Literary Analysis Essay on "The Trial and Death of Socrates"

Introduction

In Plato's book "The Trial and Death of Socrates," there is a dialogue section called "Apology" where Socrates delivers an infamous defense speech, full of persuasive language and credibility to prove his innocence and to try and free himself from societal execution. Despite all his attempts, it did not bear fruit. In his effort to clear his name from the accusations labelled against him, his speech portrayed the values of the Athens and the possible problems faced by the society at that time and possibly mirroring the society we live in in the current world. Even though it is difficult to know whether Socrates honestly stated everything written by Plato or improvised by Plato for authentic teachings, it is quite clear that the Athens people had a big problem of poor moral values as well as the old vs the youth. From the Socrates speech captured by Plato, it is clear that there was a societal split amongst the people of Athens.

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As recorded by Plato, Socrates began defending himself by first refuting all the rumors which were circulating about him before addressing the accusations from Lycon, Meletus and Anytus. He argued that he was being tried not for what he was accused of. Which was basically "corrupting the youth, studying things in the sky and below the earth, not believing in the gods and making the worse, the stronger argument" (Plato, 26), but for his bravery of questioning men who thought were wise than other people and subsequently proving that they were not as smart as they thought. While challenging men on their wisdom, Socrates, through this same argument, illustrated the virtues of the society at that time. This is evident when he replied to a man sarcastically by calling him a good citizen of Athenian, the greatest City with the reputation of both power and wisdom yet the man was not ashamed of himself with his eagerness to possess as much power and wealth as possible without caring for knowledge and truth, or even the best possible state of the soul (Plato, 32). This highlighted the misplaced values in the society where people are not concerned about the opinions of others and the truth but are only focusing on getting rich and being influential in the community.

Socrates narrated how a misplaced virtue was a recurring problem in society. He emphasized this idea that Athenian men valued what is not essential and abandoned the fundamental values in life. Through his reproachful attitude with the men he questioned, he told of how he was trying to educate and better them. He justified himself by stating that he was not going around persuading both the old and the young not to care for themselves only but to think of others as a whole and something which brings peace to the soul (Plato, 32-33). For this reason, he was on trial since he challenged men not to think of themselves alone but to change their values and what they placed their virtue into better themselves. Since the people were not ready to admit that they were wrong and they needed replacing, it indicates how the society has grown rigid, and people only care about what makes them happy without the concern whether what they are doing is morally right.

On the accusation of corrupting young men, Socrates defended himself by stating that the men followed him on their free will without being forced. "They take pleasure in hearing people being questioned; they often imitate me and try to question others," (Plato, 26). Socrates, being a person whom the society's older men despised because of his supposed "arrogant debunking" of their values and wisdom was being followed by young men around and even buying into his ideas, something which did not augur well with the old in the society (Hattersley, Michael, 24). This thereby led to the rift between the older and the younger and Socrates being branded an enemy of the society. His defense not only portrayed the in thinking and values between him and the Athens's "wise men", but it also shows how the society is reluctant in accepting change and the lack of real wisdom forms the basis of division in the community.

Socrates values greatly contrasted with the older men's values. So when the younger men accepted his reasoning and followed him, it created a division of age in society. This is societal thinking created by Meletus and the grudge between the old and the young developed. He stated, "I think they find an abundance of men who believe they have some knowledge but know little or nothing. The result is that those whom they question are angry, not with themselves but with me," (Plato, 29). In his speech trying to justify himself, Socrates not only displayed that he did not corrupt anybody, but he also displayed his "human wisdom", as put forth by him which infuriated the older men and turned them against the younger men thereby splitting the Athens into two (Reeve, 34). In my thinking, society should be ready to listen to everybody irrespective of their age and judge them solely by morals and their reasoning instead of just sticking to the preexisting traditional way of doing things.

In the Coverage of Socrates' defense speech by Plato, it compromised the accusations from Meletus and others. The coverage indicates that Socrates trial wasn't about not believing in the gods or corrupting the youth, but it was about how he was a threat in the society with his teachings about values causing differences in generations (Plato, 26). The older men saw him as a threat and a problem which needed to be fixed instantly or else they risked losing to this young man who was coming up with ideas and challenging the "wise men" thus leading to his trial and death.

Conclusion

In conclusion, as much as the values of the society need to be honored, a different thought required to be given to this values and rethought on which ones are best for the virtues and morality of the society. Generations should not be judged through age, but from what they offer and everybody can learn from each other. With the changing times and generations, every day is a learning process. The societal rift has proven to be a hindrance to cohesion amongst people; hence its root cause needs to be looked at keenly to eradicate it going forward.

Works Cited

Plato, Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates. Heritage Press, 1963.

Reeve, C. D. C. The trials of Socrates: six classic texts. Hackett Publishing, 2002.

Hattersley, Michael E. Socrates and Jesus: The argument that shaped western civilization. Algora Publishing, 2009.