ARISTOPHANES’ ETHICAL AND PEGAGOGICAL DISCOURSE FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC INTERPRETIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The article makes an attempt to interpret Aristophanes’ comedy «The Clouds» by using the techniques of the classical psychoanalytical method. This approach allows viewing the work not only as a satire on the Sophists and the new Athenian education but also as manifestation of deep psychological conflicts – both individual and social. Firstly, the work analyzes the development of the main plot-forming motif – a confrontation between the father and the son, which has a distinctive Oedipal subtext: the son fights with the symbol of authority and power trying to take over his place. The symbolic «murder of the father» transforms in the struggle for power, language, and morality. Strepsiades, in this case, embodies the outdated but still dominant Athenian morality (Superego) whereas Pheidippides symbolizes the Id (It) – unconscious desires released through the new philosophy which blurs moral boundaries. The literary psychoanalysis makes it possible to define the underlying mechanisms of the author’s modeling of the ethical and pedagogical concept. The parodic and farcical depiction of the Sophist philosophers’ new pedagogical ideas can be interpreted as a projected danger of transition from an authoritarian method of education, which provides psychological stability and clarity, to more liberal and unstructured methods, which may lead to psychological crises. The image of Socrates as a dangerous sophist who corrupts the youth and denies the traditional gods represents the Athenians’ collective fear regarding the destruction of conventional moral norms, the displacement of parental authority, the change of the value system, and the emergence of a new intellectual power instead of the traditional one. Through the prism of psychoanalytical concepts, the ideological confrontation between Right and Wrong is examined, which embodied the conflict between unconscious desires and social norms. The old generation symbolizes stability and moral principles while new ideas, represented by the image of Socrates, promise more freedom, but at the same time are destructive and threaten the moral foundations of society. The psychoanalytical semantics are also present in the images of new deities – the Clouds, which appear as the personification of the irrational, chaotic, feminine principle that comes into conflict with the patriarchal, logiccentered structure of thinking. The psychoanalytical analysis of «The Clouds» reveals Aristophanes’ deep understanding of conflicts related to morality and ethics in education. Through his criticism of new pedagogical ideas, he shows the psychological risks that arise when traditional moral norms are violated.