Athens during the Peloponnesian War The play directly addresses Athens poor leadership and the moral decay of society In the play the Chorus says But now you silly fools it s time to change your ways Use worthy people once again This quote reflects Aristophanes's critique of contemporary Athenian leadership and his call for a return to virtuous governance In the play Dionysus the god of theater embarks on a journey to Hades to bring back Euripides hoping that restoring good literature will save Athens from its troubles The dialogues between Aeschylus and Euripides during the poetic contest are filled with critiques of how contemporary Athenian values have declined Criticism of Euripides and His Intellectual Influence Euripides who represents the new wave of intellectual thought in Athens is portrayed as the chief target of Aristophanes s criticism In the play Euripides argues that his plays have taught Athenians to think critically and to question everything However Aristophanes suggests that this critical thinking has done more harm than good Euripides s plays are filled with characters who are cunning deceitful and morally ambiguous which according to Aristophanes has led to a society that values trickery over virtue Euripides himself admits this flaw during the poetic contest when he says I taught them to think to understand to love new twists and double dealing to suspect the worst Aristophanes uses this line to show how the so-called intellectuals have made Athenians more suspicious and less noble The Importance of Tradition and Virtue In contrast Aeschylus represents the older more traditional values that Aristophanes believes Athens desperately needs Aeschylus argues that his plays taught Athenians to be brave noble and virtuous They ve been useful from the start the noble race of poets There s Orpheus he taught us not to kill Aeschylus s plays with their grand language and heroic characters are seen as guiding people toward the ideals of courage and honor Aristophanes suggests that Athens needs a return to these values rather than the intellectual trends that focus on cleverness and moral ambiguity The Blending of Satire and Fantasy Aristophanes blends satire with fantasy to make his criticism both entertaining and impactful The entire premise of The Frogs is fantastical It involves the god Dionysus traveling to the Underworld to bring back a dead playwright This fantastical setting allows Aristophanes to create humorous and exaggerated scenarios For instance Dionysus disguises himself as Heracles and has comical arguments with singing frogs To wrap up In The Frogs Aristophanes criticizes the intellectuals of his time for Athens s moral and cultural decline By doing so Aristophanes highlights the need for a return to virtuous ideals to save Athens from moral and cultural decay