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Comparing Socrates Clouds And Aristophanes

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Plato creates a whitewashed image of Socrates, completely undermining the image presented in Aristophanes Clouds. As compared to Aristophanes' clouds, Plato portrays Socrates as wise, humble and sophisticated. Plato was a student of Socrates, whereas Aristophanes was a comic writer and a friend. The original Socrates is unknown, therefore we can only evaluate what others have written about him. Aristophanes writings seems to be a reflection of the public opinion. Plato's account shows more of what Socrates intended and a deeper understanding of his reasoning. Both authors show that Socrates is accused of injustice. He is corrupting the youth by teaching them intelligent ways to win arguments, whether right or wrong. In the Clouds, Aristophanes shows Socrates as guilty. The court usually gives the defendant to speak in his defense and convince he judges that he is innocent. Aristophanes shows that Socrates teaches those who are not innocent to have unjust arguments using false claims. Strepsiades enrolls his son into Socrates' school so that he can learn these skills and win the case with his creditors. When the “unjust argument” and “just argument” argue, …show more content…

The presence of bugs in Socrates' school shows that it was unclean and unsuitable for proper research. Aristophanes also uses bugs because of their size. Their size makes them less significant just like the “unjust argument”. Sophists use the “unjust argument” because it has false accusations and is more focused on inappropriate and distracting details. Secondly, Socrates would say this is not a bad thing. He refers to the bed full of fleas as appropriate and good for creative thought. The bed is unclean and shows how negative it is to believe that it is good for creative thought. It is harmful to the person who practices “unjust argument” as well as those around him, just like the bed of fleas is harmful to the person sleeping on it and people around

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