Who does Aristophanes ridicule in The Clouds?
Aristophanes was a renowned comic playwright of Ancient Athens, known for the ridicule that he incorporated into his plays. Despite the fact that other satirical playwrights had ridiculed Socrates, in Plato’s Apology of Socrates, he viewed The Clouds as the reason leading to the trial and execution of Socrates.
What is the main problem in the story clouds?
major conflictStrepsiades’s burden of debt, sustained in satisfying the expensive taste of his son Pheidippides for race horses. rising actionStrepsiades attempts to enroll in Socrates’s special school for sophists in order to learn the slippery, dishonest Unjust Argument that will help him best his creditors in court.
Why is the play called The Clouds?
(In fact, its full title reads: The Clouds, or The School for Sophists.) Aristophanes employs the “Thinkery” (I.i.93) because it represents comically and exactly what he believes a school should not be: dishonest, overly serious, and entirely divorced from the practices and concerns of the real world.
How does Aristophanes account of Socrates differ from Plato’s?
Aristophanes’s Socrates is portrayed as more interested in the physical world and matters such as astronomy, while Plato’s is more concerned with ethics and epistemology. Plato tends to portray Socrates more favorably, while Aristophanes, being a comic playwright, makes fun of Socrates. This is a good question.
Why did Aristophanes write the clouds?
The Clouds represents a departure from the main themes of Aristophanes’ early plays – Athenian politics, the Peloponnesian War and the need for peace with Sparta. Thus the original production of The Clouds in 423 BC came at a time when Athens was looking forward to a period of peace.
What do the clouds represent in the clouds?
The Clouds lend the satire their name because they represent, to Athenian idiom, what we today would call “hot air”: The Clouds are symbols of the intellectual fluff that Socrates is teaching his students.
What is the moral of the clouds?
The Clouds are definitely the play’s moral center, as they present the most coherent voice about what constitutes right and wrong. Strepsiades has not learned anything by the end of the play; he only rejects Socrates because he is mad his son is using Socrates’s ideas to justify beating him.
Was Socrates friends with Aristophanes?
While Xenophon and Plato were friends and admirers of Socrates, Aristophanes was not; he seems to present Socrates as a sophist in the Socratic sense of the term. …
Did Aristophanes know Socrates?
Our earliest extant source—and the only one who can claim to have known Socrates in his early years—is the playwright Aristophanes.
What do the clouds represent in the Clouds by Aristophanes?
Who are the people in the clouds by Aristophanes?
By Aristophanes Written 419 B.C.E Dramatis Personae STREPSIADES PHIDIPPIDES SERVANT OF STREPSIADES DISCIPLES OF SOCRATES SOCRATES JUST DISCOURSE UNJUST DISCOURSE PASIAS, a Money-lender AMYNIAS, another Money-lender CHORUS OF CLOUDS Scene In the background are two houses, that of Strepsiades and that of Socrates, the Thoughtery.
What was the moral of the clouds by Strepsiades?
The Clouds is a play primarily concerned with education. Nevertheless, it is a play with a strong moral message and a tragic arc that ends with the reassertion of the gods: Strepsiades shrieks, “Revenge for the injured gods!” as he stones the fleeing sophists (II.i.1506).
What are the main themes of the clouds?
Aristophanes is suggesting, by considering science with religion in this play, that the two often-conflicting concepts must be equally open to inquiry, to criticism, and even to satire. As mentioned above, The Clouds is a satire that is primarily concerned with education.
Where did Strepsiades meet Socrates in the clouds?
At the Thinkery – located just next door to his own house – Strepsiades meets a student who tells him all about Socrates’ supposedly great discoveries, and soon enough, at his bequest, he is introduced to Socrates himself, who is seated in a floating basket and studying the sun.