Strepiades
An Athenian for whom the fates have apparently decide that price of attaining great wealth is a son who just doesn’t seem to “get” the value of money. Thanks to his son’s gambling problem, Strepiades is watching helplessly as he moves closer and closer toward being referred to as formerly wealthy. The sight of all these Sophists making a rhetorical nuisance of themselves by confounding logic and confusing the people of Athens gives him a wonderful, awful idea: enroll his son in the Thoughtery School run by Socrates so he can master the art of manipulating language to the point of utterly deceiving his creditors and retaining his wealth.
Phidippides
Not so much accurately described as lazy as much as he is possession of a spiritual lethargy, the son of Strepiades is moved to action when a wager is on the line. This allure of gambling has not been equally matched with the blessing of luck and the result has been a steady decline in the family fortunes. This is the precisely the leverage that father needs to get him to enroll in the Sophist Thinking-School headed by Socrates. Much of the humor produced by this comedy is derived from the ironic outcome of this battle of wills. Although Phidippides enrolls only under pressure and protest, what his education winds up becoming is the accumulation of skills which allows to produce what seems to be fairly rational argument justifying his sudden violent and insolent behavior toward both parents.
Socrates
Renowned philosopher and head of the Sophist School known as the Thoughtery (Thinking School). When Phidippides initially refuses to enroll in the school so that his father may carry out his plan, he decides to try become a pupil himself. The result is a philosophical engagement by Socrates that only succeeds in baffling Strepiades and leaving Socrates certain beyond all doubt that the man is simply too older learn anything new. Eventually, Socrates will find himself instructing the man’s son and succeed beyond all expectations in education him the slanderous version of the real life historical figure that Aristophanes has transformed into the head of school of thought based on the foundation of making any weaker argument over the issue the stronger one through manipulation of language.
The Cloud Chorus
It would not be a Greek play without a Chorus, right? In this instance, the Chorus are literally the goddesses of persuasion who fulfill their role as commentators pointing out the folly of the bad decision that silly humans can’t help making. They also are fond of handing out advice to Socrates on how most efficient means of using existing ignorance of people against them to take further advantage of their stupidity.
