STREPSIADES: Why are their arse holes gazing up to heaven?
STUDENT: Directed studies in astronomy.
I found this another sign for shapeshifting. Usually, the head is seen as the most intellectual part of the body and is revered in Greek society. However, here they have switched their heads with their bottoms, which is the one of the dirtiest parts of the body. The Student tells Strepsiades that they are studying astronomy through their bottom. How is this possible? How could they be studying astronomy through such a body part? It seems like another brilliant satire Aristophanes created.
The reason these students underwent the changes was because they were convinced the mind was more important than the body. In coming into the Thinkery, Strepsiades gives his cloak and his shoes as "a donation" even though later on in the play, the student acknowledges he stole it. The cloak and the shoes are very important articles of clothing. To abandon it was to knowingly give up all care for his body and focus on his mind only.
Now when Strepsiades undergoes his induction into the Thinkery, he is powdered with flour to gain a pasty complexion. He goes from being a country bumpkin to taking steps to develop his argumentative skills through this physical change that is required of all the students. His son takes on the same physical change.
STREPSIADES: Ah ha, my lad—
what joy. What sheer delight for me to gaze, [1170]
first, upon your colourless complexion,
to see how right away you’re well prepared 1490
to deny and contradict—with that look
which indicates our national character
so clearly planted on your countenance—
the look which says, “What do you mean?”—the look
which makes you seem a victim, even though
you’re the one at fault, the criminal.
I know that Attic stare stamped on your face.
Now you must rescue me—since you’re the one
who’s done me in.
Strepsiades sees now that his son resembles the other students, he is successful in his studies and can relieve him of his debts. When a trickster has this ability, he uses it to his advantage. Although Pheidippides has the ability to argue, he doesn't. It is Strepsiades that has to drive his debtors away, not his son. Instead Pheidippides beats his father and contributes nothing to society. Pheidippides changed, but his morals didn't. Now instead of being an idiot with a gambling problem, he's arrogant and believes himself above the usual social rules.
STREPSIADES: By god, my lad,I really did have you taught to argue
against what’s just, if you succeed in this—
and make the case it’s fine and justified
for a father to be beaten by his son.
In this way, Pheidippides embodies one of the more prominent features of a trickster beautifully.
Georgia, I want to congratulate you for making extensive use of excerpts from the play to investigate the theme or motif of shapeshifting. I had not noticed that the "inverted" posture of the students at the Thinkery fits this pattern, but now that you have pointed it out, I can see that it does. And though in a sense it's obvious, I had not really thought through the fact that the students are pasty-faced because they spend all their time inside, neglecting their bodies and developing their minds. (What confuses the matter somewhat is the similar description in the play of "cinaedi," the passive homosexuals who are often the subject of ridicule on and from the stage.) In any case, I hope we can talk some more about shapeshifting. Thinking out loud here: the typical trickster changes his shape (or disguises himself) in the service of a ruse or some tactic. In Strepsiades' case, however, he is required to adopt a new physical appearance as part of his transformation into a sophist. In other words, this happens TO him, instead of being done BY him. I'm not sure where to go from here . . .
ReplyDelete