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 gild hisconservative beliefs. It is intended to show readers that in thetendency to philosophical subtleties lies the neglection of thereal needs of the Athenians. According to Aristophanes,philosophical speculation only acts to shake the establishedfoundations of trustworthy religion, gods, and ideals of morality.Specifically, as it was even discused in The Apology,Aristophanes believed 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 approve of an education based souly aroundthe reading of clasiscal literature and some corporeal excersize.I believe the fact that Athenian early days were starting to askquestions of the elders in the city really botheredAristophanes. I think he really thought it to be dangerous anddetrimental to parliamentary law as can 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 pass judgment 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 theprophet at Delphi -- I can see some Aristophanes points ofcontention with what he thought the Sophists and otherphilsophers s likewised 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 manikin andactualization, simply in the realm of possibili ty. 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 to bring in Socrates on his first appearance floating in on a basketdown to the stage.Another aspect I find interesting in Aristoph... ...Essentially, I think that The Clouds, can be a piece ofclassical Greek literature applicable to our own modern world.If we do not exit the time to examine practices and beliefs,they have the potential to lose the weight and value that theywere once based or formed on. While Aristophanes aimed atentertaining his interview through comedic satire, he also had avery serious warning -- that ended up holding true -- for thepeople of Athens. A race too proud and too sure 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 some of th eproblems 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 become the ones throwing stones at peoplewe dont agree with -- a fate almost worse than death.