Do Not Assume Socrates Opinions Are those of Plato

While Plato records Socrates’ words and dialogues, it cannot be assumed that the opinions Socrates expresses are those of Plato. However, in the discussion of imitation in Republic, Book III the two philosophers’ views align. Plato’s use of the various types of narrative Socrates outlines displays the very point Socrates concludes on concerning imitation and conveys Plato’s ultimate point about imitation, that only good men performing good actions should be imitated.

During the discussion with Thrasymachus in Book I Plato uses the different forms of narrative to the same effect Socrates describes in Book III while discussing imitation. While outlining the education of the guardians Socrates explains the difference between narrative alone and narrative through imitation. He tells Adeimantus that narrative through imitation is when dialogue is used and the poet “speaks as if he were Chryses” or any other character (Republic, 393a). Thus when a writer states exactly what a character says, as if he were that character, he is imitating him. Narrative alone is when “the poet himsel...