not that much is lost with prose dialogue (except for the songs, of course). Instead of an overly literal translation, the dialogue here is more concerned with capturing the comedic finesse of the original: one bit has the characters speaking with a ridiculous amount of alliteration, and here obviously it's more important to capture that over "accurately" translating the Greek. Sometimes these can be weird - per example, the Scythian guard with an accent in Thesmophoriazusae is translated here as having a racist Italian-American accent. It seemed strange to me but then I also thought, well fuck, what else would you do here? Russian accent would maybe be better, but ayyyy those aren't so well captured in text.
Aristophanes, however, was not just doing shallow vulgar humor here, and he was very much willing to tackle, through comedy, the issues of his day: namely the never-ending war and the economic damage it was causing to most people, the critique of democracy and demagogy, the question of Alcibiades' return, etc. The Frogs, which one is tempted to consider the silliest one despite it being agreed back in its own day as his masterpiece, is probably the most sophisticated in this regard. Sophisticated, too, is how Aristophanes uses characters with opposing viewpoints, some correct here and others there, to make a nuanced point, dialectical rather than the "middle way" of mediocre brains - even if I don't always agree with him.
Ultimately this is a fantastic translation of three of Aristophanes' plays, but I am confused as to why only three were put together here considering the price of the usual paperback in the day. Only three? Come on now, the man has eleven surviving plays, this is just over a fourth! The page count reaches a measly 220 pages! They're not even thematically related. Well, whatever, in any case, I tell you this: Aristophanes still holds up, in fact, IF PROPERLY TRANSLATED, it holds up shockingly well, though in a live performance without the benefit of footnotes, I would guess that some script changes would have to be done, specially because most people would know not even the basics of Aristophanes' world and environment. That said, The Frogs has that musical adaptation from the 70s and which keeps being played - the music is certainly a bop - every other year so, if you don't trust me, just think that the play, in whatever mutated form, is still being played, making it one of the oldest ones around! In any case, the musical treatment would certainly be in the spirit for the Old Comedy originals, as they were played with grand music, costumes, dances, etc, high budgeted stuff.
All in all - really great version of these plays of Aristophanes, however I would wish for more of the corpus.
October 24, 2023
A hale lungful from the marble past!
Aristophanes' plays gain their momentum from exuberance rather than formal qualities. They scorn (anachronistically) Aristotelian poetics with wild verve by tarrying and meandering whenever they list, and they are absolutely packed with all types of humour from literary criticism and subtle, periodic allusion to arse volleys dwarfing the Last Trump. They are wildly inventive in the sense that they defy structure (though, as in the introduction to the Penguin edition shows, there is a flimsy framework to the plays), and so they refuse to sit still in any straight-forward manner: sometimes the characters break the fourth wall, sometimes they crack meta jokes, sometimes they lampoon people (dead or alive) directly, sometimes they launch on interminable ritual poems and so forth. Pythonesque would serve as a good synonym.
I've noticed that with Aristophanes, I did not so much laugh out loud as I felt a mirthful expansion within me—a wholesome, ad-hoc disposition to take in the world in one grand gesture of jest. The gall he had would definitely be frowned in today's artists, but with the millennia between me and him, I cannot help but admire his temerity. He would call living politicians catamites, and he would have the chorus berate the audience for not appreciating Clouds enough for the first prize! The carnival atmosphere of his plays simply smacks of Mardi Gras, and so Aristophanes could easily be considered a forerunner to the likes of Rabelais and Sterne, the liberated humourists par excellence.
Aristophanes' plays gain their momentum from exuberance rather than formal qualities. They scorn (anachronistically) Aristotelian poetics with wild verve by tarrying and meandering whenever they list, and they are absolutely packed with all types of humour from literary criticism and subtle, periodic allusion to arse volleys dwarfing the Last Trump. They are wildly inventive in the sense that they defy structure (though, as in the introduction to the Penguin edition shows, there is a flimsy framework to the plays), and so they refuse to sit still in any straight-forward manner: sometimes the characters break the fourth wall, sometimes they crack meta jokes, sometimes they lampoon people (dead or alive) directly, sometimes they launch on interminable ritual poems and so forth. Pythonesque would serve as a good synonym.
I've noticed that with Aristophanes, I did not so much laugh out loud as I felt a mirthful expansion within me—a wholesome, ad-hoc disposition to take in the world in one grand gesture of jest. The gall he had would definitely be frowned in today's artists, but with the millennia between me and him, I cannot help but admire his temerity. He would call living politicians catamites, and he would have the chorus berate the audience for not appreciating Clouds enough for the first prize! The carnival atmosphere of his plays simply smacks of Mardi Gras, and so Aristophanes could easily be considered a forerunner to the likes of Rabelais and Sterne, the liberated humourists par excellence.
June 12, 2020
The Frogs and Other Plays covers two different books: by Penguin & Oxford, containing different sets of plays. Oxford (all by Halliwell) is more of a "paraphrase" translation; Penguin (by Barrett in this case, and Somerstein in the other two volumes) is (slightly) more of an "imitation" translation. If you're serious about Aristophanes, then you should maybe get both. But if you want to read just one version, get the Penguin editions.
2019-2020 didn't exactly go according to plan, but discovering Aristophanes was one of its bright spots.
2019-2020 didn't exactly go according to plan, but discovering Aristophanes was one of its bright spots.
April 6, 2022
You probably won’t laugh out loud unless you really hate Socrates.
Read
February 8, 2023I'm surprised I like clouds more than frogs tbh.
Read
July 23, 2023Euripides is annoying
October 31, 2024
Really held up over time !
December 31, 2024
the camp dionysus representation we deserve. "high heeled boots and saffron negligee" go off king.
March 25, 2025
Tehehe funny jokes
August 3, 2022
surprisingly enjoyable comedy, chortled a few times!
February 7, 2026
🎭 Wasps (422 BCE)
📋 Critical methods: historicism; formalism; structuralism; character criticism.
🧱 As with most of the (surviving) plays of Aristophanes, Wasps is concerned with contemporary social and political issues. It was produced 9 years into the (Second) Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). It formally conforms to the conventions of construction (prologue, parados, stichomythic conflict, agōn debate, Chorus parabasis, epilogue).
🎨 The play is structured into two parts:
• first two-thirds: the abuse of the Athenian judicial system, particularly by the demagogue Cleon, in power at the time of production (422 BCE);
• last third: a comedy of manners, where:
o the progressive son, Bdelycleon (meaning ‘Cleon-loather’) tries to reform
o the conservative father Philocleon (meaning ‘Clean-lover’).
—Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays (-405; Penguin Classics, 2007), Dutta, Shomit: ‘Preface to Wasps, p.4.
👤 Philocleon is depicted as simple and old-fashioned, his capers illustrated by his first appearance, a slapstick scene, popping up from different places in the house, in his attempt to escape and run off to his juror post. Philocleon is a composite of later Roman stock characters, the clown, the parasite, the miser, the lustful old man.
🧱 The travesty of the Athenian judicial system is enacted in a scene of farce, the trial of the dog Labes in Philocleon’s kitchen, with kitchen utensils as witnesses. The comparison with animals makes the play a ‘little fable’ (a short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point, employing animals as characters that speak and act like humans). The dog is Cleon, the kitchen utensils the citizens of Athens, willingly giving their consenting voice to the demagogue.
The opening vignette of the two slaves and the master chasing about the outside of the house catching the old man as he attempts various forms of escape, through the rooftiles, under a donkey (like Odysseus escaping the Cyclops), all the while making a string of bad jokes, is high slapstick. Read, this a series of visual gags, and we cannot help but associate Philocleon’s simplicity with that of the donkey; performed live, this must have been trebly amusing, a kind of vaudeville.
🎶 The Chorus is a gang of old jurymen, dressed as wasps, replete with stings in their tails, and tattered jurymen’s cloaks. The Chorus express their remonstrance at the incarceration of Philocleon in shouting accusations, ‘Outrageous. It’s a threat to democracy!’, ‘Traitor! Conspirator!’ (343/5).
🪜 The prelude to the agōn is a broken stichomythic exchange (524-44) of antilabe—the breaking of a line between two speakers, usually effecting a naturalness—combined with an amoibaion—sung alternating parts between actors and Chorus/Leader—both deploying and satirizing conventional elements and clever rhetorical devices. Its sing-song style sends up the dramatic conflict such stylistic techniques typically deploy in tragedy—effecting the ludicrousness of farce. We are primed for the formal debate (ll.547-759), which conforms to the structure of the agōn, with ode (opening Chorus stanza) to sphragis (Chorus announcement of Bdelycleon as victor).
🧱 Aristophanes’ use of high farce and satire in the surreal mock trial scene of topical allusion, with kitchen utensils for witnesses and court paraphernalia, both exemplifies the simplicity of Philocleon and mocks the practice in court. The plaintiff First Dog is from the deme (district) of Cleon and referred to as a watchdog (971)—Cleon styled himself the ‘Watchdog of Athens’ (Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Notes to Wasps, n.82, p.199). The defendant Second Dog, Labes, is phonetically akin to a Laches, a soldier and rival politician who had served in Sicily, accused by Cleon of financial irregularities. The rare use of the aside by Bdelycleon both accentuates the surreality of the scene and elicits the complicity of the audience in his didactic. The scene is replete with visual gags and crudity. In the final third of the play (Act 2), the comedy of manners, Bdelycleon’s attempt at teaching Philocleon how to behave in refined social circles backfires with comic consequences.
🪜 Aristophanes structures his fable with slapstick and formal construction, farce and poetry, satire and parody, didactic and comedy of manners, symbolism and metonymy. He has two opposing protagonists, the third actor an off-stage real-life character portrayed as a dog. He has two clever slaves (a stock character of later Roman comedy), and two dogs as parties in his mock trial. He uses identifiers to signify symbolic social systems, as the judicial system represented democratic Athens. His satirical attack is on the audience, the citizens of Athens, as much as on its corrupt leader. The epimythium—the summary of the inherent moral of a fable at the end of the narrative, functioning as an epilogue—by the Chorus is open-ended: the conclusion, it seems, is up to its audience.
🎭 Women at the Thesmophoria (Thesmophoriazusae; 411 BCE)
📋 Critical methods: historicism; formalism; mythology/religion; gender.
📜 Women is the least polemical play by Aristophanes, coming at a time when, in 411 BCE, Athens had been taken over by oligarchic rule after the disastrous Sicilian expedition—while it only lasted a year, it was perhaps the wrong time to be too openly critical politically. The play’s humour derives from its plot—the women of Athens wish revenge against Euripides for denigrating them so disrespectfully—and its cross-dressing—most of the men in the play disguise themselves as women—as well as its parody of three of Euripides’ plays: Telephus (438, lost, first half; Helen, 412, Andromeda, 412, lost, second half). While the play’s principal is ostensibly Euripides, and the deuteragonist Mnesilochus, the latter has the bigger part—as the Scythian constable, a parody of the ‘barbarian’, points out (l.1114).
The Thesmophoria was a festival in honour of the goddess Demeter (entitled Thesmophoros, ‘Bringer of Law’) and her daughter Persephone (or Kore). It was held at sowing time, its primary purpose being to ensure the fertility of the earth and the city’s women. Men were strictly excluded and details of the rites were guarded carefully.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.73.
⯢ Thus we see the continuation of the rituals of the tribal nymph and Mother-Goddess of prehistory in the festivals devoted to Demeter and fertility (Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: 1 (1955; Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1960), ‘Introduction’, pp.13-15; ‘24: Demeter’s Nature and Deeds’, esp. nn.1-3, pp.89-96). Originally, in Hellenic prehistory, the Mother-Goddess was a Triple-Goddess, a triad, in ‘spring a maiden, summer a nymph, winter a crone’, as ‘the maiden of the upper air, the nymph of the earth or sea, the crone of the underworld’, ‘typified respectively as Selene, Aphrodite, and Hecate’, but also in other combinations (Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ‘Introduction’, p.14). One manifestation of this Triple-Goddess is Hera, Demeter and Kore (Persephone):
Core’s abduction by Hades forms part of the myth in which the Hellenic trinity of gods forcibly marry the pre-Hellenistic Triple-goddess—Zeus, Hera; Zeus or Poseidon, Demeter; Hades, Core [...]. It refers to male usurpation of the female agricultural mysteries in primitive times.
—Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ’12: Hera and Her Children’, n.1, p.51; ’24: Demeter’s Nature and Deeds’, n.3, p.93.
The Women of the Thesmophoria’s secret rites and protests are thus invested with a deeper significance than the superficial comedy suggests—their claim runs deeper than those of men, as far back as the matriarchal societies of prehistory, before the times of male-dominated monarchic societies. In their worship at the Thesmophoria, they honour Demeter and Persephone (Core) (ll.287-8). In the early tradition, these may be two aspects of the Triple-Goddess, probably along with Hera, the pre-Hellenic Great-Goddess, or Rhea, mother of several Olympians, the Earth-Goddess, or Themis, the Great-Goddess of the (two) seasons (summer and winter)—all of whom are connected with the fertility of nature (Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ’13: Zeus and Hera’, n.2, pp.54-5). The seller of garlands may represent the maiden, Echo the (mountain) nymph, and Mica, the old Athenian woman, the crone.
👤 The play’s characters thus include three aspects of the Triple-Goddess, two tragedians, Euripides and his younger contemporary Agathon, the irreverent old man (lustful old man), the clever slave, and the women of Athens, its Chorus. There is design in these significant roles. Mnesilochus, Euripides’ unwilling old friend, is not merely irreverent, he’s downright abusive, lambasting homosexuality (Agathon), cataloguing women’s alleged indiscretions (Chorus of Athenian women), championing the abusive old man where he should be defending his friend’s credit (Euripides). His use of the aside and soliloquy heightens the comedic squabbling. The farce is that he is utterly antithetical to his intended purpose with every utterance he makes at the Thesmophoria, and, in danger of his own life, needs to be rescued by the friend he is supposed to be rescuing.
🎶 The Chorus’s parados (entry-song, ll. 298-371) is modelled on the opening of the Athenian Assembly and is both a prayer to the various gods and a humorous series of curse formulae declaiming enemies and traitors, focussing on Euripides.
🪜 The agōn, the debate (372-530), is suitably fitting to the location and purpose of the meeting, between Mica, the crone, presenting the case against Euripides, and Mnesilochus, disguised as a woman, speaking on behalf of Euripides. Besides having two women alternately speaking against Euripides, with Mnesilochus in reply, it roughly follows the formal structure of ode, opening stanza, to sphragis, seal, result (Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Introduction’, pp.xxix-xxx).
⚧ The ideational joke is, of course, that a man disguised as a woman has ferreted himself inside a secret women’s meeting. The oration is not of a high quality—it continues a crude bawdiness introduced from the start, where homosexually is flagrantly scorned (158-60, 200-1, 206, 211)—consisting of a series of complaints against Euripides, and the response, supposed to be in favour of Euripides, paints him with even more taint, each example of his omission of women’s alleged infidelities a further insult to the women. But the women have had enough of this abuse:
CHORUS-LEADER:
It’s time we women stood up for ourselves,
and glorified the name
Which graces a gender that none much praise
and all and sundry blame. (ll.784-5).
The irony—a prominent aspect of Euripides’ plays—is that Euripides, a progressive, championed the woman’s cause in many of his plays, while having several as heroines, and almost all of his choruses were women slaves, highlighting their plight as both women and captives. Aristophanes’ pet joke was both to pretend to send up the tragic playwright while emphasizing his merits nonetheless (here, Frogs).
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.74.
🧱 The cross-dressing trope—the ruse to get Mnesilochus into the Thesmophoria to influence the women from their vendetta against Euripides—is one which sees its way into Elizabethan Drama in plays such as Lyly’s Galatea (1585), Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1591-2), The Merchant of Venice (1596-7), As You Like It (1599-1600), and Twelfth Night (1601)—though in these cases the women are dressed as men to expedite their objectives. Here, the men dressing as women brings low comedy, with the additional subtext that all the female characters of the Greek stage are played by men, as well. In those plays, the cross-dressed heroines subvert patriarchal structures and gain access to male-dominated spaces, thereby asserting their autonomy and agency; in Women, this is reversed: the males gain access to forbidden female spaces and secret activities, thus subverting their agency.
Women abounds both in verbal and visual humour. It seamlessly blends highbrow parody of tragedy and reflexive theatrical games with decidedly lowbrow slapstick and transvestitism. While it may lack the political bite and urgency of many of his other comedies, it is nonetheless—without doubt—one of his most entertaining plays.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.74.
🎭 Frogs (405 BCE)
📋 Critical methods: formalism; structuralism; character criticism.
Frogs (Batrakhoi) relates the ‘amusing adventures of Dionysus, the patron deity of the theater’, and his slave Xanthias, on their way to Pluto’s court in Hades to hld an elaborate trial to ‘determine whether Euripides or Aeschylus deserved the master’s chair in tragic poetry’. Euripides is attacked, standing for all the new outlooks Aristophanes deplored, and Aeschylus emerges the victor (Aeschylus; Sophocles; Euripides; Aristophanes, Greek Drama (458 BCE, New York: Bantam Classic, 2006), Hadas, Moses: Aristophanes: Frogs, Introduction, p.322).
[A]s a piece of sophisticated literary criticism about tragedy, the preposterous contest between Aeschylus and Euripides in Frogs is no less valuable than Aristotle’s Poetics.
—Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays (-405; Penguin Classics, 2007), Dutta, Shomit, ‘Introduction’, pp.xi, xv.
🪜 Frogs is delivered in quick-fire jokes and responses that include silly one-liners and a series of irreverent in-jokes, both of cultural personages (playwrights, politicians, heroes) and the gods—since the lead is one. Its metatheatrical self-consciousness (l.784, 808) involves its audience (and readership) in its playful theme.
Frogs is fun, Frogs is funny, from the moment Dionysus, dressed in a lion-skin, over his silken robes, thus ‘disguised’ as Heracles, and his servant Xanthias, on an ass, ungratefully bearing their load, head to the house of the hero, who knows the ways to Hell, having gone there on his twelfth labour to capture Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding its entrance (Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: 2 (1955, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984), ‘134: The Twelfth Labour: The Capture of Cerberus’, pp.152-8). Heracles is irreverent when Dionysus asks the best way to Hell, poo-pooing the god’s reason for going there to pick up Euripides—for there are poets a-plenty still vying for the coveted prize. When asked why not bring back Sophocles instead of Euripides—the question that occurs to his audience:
Because I want to test young Iophon,
And see what he can do all by himself.
Besides, Euripides, the clever rogue,
Would aid my kidnap scheme; while Sophocles,
Gentleman always, is a gentleman still.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.327; Ibid. Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta, ll.79-83.
✍️ Iophon, son of Sophocles, was a contemporary Athenian tragic poet. He tried to secure his father’s wealth, claiming he was not of sound mind, to which Sophocles read out a passage of the Chorus of Oedipus at Colonus, which he was writing at the time, proving that he was.
🧱 🎶 The play has two choruses, a Chorus of Frogs—naturally—who reminisce about pastures wet while Dionysus rows Charon’s boat across the bottomless lake towards the Gate of Hell, and a Chorus of Blessed Mystics, who greet him on the other side, and sing a long stasimon riffing on politicians and parvenus, corruption and taxes, while slipping in comments on dramatic devices and rhetoric. Frogs also contains scenes of the comedy of manners, a subgenre of Old Comedy:
The double-act in the first half of Frogs with Dionysus as dim-witted master and Xanthias as clever slave anticipates the kind of situation-based social comedy that occurs throughout New (and Roman) Comedy, as does the ‘below-stairs’ scene in which Xanthias and Pluto’s slave gossip about their masters.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Introduction’, p.xxiii.
🪜 Dionysus hosts a battle of wits between Aeschylus and Euripides to claim the prize as the greatest of poets. Aeschylus is accused by Euripides of using grand words with obscure imagery, ‘Swollen with bombast, corpulent with verbal ponderosity’ (p.358). Aeschylus avers: ‘Our earliest civilization / We owe to the poets, who helped us escape from the laws of barbaric society’ (p.262). He concludes:
Great words are begotten to match great thoughts.
Sublimity speaks in the high style.
Then too it is right that a hero of drama should use words larger than ours.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.327.
Both claim patriotic contributions of differing kinds: Aeschylus, through his championing of Greek heroes, claims he made the state proud of warlike feats, ready for battle; Euripides that he taught Athenian democracy to ‘reason, [to] discriminate, / And everything investigate’ (p.360):
By choosing themes that were concerned with everyday reality,
I taught them how to criticize a play with rationality,
Their sober reason undisturbed by mere theatricality.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.359.
👤 Dionysus is delighted by the one, who is clever if not always immediately clear, the other clever and clear—much like the harangue of words criticising each other’s diction, meters, melody, rhetoric, imagery, themes and doctrines. In the match, both acquit themselves well—and Dionysus resorts to the use of a set of scales to weigh their verse-making. But Pluto will allow only one to be taken back. Dionysus chooses Aeschylus: ‘him I choose in whom my soul delights’ (p.376). Euripides is outraged. But Euripides will not be lonely; Sophocles, his contemporary and competitor, who had gracefully opted out of the contest, remains behind—now promoted to the master’s chair, which he had renounced, by Aeschylus.
If we were to hypothesize some kind of overall artistic purpose behind Frogs, [...] it might be twofold. First, the play seems to canonize Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles as the greatest exponents of tragedy. [...] Secondly, Frogs both analyses and exemplifies what is best about Old Comedy [...].
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Frogs’, p.130.
Frogs is a clever play, and we recognise many of the humourous references, but are stretched to understand all of its references—as would its Athenian audience have been:
Not only is a huge audience in a mood of merrymaking expected to recognize allusions to numerous particular plays, but it is expected to be amused by technical literary criticism.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes: ‘Frogs, Introduction’, p.322.
📋 Critical methods: historicism; formalism; structuralism; character criticism.
🧱 As with most of the (surviving) plays of Aristophanes, Wasps is concerned with contemporary social and political issues. It was produced 9 years into the (Second) Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). It formally conforms to the conventions of construction (prologue, parados, stichomythic conflict, agōn debate, Chorus parabasis, epilogue).
🎨 The play is structured into two parts:
• first two-thirds: the abuse of the Athenian judicial system, particularly by the demagogue Cleon, in power at the time of production (422 BCE);
• last third: a comedy of manners, where:
o the progressive son, Bdelycleon (meaning ‘Cleon-loather’) tries to reform
o the conservative father Philocleon (meaning ‘Clean-lover’).
—Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays (-405; Penguin Classics, 2007), Dutta, Shomit: ‘Preface to Wasps, p.4.
👤 Philocleon is depicted as simple and old-fashioned, his capers illustrated by his first appearance, a slapstick scene, popping up from different places in the house, in his attempt to escape and run off to his juror post. Philocleon is a composite of later Roman stock characters, the clown, the parasite, the miser, the lustful old man.
🧱 The travesty of the Athenian judicial system is enacted in a scene of farce, the trial of the dog Labes in Philocleon’s kitchen, with kitchen utensils as witnesses. The comparison with animals makes the play a ‘little fable’ (a short narrative making an edifying or cautionary point, employing animals as characters that speak and act like humans). The dog is Cleon, the kitchen utensils the citizens of Athens, willingly giving their consenting voice to the demagogue.
The opening vignette of the two slaves and the master chasing about the outside of the house catching the old man as he attempts various forms of escape, through the rooftiles, under a donkey (like Odysseus escaping the Cyclops), all the while making a string of bad jokes, is high slapstick. Read, this a series of visual gags, and we cannot help but associate Philocleon’s simplicity with that of the donkey; performed live, this must have been trebly amusing, a kind of vaudeville.
🎶 The Chorus is a gang of old jurymen, dressed as wasps, replete with stings in their tails, and tattered jurymen’s cloaks. The Chorus express their remonstrance at the incarceration of Philocleon in shouting accusations, ‘Outrageous. It’s a threat to democracy!’, ‘Traitor! Conspirator!’ (343/5).
🪜 The prelude to the agōn is a broken stichomythic exchange (524-44) of antilabe—the breaking of a line between two speakers, usually effecting a naturalness—combined with an amoibaion—sung alternating parts between actors and Chorus/Leader—both deploying and satirizing conventional elements and clever rhetorical devices. Its sing-song style sends up the dramatic conflict such stylistic techniques typically deploy in tragedy—effecting the ludicrousness of farce. We are primed for the formal debate (ll.547-759), which conforms to the structure of the agōn, with ode (opening Chorus stanza) to sphragis (Chorus announcement of Bdelycleon as victor).
🧱 Aristophanes’ use of high farce and satire in the surreal mock trial scene of topical allusion, with kitchen utensils for witnesses and court paraphernalia, both exemplifies the simplicity of Philocleon and mocks the practice in court. The plaintiff First Dog is from the deme (district) of Cleon and referred to as a watchdog (971)—Cleon styled himself the ‘Watchdog of Athens’ (Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Notes to Wasps, n.82, p.199). The defendant Second Dog, Labes, is phonetically akin to a Laches, a soldier and rival politician who had served in Sicily, accused by Cleon of financial irregularities. The rare use of the aside by Bdelycleon both accentuates the surreality of the scene and elicits the complicity of the audience in his didactic. The scene is replete with visual gags and crudity. In the final third of the play (Act 2), the comedy of manners, Bdelycleon’s attempt at teaching Philocleon how to behave in refined social circles backfires with comic consequences.
🪜 Aristophanes structures his fable with slapstick and formal construction, farce and poetry, satire and parody, didactic and comedy of manners, symbolism and metonymy. He has two opposing protagonists, the third actor an off-stage real-life character portrayed as a dog. He has two clever slaves (a stock character of later Roman comedy), and two dogs as parties in his mock trial. He uses identifiers to signify symbolic social systems, as the judicial system represented democratic Athens. His satirical attack is on the audience, the citizens of Athens, as much as on its corrupt leader. The epimythium—the summary of the inherent moral of a fable at the end of the narrative, functioning as an epilogue—by the Chorus is open-ended: the conclusion, it seems, is up to its audience.
🎭 Women at the Thesmophoria (Thesmophoriazusae; 411 BCE)
📋 Critical methods: historicism; formalism; mythology/religion; gender.
📜 Women is the least polemical play by Aristophanes, coming at a time when, in 411 BCE, Athens had been taken over by oligarchic rule after the disastrous Sicilian expedition—while it only lasted a year, it was perhaps the wrong time to be too openly critical politically. The play’s humour derives from its plot—the women of Athens wish revenge against Euripides for denigrating them so disrespectfully—and its cross-dressing—most of the men in the play disguise themselves as women—as well as its parody of three of Euripides’ plays: Telephus (438, lost, first half; Helen, 412, Andromeda, 412, lost, second half). While the play’s principal is ostensibly Euripides, and the deuteragonist Mnesilochus, the latter has the bigger part—as the Scythian constable, a parody of the ‘barbarian’, points out (l.1114).
The Thesmophoria was a festival in honour of the goddess Demeter (entitled Thesmophoros, ‘Bringer of Law’) and her daughter Persephone (or Kore). It was held at sowing time, its primary purpose being to ensure the fertility of the earth and the city’s women. Men were strictly excluded and details of the rites were guarded carefully.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.73.
⯢ Thus we see the continuation of the rituals of the tribal nymph and Mother-Goddess of prehistory in the festivals devoted to Demeter and fertility (Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: 1 (1955; Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1960), ‘Introduction’, pp.13-15; ‘24: Demeter’s Nature and Deeds’, esp. nn.1-3, pp.89-96). Originally, in Hellenic prehistory, the Mother-Goddess was a Triple-Goddess, a triad, in ‘spring a maiden, summer a nymph, winter a crone’, as ‘the maiden of the upper air, the nymph of the earth or sea, the crone of the underworld’, ‘typified respectively as Selene, Aphrodite, and Hecate’, but also in other combinations (Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ‘Introduction’, p.14). One manifestation of this Triple-Goddess is Hera, Demeter and Kore (Persephone):
Core’s abduction by Hades forms part of the myth in which the Hellenic trinity of gods forcibly marry the pre-Hellenistic Triple-goddess—Zeus, Hera; Zeus or Poseidon, Demeter; Hades, Core [...]. It refers to male usurpation of the female agricultural mysteries in primitive times.
—Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ’12: Hera and Her Children’, n.1, p.51; ’24: Demeter’s Nature and Deeds’, n.3, p.93.
The Women of the Thesmophoria’s secret rites and protests are thus invested with a deeper significance than the superficial comedy suggests—their claim runs deeper than those of men, as far back as the matriarchal societies of prehistory, before the times of male-dominated monarchic societies. In their worship at the Thesmophoria, they honour Demeter and Persephone (Core) (ll.287-8). In the early tradition, these may be two aspects of the Triple-Goddess, probably along with Hera, the pre-Hellenic Great-Goddess, or Rhea, mother of several Olympians, the Earth-Goddess, or Themis, the Great-Goddess of the (two) seasons (summer and winter)—all of whom are connected with the fertility of nature (Ibid. Graves, The Greek Myths: 1, ’13: Zeus and Hera’, n.2, pp.54-5). The seller of garlands may represent the maiden, Echo the (mountain) nymph, and Mica, the old Athenian woman, the crone.
👤 The play’s characters thus include three aspects of the Triple-Goddess, two tragedians, Euripides and his younger contemporary Agathon, the irreverent old man (lustful old man), the clever slave, and the women of Athens, its Chorus. There is design in these significant roles. Mnesilochus, Euripides’ unwilling old friend, is not merely irreverent, he’s downright abusive, lambasting homosexuality (Agathon), cataloguing women’s alleged indiscretions (Chorus of Athenian women), championing the abusive old man where he should be defending his friend’s credit (Euripides). His use of the aside and soliloquy heightens the comedic squabbling. The farce is that he is utterly antithetical to his intended purpose with every utterance he makes at the Thesmophoria, and, in danger of his own life, needs to be rescued by the friend he is supposed to be rescuing.
🎶 The Chorus’s parados (entry-song, ll. 298-371) is modelled on the opening of the Athenian Assembly and is both a prayer to the various gods and a humorous series of curse formulae declaiming enemies and traitors, focussing on Euripides.
🪜 The agōn, the debate (372-530), is suitably fitting to the location and purpose of the meeting, between Mica, the crone, presenting the case against Euripides, and Mnesilochus, disguised as a woman, speaking on behalf of Euripides. Besides having two women alternately speaking against Euripides, with Mnesilochus in reply, it roughly follows the formal structure of ode, opening stanza, to sphragis, seal, result (Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Introduction’, pp.xxix-xxx).
⚧ The ideational joke is, of course, that a man disguised as a woman has ferreted himself inside a secret women’s meeting. The oration is not of a high quality—it continues a crude bawdiness introduced from the start, where homosexually is flagrantly scorned (158-60, 200-1, 206, 211)—consisting of a series of complaints against Euripides, and the response, supposed to be in favour of Euripides, paints him with even more taint, each example of his omission of women’s alleged infidelities a further insult to the women. But the women have had enough of this abuse:
CHORUS-LEADER:
It’s time we women stood up for ourselves,
and glorified the name
Which graces a gender that none much praise
and all and sundry blame. (ll.784-5).
The irony—a prominent aspect of Euripides’ plays—is that Euripides, a progressive, championed the woman’s cause in many of his plays, while having several as heroines, and almost all of his choruses were women slaves, highlighting their plight as both women and captives. Aristophanes’ pet joke was both to pretend to send up the tragic playwright while emphasizing his merits nonetheless (here, Frogs).
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.74.
🧱 The cross-dressing trope—the ruse to get Mnesilochus into the Thesmophoria to influence the women from their vendetta against Euripides—is one which sees its way into Elizabethan Drama in plays such as Lyly’s Galatea (1585), Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1591-2), The Merchant of Venice (1596-7), As You Like It (1599-1600), and Twelfth Night (1601)—though in these cases the women are dressed as men to expedite their objectives. Here, the men dressing as women brings low comedy, with the additional subtext that all the female characters of the Greek stage are played by men, as well. In those plays, the cross-dressed heroines subvert patriarchal structures and gain access to male-dominated spaces, thereby asserting their autonomy and agency; in Women, this is reversed: the males gain access to forbidden female spaces and secret activities, thus subverting their agency.
Women abounds both in verbal and visual humour. It seamlessly blends highbrow parody of tragedy and reflexive theatrical games with decidedly lowbrow slapstick and transvestitism. While it may lack the political bite and urgency of many of his other comedies, it is nonetheless—without doubt—one of his most entertaining plays.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Women at the Thesmophoria’, p.74.
🎭 Frogs (405 BCE)
📋 Critical methods: formalism; structuralism; character criticism.
Frogs (Batrakhoi) relates the ‘amusing adventures of Dionysus, the patron deity of the theater’, and his slave Xanthias, on their way to Pluto’s court in Hades to hld an elaborate trial to ‘determine whether Euripides or Aeschylus deserved the master’s chair in tragic poetry’. Euripides is attacked, standing for all the new outlooks Aristophanes deplored, and Aeschylus emerges the victor (Aeschylus; Sophocles; Euripides; Aristophanes, Greek Drama (458 BCE, New York: Bantam Classic, 2006), Hadas, Moses: Aristophanes: Frogs, Introduction, p.322).
[A]s a piece of sophisticated literary criticism about tragedy, the preposterous contest between Aeschylus and Euripides in Frogs is no less valuable than Aristotle’s Poetics.
—Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays (-405; Penguin Classics, 2007), Dutta, Shomit, ‘Introduction’, pp.xi, xv.
🪜 Frogs is delivered in quick-fire jokes and responses that include silly one-liners and a series of irreverent in-jokes, both of cultural personages (playwrights, politicians, heroes) and the gods—since the lead is one. Its metatheatrical self-consciousness (l.784, 808) involves its audience (and readership) in its playful theme.
Frogs is fun, Frogs is funny, from the moment Dionysus, dressed in a lion-skin, over his silken robes, thus ‘disguised’ as Heracles, and his servant Xanthias, on an ass, ungratefully bearing their load, head to the house of the hero, who knows the ways to Hell, having gone there on his twelfth labour to capture Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding its entrance (Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: 2 (1955, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984), ‘134: The Twelfth Labour: The Capture of Cerberus’, pp.152-8). Heracles is irreverent when Dionysus asks the best way to Hell, poo-pooing the god’s reason for going there to pick up Euripides—for there are poets a-plenty still vying for the coveted prize. When asked why not bring back Sophocles instead of Euripides—the question that occurs to his audience:
Because I want to test young Iophon,
And see what he can do all by himself.
Besides, Euripides, the clever rogue,
Would aid my kidnap scheme; while Sophocles,
Gentleman always, is a gentleman still.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.327; Ibid. Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta, ll.79-83.
✍️ Iophon, son of Sophocles, was a contemporary Athenian tragic poet. He tried to secure his father’s wealth, claiming he was not of sound mind, to which Sophocles read out a passage of the Chorus of Oedipus at Colonus, which he was writing at the time, proving that he was.
🧱 🎶 The play has two choruses, a Chorus of Frogs—naturally—who reminisce about pastures wet while Dionysus rows Charon’s boat across the bottomless lake towards the Gate of Hell, and a Chorus of Blessed Mystics, who greet him on the other side, and sing a long stasimon riffing on politicians and parvenus, corruption and taxes, while slipping in comments on dramatic devices and rhetoric. Frogs also contains scenes of the comedy of manners, a subgenre of Old Comedy:
The double-act in the first half of Frogs with Dionysus as dim-witted master and Xanthias as clever slave anticipates the kind of situation-based social comedy that occurs throughout New (and Roman) Comedy, as does the ‘below-stairs’ scene in which Xanthias and Pluto’s slave gossip about their masters.
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Introduction’, p.xxiii.
🪜 Dionysus hosts a battle of wits between Aeschylus and Euripides to claim the prize as the greatest of poets. Aeschylus is accused by Euripides of using grand words with obscure imagery, ‘Swollen with bombast, corpulent with verbal ponderosity’ (p.358). Aeschylus avers: ‘Our earliest civilization / We owe to the poets, who helped us escape from the laws of barbaric society’ (p.262). He concludes:
Great words are begotten to match great thoughts.
Sublimity speaks in the high style.
Then too it is right that a hero of drama should use words larger than ours.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.327.
Both claim patriotic contributions of differing kinds: Aeschylus, through his championing of Greek heroes, claims he made the state proud of warlike feats, ready for battle; Euripides that he taught Athenian democracy to ‘reason, [to] discriminate, / And everything investigate’ (p.360):
By choosing themes that were concerned with everyday reality,
I taught them how to criticize a play with rationality,
Their sober reason undisturbed by mere theatricality.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes, Frogs, p.359.
👤 Dionysus is delighted by the one, who is clever if not always immediately clear, the other clever and clear—much like the harangue of words criticising each other’s diction, meters, melody, rhetoric, imagery, themes and doctrines. In the match, both acquit themselves well—and Dionysus resorts to the use of a set of scales to weigh their verse-making. But Pluto will allow only one to be taken back. Dionysus chooses Aeschylus: ‘him I choose in whom my soul delights’ (p.376). Euripides is outraged. But Euripides will not be lonely; Sophocles, his contemporary and competitor, who had gracefully opted out of the contest, remains behind—now promoted to the master’s chair, which he had renounced, by Aeschylus.
If we were to hypothesize some kind of overall artistic purpose behind Frogs, [...] it might be twofold. First, the play seems to canonize Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles as the greatest exponents of tragedy. [...] Secondly, Frogs both analyses and exemplifies what is best about Old Comedy [...].
—Ibid. Aristophanes, Frogs and Other Plays, Dutta: ‘Preface to Frogs’, p.130.
Frogs is a clever play, and we recognise many of the humourous references, but are stretched to understand all of its references—as would its Athenian audience have been:
Not only is a huge audience in a mood of merrymaking expected to recognize allusions to numerous particular plays, but it is expected to be amused by technical literary criticism.
—Ibid. Hadas, Greek Drama, Aristophanes: ‘Frogs, Introduction’, p.322.
Read
July 4, 2022There were three plays in my copy of this. Two of them had rap battles, and the third redeemed itself by having Euripides cosplaying his own characters.
January 4, 2023
This stuff's so bawdy I can't even believe it. Here's a sample:
HERACLES: And what's happened to Agathon?
DIONYSUS: Gone, gone; he too has left me. [He sighs] A good poet; his friends will miss him.
HERACLES: Where has he gone, poor fellow?
DIONYSUS: To the Banquet of the Blessèd. Specially laid on by the King of Macedon.
HERACLES: And what about Xenocles?
DIONYSUS: Oh, Xenocles be hanged.
HERACLES: And Pythangelus?
XANTHIAS: Never a word about little me. And look at my poor shoulder, it'll never be the same again.
HERACLES: But surely there are dozens of these young whipper-snappers churning our tragedies these days: for sheer verbiage, if that's what you want, they leave Euripides standing.
DIONYSUS: Small fry, I assure you, insignificant squeakers and twitterers, like a lot of swallows. A disgrace to their art. If they ever are granted a chorus, what does their offering at the shrine of Tragedy amount to ? One cock of the hind leg and they've pissed themselves dry. You never hear of them again. I defy you to find a really seminal poet among the whole crowd of them: someone who can coin a fine resounding phrase.
Sheesh! Tough guy.
Meanwhile:
ANTICLEON: Why don't you speak? Get on with it!
PROCLEON: He doesn't seem to have anything to say.
ANTICLEON: Thucydides had the same trouble at his trial: sudden attack of paralysis of the jaw. [To Second Dog] All right, stand down: I'll conduct the defense myself.
[He takes Second Dog's place on the 'stand'.]
Gentlemen. Hr'm. It is a difficult undertaking to reply on behalf of a slandered dog, but nevertheless I will try. Hr'm. He is a good dog. He chases away the wolves.
PROCLEON: You mean he's a thief and a conspirator.
ANTICLEON: Not at all, he's the finest dog alive. Capable of guarding any number of sheep.
What claims! We all know lawyers talk this way — politicians too. (Let alone with the "grunts" and mustering of import, while on the stand, or the daïs, or at the microphone — check out those sound effects!!!) But this was written 2400 years ago. Christ.
One senses this sort of thing falls into — and out of — fashion again. By which I mean: plain old simple candor.
Here, let's try again:
PROCLEON: I've gnawed a hole in it; but don't make a sound. We've got to be careful Anticleon doesn't catch us.
LEADER: Don't worry about him! One grunt out of him and we'll give him something to grunt about. We'll make him run for his life. That'll teach him to ride roughshod over the ballot box! — Now, tie that cord to the window, and the other end round yourself, and let yourself down. Be brave! Be a regular Diopeithes!
PROCLEON: Yes, but what am I going to do if they spot me when I'm half-way down and try to haul me back inside?
LEADER: Don't worry, we'll come to the rescue — won't we, boys? 'Hearts of oak are we all, and we'll fight till we fall' . . . They'll never be able to keep you in: we'll show them a thing or two.
PROCLEON: All right.
There we go.
Let's party . . .
Highly recomended.
HIGHLY!!!
-EJB/Orwell (past LIVES), dreamer ...
Dream . . .
HERACLES: And what's happened to Agathon?
DIONYSUS: Gone, gone; he too has left me. [He sighs] A good poet; his friends will miss him.
HERACLES: Where has he gone, poor fellow?
DIONYSUS: To the Banquet of the Blessèd. Specially laid on by the King of Macedon.
HERACLES: And what about Xenocles?
DIONYSUS: Oh, Xenocles be hanged.
HERACLES: And Pythangelus?
XANTHIAS: Never a word about little me. And look at my poor shoulder, it'll never be the same again.
HERACLES: But surely there are dozens of these young whipper-snappers churning our tragedies these days: for sheer verbiage, if that's what you want, they leave Euripides standing.
DIONYSUS: Small fry, I assure you, insignificant squeakers and twitterers, like a lot of swallows. A disgrace to their art. If they ever are granted a chorus, what does their offering at the shrine of Tragedy amount to ? One cock of the hind leg and they've pissed themselves dry. You never hear of them again. I defy you to find a really seminal poet among the whole crowd of them: someone who can coin a fine resounding phrase.
Sheesh! Tough guy.
Meanwhile:
ANTICLEON: Why don't you speak? Get on with it!
PROCLEON: He doesn't seem to have anything to say.
ANTICLEON: Thucydides had the same trouble at his trial: sudden attack of paralysis of the jaw. [To Second Dog] All right, stand down: I'll conduct the defense myself.
[He takes Second Dog's place on the 'stand'.]
Gentlemen. Hr'm. It is a difficult undertaking to reply on behalf of a slandered dog, but nevertheless I will try. Hr'm. He is a good dog. He chases away the wolves.
PROCLEON: You mean he's a thief and a conspirator.
ANTICLEON: Not at all, he's the finest dog alive. Capable of guarding any number of sheep.
What claims! We all know lawyers talk this way — politicians too. (Let alone with the "grunts" and mustering of import, while on the stand, or the daïs, or at the microphone — check out those sound effects!!!) But this was written 2400 years ago. Christ.
One senses this sort of thing falls into — and out of — fashion again. By which I mean: plain old simple candor.
Here, let's try again:
PROCLEON: I've gnawed a hole in it; but don't make a sound. We've got to be careful Anticleon doesn't catch us.
LEADER: Don't worry about him! One grunt out of him and we'll give him something to grunt about. We'll make him run for his life. That'll teach him to ride roughshod over the ballot box! — Now, tie that cord to the window, and the other end round yourself, and let yourself down. Be brave! Be a regular Diopeithes!
PROCLEON: Yes, but what am I going to do if they spot me when I'm half-way down and try to haul me back inside?
LEADER: Don't worry, we'll come to the rescue — won't we, boys? 'Hearts of oak are we all, and we'll fight till we fall' . . . They'll never be able to keep you in: we'll show them a thing or two.
PROCLEON: All right.
There we go.
Let's party . . .
Highly recomended.
HIGHLY!!!
-EJB/Orwell (past LIVES), dreamer ...
Dream . . .
December 20, 2015
This collection of plays wasn't my first foray into classical literature, nor classical drama, and made me more appreciative of the Greek plays I read in high school. (Yes, y'all, this is why high school English is important and will forever haunt you). I read this as part of Jean'sBookishThoughts YouTube read-along (one of my firsts). I found the plays entertaining and not as hard to understand as I imagined. My Penguin's Classics edition helpfully had a full notes section which provided background information, as I am not a classic scholar (yet!).
The first play in this collection is Wasps, which tells of why one shouldn't put too much faith into politicians, as the father-figure Philocleon has spent his entire life doing. He serves on corrupt juries, which gives him a sense of importance in his community as well as a small paycheck. His fellow jury members are called the wasps, which gives a sense that their constant buzzing drowns out any sense that could possibly bring them back to normality. His obsession with trials and passing judgement somewhat ruins his relationship with his son, Bdelycleon. Bdelycleon goes on a mission to bring his father back to the household and family, even creating a mock trial over the household in an attempt to keep him inside. The play reminded me of the modern disconnect that parents have with their children, including their grown children, during the course of life. Even the ancient Greeks had to deal with generational conflicts.
The second play is Women at the Thesmorphia which pokes fun at the playwright Euripides for his frequent misuse of female characters in his plays. Euripides demonizes women as scorning men at every turn. According to my text, the editor states, "It is worth noting that the purportedly misogynistic Euripides presents his tragic women far more favorably than Aristophanes does his comic women," (72). During the secret conclave at Thesmorphia, in which the women fast, celebrate, and debate while honoring Demeter. The women decide that Euripides must face the consequence of his public actions and must be killed. What follows is name-calling hilarity.
The third play Frogs so named because of the frogs of Hades, which give an ominous mood to the play, also makes fun of other playwrights in a competition of wits and talent in Hades' dominion, judged by Dionysus.
Reading the plays caused me to realize the deficits I have in my reading life, and now I am off to find yet more classical reads so that, in time, I may form some background knowledge to make reading them a bit easier.
The first play in this collection is Wasps, which tells of why one shouldn't put too much faith into politicians, as the father-figure Philocleon has spent his entire life doing. He serves on corrupt juries, which gives him a sense of importance in his community as well as a small paycheck. His fellow jury members are called the wasps, which gives a sense that their constant buzzing drowns out any sense that could possibly bring them back to normality. His obsession with trials and passing judgement somewhat ruins his relationship with his son, Bdelycleon. Bdelycleon goes on a mission to bring his father back to the household and family, even creating a mock trial over the household in an attempt to keep him inside. The play reminded me of the modern disconnect that parents have with their children, including their grown children, during the course of life. Even the ancient Greeks had to deal with generational conflicts.
The second play is Women at the Thesmorphia which pokes fun at the playwright Euripides for his frequent misuse of female characters in his plays. Euripides demonizes women as scorning men at every turn. According to my text, the editor states, "It is worth noting that the purportedly misogynistic Euripides presents his tragic women far more favorably than Aristophanes does his comic women," (72). During the secret conclave at Thesmorphia, in which the women fast, celebrate, and debate while honoring Demeter. The women decide that Euripides must face the consequence of his public actions and must be killed. What follows is name-calling hilarity.
The third play Frogs so named because of the frogs of Hades, which give an ominous mood to the play, also makes fun of other playwrights in a competition of wits and talent in Hades' dominion, judged by Dionysus.
Reading the plays caused me to realize the deficits I have in my reading life, and now I am off to find yet more classical reads so that, in time, I may form some background knowledge to make reading them a bit easier.
January 7, 2016
I wanted to give it 4 so bad because of Wasps and Women at the Thesmophoria but Frogs let it down. Not because it isn't as culturally important as they other - it definitely it! It was because it was a tad more serious than the others and it just felt like instead of playful fun he was just being rude to his tragic predecessors. The other two were ridiculously funny though, I laughed quite a bit and I did enjoy Frogs but I just wasn't laughing as much.
I bought the rest Aristophanes' collection when I was half way through Wasps so I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.
3.5 folks.
I bought the rest Aristophanes' collection when I was half way through Wasps so I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival.
3.5 folks.
August 12, 2009
I just can't believe these plays are as old as they are. Aristophanes persistently engages directly with his audience on contemporary political, moral, and social issues in a way that really surprised me. Some of the characters he lampoons are instantly recognizable and most of the topics he treats remain relevant. Best of all, it's actually still funny in a low-brow, "laugh before you think about it" sort of way. I'd so go to see one of these plays.
January 5, 2013
I read the Frogs today. We're in the midst of a protracted war, Just like Athens 2400 years ago. As today, comedians held the mirror to society. Amid the scatological humor, Aristophanes dealt seriously with the nature of democracy and humanity. Very timely today.
This edition has useful prefaces and notes. Note #129: The evidence of slaves was valid only under torture.
This edition has useful prefaces and notes. Note #129: The evidence of slaves was valid only under torture.
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