Aristotle’s “Types of States” and Aristophanes’ “The Birds” seem completely unrelated initially however when “Types of States” and “The Birds” read closely both share the common theme of government and how government can greatly influence the way society works. Aristotle and Aristophanes contributed their ideas of government through their works each explaining in their own way how government affected society; Aristotle explaining directly in “Types of States” and Aristophanes showing what he believed would happen through means of entertainment in “The Birds”. The purpose of both writings was to be used as an attempt to convince the audience of their views on government persuading the audience to adopt their ideas. Aristotle and Aristophanes,
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Aristotle wrote about tyrannical governments not because he wanted others to adopt this system but rather he wanted it to be abolished entirely believing tyranny was the uttermost corrupt form of government. Aristotle claimed “This tyranny is just that arbitrary power of an individual which is reasonable to know one, and governs all alike, whether equals or better, with a view to its own advantage, not to that of its subjects, and therefore against their will” (Aristotle 559). Tyrannies are only based on the power of one individual being greater than everyone else’s individual power, allowing them to rule without discomposure, and insuring the citizens of such a government are treated as slaves only to be used by their leader for his own purposes. Tyrannies only benefit one person and harm everyone else, Aristotle wrote about these issues on tyrannical governments in attempt to discourage their practice in the world. Aristotle wanted to spread his ideas to help educate others on the principals of good government as well as the bad. Aristophanes also conveys the same idea of the oppression caused by tyranny, by displaying it in “The Birds”. 16 …show more content…
Throughout “The Birds” Aristophanes has his characters mention a wide variety of cities with differing governments all of which are disregarded as horrible place for comedic effect when in fact they are great cities. For example “Let’s see. What shall our city be called? / Will it have a high sounding Laconian name? Shall we call it Sparta? / What call my town Sparta? Why I would not use esparto for my bed, even though I had nothing but bands of rushes” (Aristophanes 607-8). Euelpides claims he would never name a city Sparta as he wants nothing to do with such a place; Sparta being the very same place Aristotle believed to have the closest thing to a perfect government. Aristophanes has his characters make these claims, not because he hates these places, but because he is showing you how moronic these characters truly are for not wanting to live in such a great place. In reality whenever a character within “The Birds” disregards a place Aristophanes is trying to show these places to be the place you should actually want to live because of their great governments and people would be moronic to not want to live in such places. TRANSITION LINES
Aristotle wrote about tyrannical governments not because he wanted others to adopt this system but rather he wanted it to be abolished entirely believing tyranny was the uttermost corrupt form of government. Aristotle claimed “This tyranny is just that arbitrary power of an individual which is reasonable to know one, and governs all alike, whether equals or better, with a view to its own advantage, not to that of its subjects, and therefore against their will” (Aristotle 559). Tyrannies are only based on the power of one individual being greater than everyone else’s individual power, allowing them to rule without discomposure, and insuring the citizens of such a government are treated as slaves only to be used by their leader for his own purposes. Tyrannies only benefit one person and harm everyone else, Aristotle wrote about these issues on tyrannical governments in attempt to discourage their practice in the world. Aristotle wanted to spread his ideas to help educate others on the principals of good government as well as the bad. Aristophanes also conveys the same idea of the oppression caused by tyranny, by displaying it in “The Birds”. 16 …show more content…
Throughout “The Birds” Aristophanes has his characters mention a wide variety of cities with differing governments all of which are disregarded as horrible place for comedic effect when in fact they are great cities. For example “Let’s see. What shall our city be called? / Will it have a high sounding Laconian name? Shall we call it Sparta? / What call my town Sparta? Why I would not use esparto for my bed, even though I had nothing but bands of rushes” (Aristophanes 607-8). Euelpides claims he would never name a city Sparta as he wants nothing to do with such a place; Sparta being the very same place Aristotle believed to have the closest thing to a perfect government. Aristophanes has his characters make these claims, not because he hates these places, but because he is showing you how moronic these characters truly are for not wanting to live in such a great place. In reality whenever a character within “The Birds” disregards a place Aristophanes is trying to show these places to be the place you should actually want to live because of their great governments and people would be moronic to not want to live in such places. TRANSITION LINES