Strepsiades

Character Analysis

Strepsiades is the central protagonist of The Clouds, but he's anything but heroic—and it's pretty hard to root for him as a result. We start out feeling sorry for the guy (after all, his son's bad behavior has driven him into piles of debt) but he soon spends all our goodwill by being totally corrupt and immoral. He reveals himself as weak, at best, and totally, completely morally bankrupt, at worst. Let's take a closer look at our man Strepsiades.

He's Easily Manipulated

Like we said, we feel bad for Strepsiades at first, since his son apparently takes total advantage of him—and he himself is the first to complain about it, scolding his (sleeping) son about the dire straits he's in because of Pheidippides's fondness for horseracing:

"It's you, dear lad, who's been rolling—in my money. / And now I've been served papers, and other creditors are threatening to sue me." (33-34)

Poor dude. Seems pretty pitiful and worthy of sympathy, right? Well, maybe not…

He's Not That Innocent 

Instead of trying to find an honest or just way to get rid of his debts, Strepsiades's first instinct is to try to cheat his way out of it—or argue his way out of it, actually. He decides that Pheidippides should go enroll at the local "Thinkery" and learn how to convince his debtors to let him off the hook:

"I'm told they have both kinds of argument: / the Better, whatever that is, and the Worse. / And one of these Arguments, the worse, I'm told, / can argue even an unjust case and win! / So if you could learn this Worse Argument for me, / then all these debts I owe on your account/I wouldn't have to pay, not even a penny!" (112-118)

See? He's kind of unsavory.

He does eventually figure out that trying to argue your way out of debts is wrong, but he only gets the message as his son beats him up—and then uses his newfangled education to justify the violence. So, even then, his morals are more about self-interest than a deeper understanding of right and wrong.

He's Also, Er, Not That Bright

Strepsiades doesn't exactly have a quick wit, which he himself totally admits. When Pheidippides refuses to go to the Thinkery and learn the logic needed to shake off the creditors, Strepsiades reluctantly resolves to do it, but he worries about whether his brains are up to the challenge:

"And I won't take this setback lying down. / I'll say a little prayer and go myself / to the Thinkery to get an education. / But how's an old man like me, forgetful and dense, / to learn precise, hair-splitting arguments?" (126-130)

Well, with that kind of attitude, how can you possibly expect to succeed, right?

He also admits that his memory is pretty selective. For example, when he gets to the Thinkery and Socrates asks about it, Strepsiades says,

"Well, I've got two kinds: / if someone owes me money, it's very good; / but if it's me that owes, it's awful bad." (483-485)

So, we guess this is where his moral compass dictates how sharp he is—if he owes someone money, his wits fail him. It's kind of funny, but it's also super morally wrong. You can't use the "dog ate my homework" excuse for everything, dude.

Potty in the USA, er, Athens 

Strepsiades is majorly into the scatological stuff. What does that mean, exactly? Just that he loves potty talk and humor. For example, when he's introduced to the Clouds (who are Socrates's/the play's version of gods), he greets them with,

"Honored Clouds, I do revere you; / let me answer with a fart / all their thunder: that's how scared they've made me, that's how terrified! / Now, if it's allowed, or even if it's not, I need to crap!" (293-295)

Needless to say, Socrates is annoyed at this less-than-reverent (and super-gross) welcome.

Later, while Strepsiades is supposed to be lying on the floor contemplating life, he claims he's engaging in a little of the ol' self-love. Okay, that's not exactly potty-related, but he's definitely pretty body-oriented. Also, again: gross! You could get arrested for those shenanigans.

Basically, he's like the class clown multiplied by a thousand… minus a moral compass and plus some pretty insane-o and nasty public masturbation.