Sophocles 'The Frogs' By Aristophanes Character Analysis

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Recommended: Tragedy And Comedy Comparison

One might say that comedy and tragedy are completely opposite; however this is not true. Throughout the comedy, The Frogs by Aristophanes, the cowardly protagonist makes foolish actions in order for self-gain. In the tragedy, Oedipus Tyrannus written by Sophocles, the protagonist suffers a tumultuous downfall that results in exile. While the plays stand different in their beginnings and outcomes, The Frogs transpires from bad fortune to good fortune while Oedipus Tyrannus evolves from good fortune to bad fortune, they also share similarities. These include a progression from ignorance to knowledge and characters that remain consistent and act with believable personalities. These principles follow along with Aristotle's beliefs, which he outlines in his book Poetics. Whereas both …show more content…

In Poetics, Aristotle dictates the importance of plot in a tragedy, but also in a comedy. He writes “A reversal is a change to the opposite in the actions being performed, as stated – and this, as we have been saying, in accordance with probability or necessity” (Aristotle 18). In layman’s terms Aristotle is saying the characters must experience a change in fortune, i.e. good to bad or bad to good. Likewise, in both The Frogs and Oedipus Tyrannus the foremost characters experience this same form of reversal, just in dissimilar ways. For example, Oedipus experiences a change from good fortune to bad fortune by means of losing his place as King of Thebes after gouging out his eyes and exiling himself upon learning that he killed his father and married his mother (14 & 1357-1366). Whereas, in The

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