Frogs keywords

Question 1

primary function of the play - B

Answer 1

“The primary function of the play isn’t literary criticism but political action.” Bettendorf

Question 2

aristophanes’ finest surviving play - C

Answer 2

“Frogs is generally reckoned to be the finest of Aristophanes’ surviving plays.” Cartledge

Question 3

comedy’s function - C

Answer 3

“Comedy tends to take normal life situations and suspend and subvert them.” Cartledge

Question 4

aristophanes’ contribution to comedy - C

Answer 4

“…it does seems pretty clear that the contribution of Aristophanes to comedy was overwhelming and unique, that it was he above all who shaped the genre of Old Comedy.” Cartledge

Question 5

comedy is cocktail - C

Answer 5

“Aristophanic comedy was an inimitable cocktail.” Cartledge

Question 6

past period vs present - D

Answer 6

“Past period of security and prosperity contrasted with present discomfort and insecurity.” Dover

Question 7

well known figures ridiculed - D

Answer 7

“Everyone who was recorded as well known in historical sources is ridiculed or attacked in comedy.” Dover

Question 8

festival vs comedy - H

Answer 8

“The idea of the festival is inseparable from Greek comedy.” Hall

Question 9

Aeschylus and Euripides true portrayal - K

Answer 9

“The traits given to Aeschylus and Euripides are amusing, and the contrast between them makes comic sense, but they are without value as an index of how either Aristophanes or his contemporaries really regarded them.” Kovaks

Question 10

core of ancient comic experience - M

Answer 10

“The core of the ancient comic experience was the chorus and the core of the comic chorus was the parabasis.” Marshall

Question 11

aeschylus’ victory - rejection and return - R

Answer 11

“Aeschylus’ victory is a rejection of the new life-style and a return to the old moral centre.” Redfield

Question 12

farce/fantasy - S/A

Answer 12

“Farce or fantasy might be more appropriate descriptions of what Aristophanes created.” Storey/Allen

Question 13

plot of comedies - S/A

Answer 13

The plot of comedies is not intricate like tragedies but based on the exploration of a “great idea, the more bizarre the better.” Storey/Allen

Question 14

religious nature of festivals - T

Answer 14

“There is no internal evidence from the plays themselves about the religious nature of the festival, only external.” Taplin