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Aristophanes’ Socrates: A Man Leading a Revolution in Learning with Absurd Ideas and Methods
ReplyDelete“Come, who is this man in this basket?” (line 218) This question, posed by Strepsiades, is the first glimpse of Socrates that Aristophanes reveals to the audience. The student’s response to this question is “Himself” (line 219). Aristophanes, from the very first introduction of the character Socrates, characterizes him as a person unlike any mere human being. In this scene, he is in a hot air balloon so that he can think more clearly, portraying that he is a man who does things quite differently than they are normally done. Aristophanes characterizes Socrates as someone who has the ability to create a group of followers who marvel at him; followers who assume all should know who he is, just like the student expected Strepsiades to automatically know Socrates. Socrates is Aristophanes’ symbol of the new age of education and learning. Aristophanes thought Socrates, and his new school of thought, to be illogical and very much ridiculous.
The mere fact that Aristophanes wrote Clouds as a satire conveys how he did not think this “new age” of learning should be taken seriously. Aristophanes, through Strepsiades’ inability to absorb Socrates’ teachings, shows Socrates’ following to be that of youth and those who do not know any better than to adhere to his teachings. Strepsiades was meant to represent traditions and the “old” way of life. Strepsiades was a farmer who made his living on his land, while those of the “new age” sat in classrooms learning sometimes absurd, seemingly useless things. Strepsiades tried to learn what Socrates was teaching to his followers, but was unable to do so. Partly Strepsiades’ failure was due to the fact that Socrates became frustrated with the old man’s stubbornness and ignorance. At one point Socrates tell Stepsiades, “You’re talking foolishness. Go away. I won’t teach you anymore,” (783-784). Socrates did not want to hear Strepsiades’ arguments against learning his methodologies. Therefore, Socrates was unable to teach the older generation his new ideas, so he forced Strepsiades to send his young son to his school so that he could do the learning with his youthful mind. With Pheidippides, Socrates was able to transform a mind into believing all that he taught him to believe and to think. Socrates, in Clouds, does not seem to be doing something useful with his life and his teachings. He is unable to teach the older minds his new material. Also, he forces those who want to learn to pay for his instruction. He seems to be looking for a profit for all of his new methodologies that he is teaching. Aristophanes’ portrayal of Socrates appears to be one that is not to be admired for much of anything. He only wants to teach those young minds and, because of this, he brings divisions between the old and the new minds. Socrates caused Strepsiades’ and Pheidippides’ relationship to be weak, not as strong as it was before Pheidippides attended Socrates’ school. This makes Socrates somewhat of a bad person. He caused a division in a family that interacted well with each other. Towards the end of the play, Strepsiades bemoans “But nowhere is it the law that the father suffer this,” (line 1420). To this Pheidippides replies “Wasn’t he who first set down this law a man like you and me?” (line 1421). Socrates has taught Pheidippides to have no respect for authority or tradition. Aristophanes shows Socrates to have no desire to reconcile the dichotomy between tradition and new age thought. Socrates seems to only be interested in furthering his ideals, and not respecting or valuing the old way of life.
At the end of the play, Pheidippides has no care for horses, which caused much debt in the family, or for his father, who he loved deeply before going to school. Pheidippides became a totally different person after learning the ideas of Socrates. Aristophanes seems to be warning his audience that this is the danger of the “new” education that has arisen. People like Socrates are planning to revolutionize the minds of the young, which will indeed revolutionize society as a result.