Aristophanes' Clouds
Clouds
The characters in Aristophanes' Clouds represent several social classes. Within the family of Strepsiades, three different examples of class status are represented.
Working Class
Strepsiades- Strepsiades is of a working class status. He is in debt and wants to find a way to avoid paying his creditors. His desperate situation is shown when he says, "It's my money...While I am saddled with lawsuits and debts and my creditors can't wait to seize my property" (33-35).
Upper Class
Strepsiades' wife- Strepsiades' wife is of an upper class. Strepsiades compares the difference between his wife's lifestyle and his own, "I was just a plain boy, but she was from the city and had all these refined and delicate ways. A proper little lady...She smelled of fine perfume, golden saffron, sexy kisses, extravagance and luxury" (47-52).
Mix of Classes
Pheidippides- Pheidippides, their son, is a mix of upper and working class. He is caught between the luxuries of the wealthy, and the frugal lifestyle of the working class. This is shown in the play by the contrasting attitudes of his father and mother. His mother tells him, "When you grow up, you'll be a rich man like uncle Megacles and drive a chariot through the city wearing a beautiful golden robe" (68-70). In contrast, his father tells him, "When you're big you'll be just like your father and drive goats down from the mountains, wearing a lovely leather jerkin" (71-72). Pheidippides grows up with conflicting ideas about status and wealth. He lives the lifestyle of the working class, but spends money on horses, a luxury of the wealthy. Since he has grown up wasting money on horses, he is responsible for his father's debts. He prompts Strepsiades to say, "I don't want to hear about the god of horses! He's the very reason that I'm in this mess" (84-85). By the end of the play, although Pheidippides is a mixture of both classes, ultimately he mostly represents the upper class as a student of the Inferior Argument.
Class differences are also represented by Socrates and his students of the Pondertorium.
Upper-Working Class
Socrates- Socrates is a philosopher and teacher, thus representing a working class that is closely associated with the upper class. All of his students are from upper class families and, because of this, the Pondertorium itself represents an elite, upper class institution: "I'm not sure I know their [student's] names, but they are all gentlemen, good and true, and fine philosophers of the finite" (101-102). This idea is also upheld by the fact that the Pondertorium does not teach anything useful: "Just now, Socrates asked Chaerephon how many feet a flea could jump, calculating the equation of one flea foot for a foot" (144-145). Socrates himself is not an upper-class man because he must work for his living, but because he is associated with the wealthy and educated, he represents a mix of both lower and upper class. Socrates also commands a certain amount of status, as a revered teacher and leader, thus representing the upper class more than the lower. This is shown in the play by the fact that when Strepsiades first meets Socrates, the philosopher is suspended in the air:
STREP: But why do you need to float on a rack to scorn the
gods? If you have to do it, why not do it on the ground?
SOCRATES: In order that I may make exact discoveries
of the highest nature! Thus, my mind is suspended to create only elevated notions.
The grains of these thoughts then merge with the similar atmosphere of thin
air! If I had remained earthbound and attempted to scrutinize the heights, I
would have found nothing; for the earth forces the creative juices to be drawn
to its core, depriving one of the all important "water on the brain!"
(226-234)
Finally, class consciousness and status are represented through the creditors.
Upper-Working Class
Creditors- The creditors represent an upper working class because, while they are workers, they have enough money to lend finances out to others, putting them in a position of power and influence. Strepsiades manages to bring the creditors down from their positions of power by denying them payment for his debts:
2ND CREDITOR: You may mock me, sir, but all I want is for
your son to repay the money that he borrowed from me, particularly in light
of my recent hapless misadventure.
STREP: What money?
2ND CRED: The money that I lent him.
STREP: Oh dear, I can see that you're in a bit
of a mess.
2ND CRED: I was rounding a bend and fell out of
my chariot. (1267-1273)
The creditors represent a high status that is dependent on their debtors. While they are powerful, they are also influenced greatly by whether or not their loans are paid back: "So what's a man supposed to do, throw his money down the drain? Not likely, I shouldn't have felt so embarrassed, I should have just said no right when he [Strepsiades] asked me [1st Creditor] for the loan, then I wouldn't be in this mess" (1214-1216).