THE CLOUDS

The Clouds

Socrates in Aristophanes “The Clouds” is viewed liked how people of his time viewed people of intellect to be. Socrates is shown to be an arrogant, all knowing jerk that seems to only be interested in spending his days looking at clouds and thinking and then taking his students clothes for teaching them. Aristotle represents how the common Greek of this time saw an intellectual someone that made no sense to them because all they seemed to say had no backing at all.

In the story it seemed that Socrates was not a bad person but not a good person either. He was more than anything just a person that did both good and bad things. For example he did take Strepsiades clothes which he saw as the price for teaching him which he later did not do because Strepsiades was too old and stupid. But he also did later teach his son how to help the poor farmer get out from under their debt when Strepsiades asked him too.

Was what Socrates doing in his life admirable or even worth doing in the first place? It seems to be very admirable because he as a teacher does truly believe in what he is teaching to his students. Such as when he talks to Strepsiades about the clouds and all they do. He seems to truly believe all he is telling his prospective student. It seems that it is worth doing what Socrates is doing to himself because he believes he is gaining useful knowledge about everything.

Aristophanes presents Socrates like a person of intellect for comedy and to show how intellect is important to a person. First it is very comedic how intellectual Socrates made everything for example calling a female duck a duck is wrong they are duchess because it has to have a feminine ending. Second Aristophanes shows how intellect is important to have intellect because if you don’t you can get taken advantage of by those that do have intellect.

In the end Aristophanes Socrates showed well what his society thought of intellect. That most people did not think highly of people who spent their life in the pursuit of knowledge. But that the pursuit of knowledge is an admirable pursuit anyway and is well worth spending your whole life doing to better the world. It also showed well the comedic value that an overly intellectual individual which is still a type of character used in today’s comedies. But most of all he taught us that it is important to have an intellect because if we don’t we will get taken advantage of by those that do.

Christopher Aitken