『蛙』の蛙についての一考察 : 「アゴーン」場面のディオニュソスとの関連で

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How was the 'frogs-chorus' scene (209-268) in the Frogs produced ? R H Allison (G & R 30, 1983, 8-20) and C W Marshall (EMC 40, 1996, 251-265) have recently re-examined this problem The former has plausibly argued the 'frogs-chorus' to be off stage and invisible, which has been the predominant opinion ever since antiquity (cf schol ad 209), the latter, however, has refuted Allison's weak argumentation and has rightly declined his conclusion, arguing that the 'frogs-chorus' must have been on stage, invisible for Dionysus and yet visible for the spectators Marshall's ingenious solution, easily feasible for staging, has been duly adopted by Sommerstein in his edition of the Frogs (1996, ad 205-6) The problem of how to produce the 'frogs-chorus' scene, I believe, has been almost decisively settled However, why this scene was produced in the way Marshall asserts has still not been fully elucidated Since the particulars of staging are not known to us, they must be reconstructed solely from the critic's reading and interpretation of the text I suggest that (1) Marshall's solution makes Dionysus' final utterance sound more Iudicrous to the spectators, and that (ii) a proper interpretation of the 'frogs-chorus' scene (and the other two contests) also provides support for his solution At the end of this scene, Dionysus utters εμμελλον αρα παυσειν τοθ' υμαζ του κοαξ (268) Sta ford states in his commentary (1958, ad 267-68) that 'he triumphantly announces' this (cf Dover's edition, 1993, ad 268) As Coulon notes (IV, 1928, 98, n 3), this phrase in itself is in fact 'la formule ordinaire par laquelle celui qui a triomphe constate sa victoire realisee', Dionysus' triumphant victory, however, exists only in his own mind and has not been achieved in reality And the spectators must certainly have regarded his declaration of victory as one of self-complacency, and subsequently laughed at it In Nub 1301 and Vesp 460 a similar formula is spoken by the hero in such a way as to make the spectators mock his self-complacent triumph These scenes also involve the hero's opponents on stage and the action of the hero (or his attendant) to drive them away violently with a stick A similar violent action could easily have been staged in the 'frogschorus' scene because Dionysus favorably holds an oar in his hand Dionysus's swinging of the oar at invisible (only for him) opponents must have constituted a laughing scene and far more laughing would have occurred for the spectators if his opponents, the frogs, were on stage as the scenes mentioned above As C P Segal shows (HSCP 65, 1961, 207-242), Dionysus' journey to Hades corresponds to the process of his self-discovery he finally finds his true identity as the god of theater after having experienced the three contests in the play I suggest that Dionysus' process of self-discovery on stage may have been regarded by the spectators also as corresponding to their own actual experiences as Athenian citizens in the real world Dionysus in the play can be said to be a representative of Athenian citizens as well as the god of theater If this hypothesis is correct, then the spectators may have identified with Dionysus and passed through the three successive contests of the Frogs with him These contests were related to some of the qualifications necessary for an Athenian to prove that he was a capable citizen First, Dionysus attempts to show that he can row if necessary, he, consequently, gets 'blisters' (236) which are taken by the Athenians as a token of contribution to the polis (cf Vesp 1119) Second, he attempts to show that he not only has the intelligence to quote from tragedies, but also the physical endurance required of a citizen to get through an unexpected physical hardship As a result, he is acknowledged as a citizen Thirdly, he is appointed to be judge at the dramatic festival and to preside over the contest between Aeschylus and Euripides Thus Dionysus' three trials reflected real life concerns of the Athenian citizens If Marshall's solution is correct, the total effect of the three contests would have been much stronger, since the 'frogs-chorus' scene would have given more meaning to the final contest In the 'frogs-chorus' scene, the spectators may have nonchalantly laughed at Dionysus, because he does not see the frogs, whom they can clearly see on stage In the 'dramatic festival' scene within the play, however, the spectators witness the process in which the judge Dionysus, as a representative of the spectators, arrives at the decision of who wins the dramatic festival Considering that attending at the annual dramatic festival as a judge is one of the most important civic duties, the spectators may not have laughed at Dionysus indifferently With grave concern and warm sympathy, they may have laughed with Dionysus In order to underline this laughter, at once sobering and comical, in the 'dramatic festival' scene, it was necessary for Aristophanes to first create the simply farcical laughter of the 'frogs-chorus' scene, which would have been much more effective had the frogs been visible to the spectators
2004-03-05

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荒井直
山梨英和大学

『蛙』の蛙についての一考察 : 「アゴーン」場面のディオニュソスとの関連で

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