Significance of The Frogs as a Comedy

In ancient Greece there were great writers of tragedy. The most eminent among them were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. In writing comedies Aristophanes stood out prominently. His Frogs is a remarkable Comedy. His purpose was social reform and in this sense, he was a social reformer. He was a comic poet and not a political propagandist. He was like a teacher and concerned with the well-being of Athens as well as the welfare of her people. He was a seeker of truth and a true patriot. His comedy The Frogs has stood the test of the time. Aristophanes was neither a rationalist, nor a septic. In this play he upheld the cult of Dionysus was the hero who went to the Hades to find out a great tragic dramatist who was then dead.

The Frogs is an attack on Euripides who was often ridiculed by Aristophanes. He was not happy with the new poets. In this play Aristophanes is a literary critic. He passed scathing remarks against contemporary thinkers and writers. In this play, he raised certain fundamental literary questions. No answers have been found out till today. The dispute between two great playwrights is not only significant but meaningful also. A large part of the criticism is mere fooling, but we cannot help admiring the dispute between the two schools of tragedy. Here in lies the significance of The Frogs.