Reading Period 18: February 23 - March 1: The Frogs

Long Read: 

The Frogs by Aristophanes, Act I

Poem:

"The Satire of the Trades" by Dua Kheti, from Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2025-1700 BC)

Creative Assignment:

Choose a present-day public figure – a celebrity, politician, or literary individual. In a poem of at least twenty-five lines, chide this individual as the chorus of The Frogs chides Cleigenes at the end of act one. Write the poem with a rhyme scheme. You can gently reprimand or scathingly mock. Imagine that this poem is to be inserted in a modern play by Aristophanes; address the poem to an audience, not to the individual directly.

OR

Design and illustrate what you imagine the frog costumes for the chorus would look like. Feel free to look at other productions and descriptions of comic costumes from the era for inspiration. You can use whatever medium you like, but it has to be chromatic (colored pencils, watercolors, acrylics, etc.).

Writing Assignment:

The first draft of your 500 word synthesis essay is due on Thursday, March 1. Please bring two copies -- one for peer editing and one for me. This is your only writing assignment for this week.

Special Assignments:

Photograph or scan your lecture notes from any day's lecture, and post to Google+.

Summarize "The Satire of Trades" in one pithy sentence and be ready to read it in class.

Quiz:

1. Who is Dionysus dressed up as?
2. Why has Dionysus come down into the Underworld?
3. In what way is Xanthias a parody of the New Comedy archetypes?
4. What is funny about Heracles’ initial suggestions on how Dionysus can get to the Underworld?
5. What are the four locations Heracles informs Dionysus he will encounter on his journey to Pluto’s palace?

6. To whom are the initiates singing their hymns and why is this fitting and ironic?
7. Whose voice does the chorus of initiates have in The Frogs?
8. Whom do you think the frogs represent?
9. What subgenres of Greek comedy did Aristophanes write?
10. What does the chorus leader tell the audience the chorus will do at the end of act one?
11. What does the chorus lament at the end of act one?
12. How many non-chorus actors did Sophocles use in his plays?