The Clouds by Aristophanes Essay examples -- Classical Greek Literatur

The Clouds by Aristophanes - Relevant in Todays WorldThe Clouds by Aristophanes, is a play centrally concernedwith education. Aristophanes employs satire to illustrate hisconservative beliefs. It is intended to repoint readers that in thetendency to philosophical subtleties lies the neglection of thereal needs of the Athenians. According to Aristophanes,philosophical surmise only acts to shake the establishedfoundations of accepted religion, gods, and ideals of morality.Specifically, as it was even discused in The Apology,Aristophanes desired that philosophical attitudes held by theSophists enabled those who held them to convince others of wrongor weaker beliefs simply by sounding as if they knew what theywere talking about -- when in reality they didnt. It seems asif Aristophanes would authorize of an education based souly aroundthe reading of clasiscal literature and some physical excersize.I believe the fact that Athenian youth were starting to askquestions of the elders in th e city really botheredAristophanes. I think he really thought it to be dangerous anddetrimental to society as shadow be seen through the lineStrepsiades yells towards the end, revenge for the injured gods(II.i.1506). I believe Aristophanes to be part of the groupthat accused Socrates of not accepting the recognized gods ofstate, which many believed to be a part of the corruption ofAthenian youth. While I dont agree with that accusation --primarily because of Socrates recognition of Apollo through theOracle at Delphi -- I roll in the hay see some Aristophanes points ofcontention with what he thought the Sophists and otherphilsophers stood for.The Clouds, who form the chorus in Aristophanes play, are aphysical representation of the philosophical speculation thatAristophanes speaks of. According to Aristophanes, thesespeculations do not come from a grounded sense of experience,but rather float about without definite framework andactualization, simply in the estate of possibility. I found itinteresting that Aristophanes chose to illustrate this metaphorbetween the clouds and the Sophists beliefs into a literalrepresentation. He furthered this illustration by choosing tobring Socrates on his first bearing floating in on a basketdown to the stage.Another aspect I find interesting in Aristoph... ...Essentially, I think that The Clouds, disregard be a piece ofclassical Greek literature applicable to our own modern world.If we do not take the time to examine practices and beliefs,they puddle the potential to lose the weight and value that theywere once based or formed on. While Aristophanes aimed atentertaining his audience through comedic satire, he similarly had avery serious warning -- that ended up holding true -- for thepeople of Athens. A nation too proud and too original in its ownbeliefs and politics, has proven through history, never to work.Sadly, while I believe the United States is a great nation withmoral goals and hopes, I believe we exemplify so me of theproblems that the Athenian state suffered from, and eventuallydied from. We often times refuse to examine our beliefs. Weautomatically view them as the best, or the most moral. Thiscan be seen in our current struggle. If we constantlyleave our borders to try and convince others around the world thatAmerican knows best, were doomed for failure. As exemplified inThe Clouds, we then give out the ones throwing stones at peoplewe dont agree with -- a fate almost worse than death.