Strepsiades AND Pheidippides... Tricksters After all?

One of the most important and over-riding trickster themes of Aristphanes' The Clouds is boundary-crossing and transgression. Strepsiades, and his son Pheidippides are able to cross these boundaries and transgress the norms of society to such a degree that it is easy to see how and why these characters are considered tricksters. Physical and social boundaries are both crossed within the course of the play.

Strepsiades crosses physical boundaries almost constantly throughout The Clouds. Whether it be from his home to the Thinkery or the threshold itself of the Thinkery, Strepsiades emerges from these boundary crossings unscathed, unharmed and unchanged. Pheidippides, on the other hand, does not remain unchanged from crossing the threshold of the Thinkery. He returns to the outside world pale and hunched. The Thinkery has been able to change him into a sophist. The ability to shape-shift is, as we've discussed in class, one of the fundamental attributes of a trickster. But, as Dr. Abbot asks in Georgia's blog post, does it matter that Pheidippides had no real control over this change and what does that mean in the greater understanding of the play? What does it mean that although Strepsiades wishes to shape-shift, or change, into a sophist, he is unable to? I'm not sure of the answer to these questions. Maybe we can discuss it further in class.

Pheidippides also crosses social boundaries. After being fetched from the Thinkery, Pheideippides is able to present a rational argument about why it is correct and moral for sons to beat their fathers. This inversion of the traditional Greek family life crossed many social boundaries, but it is not until Pheidippides uses the same reasoning to argue that it is okay for sons to beat their mothers, that he has crossed an uncrossable boundary. To borrow a popular phrase, that is the straw that breaks the camel's back. Strepsiades curses Pheidippides and asks if it would not be better if Pheidippides threw himself, Socrates and the Worse Argument into the execution pit.