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Act 1, Scene 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Frogs, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Old vs. New
The Value of Art
Literary Criticism
Critique of Athenian Democracy
Appearance vs. Reality
Summary
Analysis
Dionysus and Xanthias arrive at Pluto’s palace; Dionysus knocks on the door and is greeted by Aeacus, the formidable doorkeeper to Hades. Dionysus introduces himself as Heracles but stutters. At this, Aeacus curses “Heracles,” calling him a rotten criminal for stealing Cerberus and threatens to torture Dionysus-as-Heracles in retaliation. Then he disappears inside to fetch torture devices.
Heracles might cut an intimidating figure, but when Aeacus calls Heracles a thief and a criminal, it implies that Heracles, like Dionysus, doesn’t necessarily embody all the greatness and flawlessness one might associate with a heroic god. By this point, it’s well established that Dionysus is cowardly and inept, so it’s unlikely he’ll respond well to Aeacus’s threats of punishment and torture.
Themes
Dionysus collapses to the ground, terrified. Then he soils himself, much to the disgust of Xanthias, who calls him a coward. Xanthias says he, unlike Dionysus, isn’t scared at all. When Dionysus orders Xanthias to trade places with him, Xanthias shrugs and accepts Dionysus’s clothing.
Persephone’s maid emerges from the palace and happily greets Xanthias-as-Heracles; she announces that Persephone got to work preparing an elaborate meal the minute she heard Heracles was coming. Also, there are girls waiting inside to dance for him. Excited, Xanthias tells the maid he’ll be right there. After the maid leaves, Xanthias, addressing Dionysus as “boy,” orders Dionysus to bring the luggage inside. Dionysus angrily insists he was only joking when he suggested that he and Xanthias switch places. Reluctantly, Xanthias returns the Heracles disguise to Dionysus. The Chorus chimes in to tell the moral of the story: if you want to “improve your position,” you should “roll with the ship,” not “stand like a fool with a stiff upper lip[.]”
In a comedic twist of fate, Dionysus’s plan to make Xanthias suffer backfires—though Dionysus expected Aeacus to unwittingly torture Xanthias-as-Heracles in Dionysus-as-Heracles’s place, Xanthias lucks out and apparently has a sumptuous feast and enticing women in his future. However, as the play has already established, Xanthias’s new identity is only skin deep, and so even though he might have fun calling Dionysus “boy” and playing the part of master, he must put the game to rest when his real master orders him to change back into his original clothes. The Chorus’s interjection further examines the difference between action and appearance, suggesting that if a person wants to enact real change or “improve [their] position,” their actions or inner character must align with their outer appearance. This resonates with the play’s broader criticism of contemporary Athenian politics, suggesting that politicians need to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
Themes
Dionysus has barely gotten back into his Heracles disguise when two landladies appear and identify him as the scoundrel who ate all their food and then left without paying for any of it. Xanthias encourages the women as they berate Dionysus-as-Heracles for his gluttony. The second landlady announces her plans to find Cleon to punish Dionysus-as-Heracles to court for his gluttony, then she and the first landlady go back inside.
In yet another comedic twist of fate, Dionysus-as-Heracles doesn’t receive the hospitality that Persephone’s maid just promised Xanthias-as-Dionysus; instead, he’s berated by two women he apparently insulted when he ate a huge feast and then didn’t pay the bill. That Xanthias and Dionysus are alternatively praised and punished for Heracles’s past actions, just because they’re dressed in Heracles’s clothing, further highlights the play’s idea that looks can be deceiving.
Themes
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Dionysus tries to cajole Xanthias into trading places again. Xanthias resists but gives in after Dionysus promises he won’t change his mind again. The two swap clothing once more. Aeacus returns, followed by slaves carrying ropes and chains. He orders them to tie-down Xanthias-as-Heracles and punish him. Dionysus excitedly urges them to give Heracles exactly what he deserves. Xanthias-as-Heracles makes a deal with Aeacus: he’ll accept his punishment if he’s found guilty, and in the meantime Aeacus can torture Xanthias-as-Heracles’s slave. Aeacus agrees to this, and Xanthias-as-Heracles enthusiastically tells Aeacus to take his slave away and not hold back.
Dionysus forced Xanthias to change back into the Heracles costume to avoid incurring anyone else’s wrath, but Xanthias swiftly finds a way to make Dionysus suffer alongside him, further demonstrating that he is both more capable and cleverer than Dionysus despite his lower social status. Regardless of which character wears the Heracles costume, their underlying personalities remain stable and unchanging.
Themes
Panicked, Dionysus tells Aeacus that he’s the god Dionysus. Xanthias suggests that Aeacus give Dionysus a flogging to test if he’s telling the truth—if he’s really a god, he won’t cry out in pain. Aeacus agrees and alternates whacks between Xanthias and Dionysus, delivering stronger blows each round. The first round, Xanthias and Dionysus pretend not to feel anything. The second round, Xanthias cries out in pain but pretends it was mere “pious impulse,” which Aeacus buys. Dionysus also reacts to his second blow and tries to make an excuse, claiming he’s just reacting to seeing men on horseback, but Aeacus suspects he’s lying. He gives them each a third blow, and each reacts more strongly. Aeacus, frustrated, decides to take Xanthias and Dionysus to Pluto and Persephone, who will be able to tell which of them is a god. They all enter the palace.
This scene mostly serves a comedic purpose, but it also further develops Dionysus’s and Xanthias’s personalities. Try as he might, cowardly and bumbling Dionysus fails to match Xanthias’s quickness and cleverness. Whereas Xanthias cleverly blames his yelp of pain on “pious impulse” (therefore finding an explanation that supports rather than disproves his divine nature), Dionysus makes the comparable but entirely unconvincing excuse that he’s only reacting to a horse he’s seen in the distance—a sight so painfully ordinary it wouldn’t warrant a response under any circumstances. Dionysus’s outward title of god doesn’t match up with his inner cowardliness and incompetence—a discrepancy that resonates with the broader notion that people in positions of power (i.e., the Athenian political leaders Aristophanes ridicules throughout the play) aren’t always as noble and well-intentioned as they appear on the outside.
Themes
The Chorus takes the stage. The Chorus-Leader, addressing their audience, states their two goals: to “amuse” and to “advise” its audience. They say it’s time “to forgive and forget” those who have wronged them. If the slave Xanthias can don Dionysus’s clothes and be treated as an equal, then surely the audience can do this with their enemies, too. The Chorus-Leader calls on the Athenians to get over their foolish pride and award citizenship to anyone who’s fought for them in war. The rest of the Chorus joins in to say that “wash-house proprietor” Cleigenes will soon fall, but even then “he won’t be persuaded to advocate for peace.”
This is the parabasis, or the part of an Ancient Greek comedy where the actors leave the stage and the chorus addresses the audience directly to convey the playwright’s views on contemporary issues—as noted here by the Chorus-Leader, who specifies that the Chorus’s two goals are to “amuse” and to “advise” the audience. Aristophanes also broaches the subject of contemporary politics explicitly, urging Athens to stop opposing peace with Sparta in the ongoing Peloponnesian War (Cleigenes was a radical democrat who opposed peace with Sparta and also possibly owned a bathhouse). The mention of awarding peace to anyone who fought in the war refers to the practice of awarding citizenship to any enslaved person who served in the Athenian military.
Themes
The Chorus-Leader chimes in to compare the way Athenians treat men to the way they treat money: they used to be proud of gold and silver, but those coins have stopped circulating, and now Athenians barter with fake, silver-plated copper coins. Likewise, while Athens once valued noble men of good breeding, now it exalts only scoundrels. If Athenians don’t change their ways, Athens will fail.
The Chorus uses the metaphor of Athenians mistaking phony, silver-plated copper coins for real gold to suggest that Athenians no longer know how to identify (and elect to office) reputable people of noble character, and this is why they’re presently in a politically vulnerable situation (at the time of The Frogs’s first performance, the Peloponnesian War was nearing its end—Athens was on the verge of collapse and would surrender to Sparta the following year).
Themes
