Gods And Divinity In Aristophanes’ Frogs

Among Aristophanes’ all existing works,Frogs appears to be unique and outstanding.Firstly,the topic of this play is the education of polis.Secondly,the protagonist,Dionysus,who is divine rather than human,sets in motion an Underworld Journey to Hades out of his intense π(?)θο?(desire)to Euripides.During this journey,he accidentally becomes“competitor” of two Contests(Singing and Whipping)and finally the “judge” of one pivotal Poetic Contest.Hence this dissertation focuses on both the educational topic as well as the unique position of gods.The outline of this dissertation goes as follows: The Introduction explains why this dissertation title was chosen and how the main question was raised.In the first section of the Introduction,we discuss by going through the background and multiple values of this play why Frogs is crucial in understanding Aristophanes’ position on divinity.In the second section,academic discussions in the past century have led us to focus on Three Contests in this text.Based on the questions raised in section 2 of Introduction,Chapters 2-5 contend a translation of main paragraphs of Frogs.By close reading,these chapters provide intensive analysis of Frogs’ opening(1-107)and Three Contests: Singing(108-268),Whipping(460-674),and Tragic(830-1499)Contest.During the first two contests,Dionysus receives two teachings: on the one hand,gods should shoulder the responsibility of judging good and evil.On the other hand,the recognition of one god’s divinity originates in human worship.These two teachings have changed Dionysus’ choice in the Tragic Contest.His judging criteria changes from personal preference to the common good of the polis.The Conclusion is meant to explore the questions raised in section 1 of the Introduction.By explaining keywords and plots of the play,this chapter provides an overview of Dionysus’ changing identity from a “competitor” to a “judge” and the significance behind it.Moreover,this chapter seeks to explore the two features,both the radical and the conservative,of Aristophanes’ position on divinity preliminarily.