HONR 1101 Lecture : Clouds.docx
Document Summary
Aristophanes" play is satirical in many ways, but i think clouds mainly seems to be targeting the revolutionary social and intellectual/educational changes. Aristophanes focuses on the controversy between old traditions of athens and the new traditions of the sophists. In the play, the sophists and their new traditions are represented by the thinkery . The old traditions are portrayed by the better argument and also by the clouds, although i didn"t truly know or understand the motives of the clouds until the end. Aristophanes uses this play to question and even mock both the old and the new values in athens. When better and worse argue it serves to show the strengths and weaknesses of both sets of values. For example, better argument supports his case by pointing to its success in the past: isn"t that precisely how / my generation"s education / bred the men of marathon? (ix, 985-987).
