2008/09/01 by Pavlos Sfyroeras · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Crime, Deviance, and Social Control #Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism #Philippine History and Culture
paper · doi:10.1353/ajp.0.0014
openalex publication_date 2008/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Why is it Andromeda that inspires Dionysus’ pothos for Euripides in Frogs ? This article argues for an intratextual allusion to Aristophanes’ own use of this tragedy in Thesmophoriazusae , where Mnesilochus impersonates Andromeda and expects Euripides to become Perseus and rescue him. It is through Mnesilochus’ longing for his rescuer Euripides that Dionysus’ heart is struck with longing for Euripides as the savior of both tragedy and Athens. By assimilating Dionysus to Andromeda via Mnesilochus, this reading of the allusion to Andromeda reverses the accepted tragic prototypes and symbolic gender of the comic characters in Frogs ; it also offers a new angle for viewing the thematic coherence of Frogs and clarifies the nature of Aristophanes’ reliance on tragic discourse by ultimately highlighting the autonomy of the comic genre.