35 pages • 1 hour read
The Frogs
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Symbols & Motifs
Herakles’ Costume
The lion skin and club are tokens associated with the demigod Herakles, who is also Dionysos’ half-brother (they share the same father, Zeus). According to myth, Herakles acquired these tokens from the monstrous creatures he defeated during his twelve labors. They can be understood as symbolizing the crossing of boundaries. Herakles (like all heroes) straddles the mortal-immortal divide, having one human and one divine parent. The lion skin and club are the physical manifestations of his extraordinary deeds that enabled him to transcend death and become deified.
Within the play, Dionysos and Xanthias pass the costume between them repeatedly, again rendering them as symbols of border transgression, this one involving identity. Whichever figure possesses these tokens is immediately recognized as Herakles. The idea is absurd from a real-life perspective, but in the fantasy world of Frogs, the symbolic becomes real. Thus Xanthias is able to pass as a demigod simply by possessing his tokens.
Scales
At the end of the contest between Aischylos and Euripides, the outcome remains uncertain, and Dionysos brings out scales to weight the poets’ words. These scales are comparative, with two sides that balance each other out when weighted with items.
The scales evoke both the scales of justice associated the Themis, the goddess of divine law, and the scales that Zeus uses to determine who should live and die in Homer’s Iliad. Themis’ scales must remain balanced in order for justice to prevail. Zeus, however, uses his scales slightly differently in the Iliad: they determine who lives and dies based on which side of the scales are heaviest.
If Zeus’ concept is applied, then Aischylos would seem the clear choice since his is the side that is heavier. If Themis’ concept is applied, then the fact one side is heavier than the other may suggest imbalance. Given the final choice of Aischylos is arbitrary, rather than a result of a clear and explained preference, it is possible the play communicates, through the scales, that no ideal options exist.
Metanarrative
The play is saturated with self-referential meta narrative threads, evident from the opening banter between Dionysos and Xanthias. They enter the stage making jokes about the jokes they will not make. Athens’ priest of Dionysos, and attendees more generally, are both participants and observers. The play is staged for a competition and is about a competition, and it is staged for Dionysos while also featuring him as a character. These forms of meta narrative can be understood as reflecting a central value of ancient Greek society: cyclicality and repetition that preserves tradition while also innovating upon it. This can be seen in the seemingly opposing values of Euripides and Aischylos and the difficulty of choosing a clear winner between them. Both playwrights presented plays for sacred festivals, thus both participated in the same communal act of paying tribute to the gods. Each playwrights’ style of language and narration differed in significant ways, while ultimately serving the same purpose.
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By Aristophanes
