The Clouds

The Clouds is Aristophanes’ comedy about Strepsiades, a debt-ridden father who hopes that rhetorical training will help his household evade its creditors. The school’s teacher is a comic caricature of Socrates, rather than a dependable portrait of the historical philosopher. When the son acquires the argumentative skills his father desires, the consequences return upon the family. Through rival kinds of reasoning and a chorus of clouds, the play asks what education should cultivate and what happens when verbal success becomes detached from responsibility.