In his Birds, Aristophanes seems to favor the creation of an escapist or fantasy utopia. Indeed, the two main characters, Pisthetarios and Euelpides are tired of their current situation in Athens and leave behind the city in search for greener pastures. After convincing the birds to give consent to share some of their space, Pisthetairos and Euelpides establish Cloudcuckooland and proclaim tyrannical rule. Pisthetairos, the leader of the project, outlines the functions of the new city-state in the agon on page 228-229 as well as assigning the name of the new city-state Cloudcuckooland. The outline provided clearly shows that Pisthetairos intends this new city-state to function opposite current Athens, thereby presenting a purified Athens of …show more content…
While trying to persuade the birds, Pisthetairos poses as an expert in rhetoric and sophist when he states “A dinner of words, a fat and succulent haunch of speech, a meal to shiver the soul.” Clearly, Pisthetairos shows himself as a corrupt politician and uses ambiguity in language to hide his real intent. It is worth noting that Aristophanes thought that educated citizens had the duty to protect others from deception and exhorted clarity in speech. As a result, Aristophanes opposed the sophists who taught for money as well as their deceptive rhetoric methods and found their motives to be the cause of corruption. Going back to Birds, Pisthetairos is able to persuade the birds on letting him found a city in their realm by using language. Although the birds are doubtful initially in the parados on p.221 and calls the nature of man “a liar made,” Pisthetairos is able to convince them that their existence was higher than the gods and tries to justify his argument by connecting Athena, Apollo, and Zeus to their birds on p. 226 as well as stating that “no one ever swore by the gods, but always by the birds.” Pisthetairos influences the birds’ decision regardless of true or false statements. His grandiose choice of words is also seen in the episode of naming the city Clooudcuckooland to which the Koryphaios agrees saying, “That’s it! The perfect name. And it’s a big word
Aristophanes believes that two humans used to be combined as one, and we were separated by the Gods because they thought we had too much power together. He thinks the purpose of love is to seek out our other half and be with them. In his speech, however, he fails to think about whether or not our other half is good or bad. Diotima takes goodness into account. She says “…a lover does not seek the half or the whole, unless, my friend, it turns out to be good as well” (205E). Her speech is superior to Aristophanes’ because she states clearly that you are not supposed to love someone unless they are good. By good I mean having knowledge and wisdom.
Throughout Aristophanes’ “Clouds” there is a constant battle between old and new. It makes itself apparent in the Just and Unjust speech as well as between father and son. Ultimately, Pheidippides, whom would be considered ‘new’, triumphs over the old Strepsiades, his father. This is analogous to the Just and Unjust speech. In this debate, Just speech represents the old traditions and mores of Greece while the contrasting Unjust speech is considered to be newfangled and cynical towards the old. While the defeat of Just speech by Unjust speech does not render Pheidippides the ability to overcome Strepsiades, it is a parallel that may be compared with many other instances in Mythology and real life.
Within the many layers of Aristophanes’ comedic play Clouds, the ceaseless conflict between human nature and political virtue is unmistakable. After being expelled from the Thinkery, Strepsiades refuses to give up his cause to evade his creditors and sends his reluctant son Pheidippides to learn the art of rhetoric in his place. Even before venturing to the Thinkery, Pheidippides warns his father that he will severely regret his decision to coerce him into learning with Socrates, a correct prediction. When both Strepsiades and Pheidippides enter the Thinkery, Socrates introduces both the Just Speech and Unjust Speech. Yet, he immediately exits and leaves Pheidippides to observe and “learn them [just and unjust things] himself” (886). The two
(2.36.4). Pericles proceeds to assert that Athens is a great society – citing the city’s government, culture and people as evidence.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The debate between Unjust and Just Speech in Aristophanes’ Clouds draws the reader’s attention to the theme of natural pleasure versus lawful justice. The debate begins with the two Speeches representing
Athens government and military is considerably different from their neighbors. According to Pericles, Athens government is not a copy of our neighbors...
In the Symposium, a most interesting view on love and soul mates are provided by one of the characters, Aristophanes. In the speech of Aristophanes, he says that there is basically a type of love that connects people. Aristophanes begins his description of love by telling the tale of how love began. He presents the tale of three sexes: male, female, and a combination of both. These three distinct sexes represented one’s soul. These souls split in half, creating a mirror image of each one of them. Aristophanes describes love as the search for the other half of your soul in this quote: “When a man’s natural form was split in two, each half went round looking for its other half. They put their arms around one another, and embraced each other, in their desire to grow together again. Aristophanes theme is the power of Eros and how not to abuse it.
Herodotus believed that freedom from tyranny, democracy, had a positive effect on Greek cultural identity because tyranny’s are inevitably and fundamentally weak. Tyranny weakens the city state by corruption in high offices with in the city state and suppressed new ideas and growth with in the city state. Herodotus’ opposition to tyranny is deduced from the fact that no Greek state lasted long in tyranny. As for democracy having a positive effect on Greek cultural identity, Herodotus praises the democratic system, because he sees equality as a good thing each man is able to achieve for himself while strengthening the city state. If the people are prospering and achieving then the city state prospers and grows. Democracy allowed for people to have a voice and effect change. Through democracy Greeks were able to control their own destiny, and their own success.
It is evident, by Plato's The Republic and Aristophanes The Bird's, that one's vision of an ideal state is not the same mystical utopia. Plato's Republic is an well-ordered society that emphasizes the development of the community, which leads to its people believing in this philosophy. Cloudcuckooland, the idea of two lazy Athenians, is an unorganized society that lacks the substance to make it a workable society. I would much rather live in the organized Republic to the unorganized Cloudcuckooland.
In Aristophanes’ Clouds, the character Socrates is clearly intended to be a subversive member of Athenian society. He runs the school, the Thinkery, which takes in young Athenians and teaches them what Aristophanes portrays as bizarre concepts and ideas, “whether the hum of a gnat is generated via its mouth o...
...e, the ability to manipulate words for the means of persuasion do not always have positive results. In the hands of the ignorant and irrational, persuasion becomes an evil that plagues all those who come in contact with and conform to it, but when used by the knowledgeable and thoughtful, manipulation can provide for the betterment of a society, such as the peace that ensues Odysseus's vengeance when Athena persuades them to stop the futility. Homer teaches young Athenians to be aware of the dangers of manipulation, rhetoric, and persuasion, but he also shows that a man who can do such effectively is deemed a leader, and that those who cannot are mere followers.
Humans have always journeyed in search of what they want and need. Our earliest ancestors were nomads, wandering the countryside in search of food and shelter. It is no surprise, then, that much of ancient and modern literature deals with the theme of the journey and getting what one wants. This is especially true in the writing of Aristophanes' Birds, from Aristophanes I: Clouds, Wasps, Birds, translated by Peter Meineck, published by the Hackett Publishing Company in Indianapolis, IN, in 1998. The main character, Makemedo, begins his journey by seeking a land free of worry and work, and ends it by becoming a divine ruler. His desire shifts from wanting a simple existence to wanting tremendous power. This change in his ultimate goal is shown throughout the play by a series of visits from other characters. Aristophanes uses the visitors as a way of mirroring Makemedo's journey on the path to power: the visitors represent the state of Makemedo's power, and the way he deals with them is a reflection of his status.
Aristophanes’ Greek comedy, Lysistrata has been translated many times. The key to a good translation is finding one that models what the current time frame is looking for. What would a student attending college in the year 1912, think of the translation used in our 2011 literature class? What about the choices of a literature professor, in the year 1925, when teaching this play? The tone and speech of these translations can be very different, yet mean the same thing. Lysistrata has been altered throughout time to fit the meaning and the language of the translator; however, the theme remains to be a comedy based around the main idea of antiwar. The meaning can be different for everyone. Lysistrata can support the antiwar methods of a present-day protestor or it can just be a means to entertain a person looking for a laugh. The key to making this work readable to the modern world is to pick a translation that is best suited for the present time.
Courageous and admirable with noble qualities defines a heroine. In Aristotle’s Poetics he describes a tragic hero as a character who is larger than life and through fate and a flaw they destroy themselves. Additionally, Aristotle states excessive pride is the hubris of a tragic hero. The hero is very self-involved; they are blind to their surroundings and commit a tragic action. A tragedy describes a story that evokes sadness and awe, something larger than life. Furthermore, a tragedy of a play results in the destruction of a hero, evoking catharsis and feelings of pity and fear among the audience. Aristotle states, "It should, moreover, imitate actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of tragic imitation." (18) For a tragedy to arouse fear, the audience believes similar fate might happen to them and the sight of the suffering of others arouses pity. A tragedy's plot includes peripeteia, anagnorisis, hamartia and catharsis. Using Aristotle’s criteria, both characters in Oedipus The King and The Medea share similar qualities that define a tragic hero such as being of noble birth, having excessive pride, and making poor choices. They both gain recognition through their downfall and the audience feels pity and fear.
The play starts at the doors of the king’s palace with some beggars at the door steps and the priest gathering branches of olives for wreath. Oedipus, who is the king of the place, asks them why they are grieving and praying all the time. People who had come to the palace wanted to have a word with the king concerning the things that were happening in the palace (Foster 35). The king, on the other hand, promises them that he will help them in whatever they want. In addition, citizens of this land had found themselves in a number of calamities; the reasons as to why the land had plunged into plagues was as a result of Oedipus having killed his father and ended up marrying his mother. This play is taken as an indication of human blindness; this is shown by Oedipus’ not taking into consideration the fact that what he has done could be the reasons as to why there is a plague in the land.