The given works provide many insights into our life of today. Thus, in his work “Clouds” Aristophanes portrays a lying and vicious Socrates, who takes money from his pupils in exchange for mysterious knowledge. With unscrupulous sophistic speeches, Socrates seduces the youth, and leads the young astray from the true path – in a word, the philosophy of Socrates corrupts the younger generation and brings undoubted evil to the Athenians.
This Socrates’ teaching parallels numerous religious groups of today, who, pursuing their own goals, speak about goodness and honesty. They corrupt youth by imposing their dogma on young people’s minds; corruptive influence lies at the core of many juvenile crimes of today. Another problem raised in “Clouds” is using appeal to mysterious knowledge for one’s enrichment. Thus, nowadays, many charlatans claim to possess unique knowledge or abilities, and often desolated people see them as a last resort to get what they want. Be it a case of severe illness of relatives or the loss of love, many people are ready to give charlatans all their money in hope of recovery.
Another thing vividly depicted in Aristophanes’ work is the conflict between fathers and children. The misunderstanding between the father and the son reaches its peak when the son is ready to hit his father; the inability to find common ground on different problems gives rise to anger and rage. In this respect, Athenian society was not significantly different from ours since the misunderstanding between generations today is as sharp as ever. The older generation wants the youth to share their values and beliefs, and young people are rebellious and want to find their own path in life.
