How Does Aristophanes Present Plato In The Apology

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Plato's The Apology is the speech Socrates made when he was in trial being charged with not recognizing the gods of the the state, inventing new deities, and corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates' speech, however, is by no means an "apology" in the denoted reference of the word. In fact, Socrates attempts to defend himself and his conduct--certainly not to apologize for it. Meletus, the chief accuser of Socrates, brings him to trial on these accounts in the aforementioned. Although Socrates does a good job of making Meletus look foolish during the trial, he does not address the underlying charges that have been raised against him, which ultimately renders his defense unsuccessful.

For the most part, Socrates speaks in a very …show more content…

In his play, The Clouds, Aristophanes lampooned Socrates by presenting him as the paradigm of atheistic, scientific sophistry. Yet it is unlikely that Aristophanes would have intended these charges to be taken seriously, since Plato depicts Aristophanes and Socrates as being on very good terms with each other in the Symposium. "For those who are examined, instead of being angry with themselves, are angry with me!" This is the essential reconciliation for why Socrates is considered wise, and, at the same time, acquired a bad reputation among the most socially powerful …show more content…

He indicates that Chaerephon, known for his wisdom all around, went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked the oracle to tell him whether anyone was wiser than Socrates. The oracle responded by saying that there was no man wiser. Socrates indicates that he was shocked by this statement: on the one hand, it is against the nature of the oracle to lie, but, on the other hand, he knew he was not wise. Therefore, he set out to find someone wiser than himself, so that he could let the oracle know of the error made. This is what led him to the examination of everyone who was known to be wise, and his cause to test the politicians, poets and scholars. But, in doing so, he found that none of them possessed wisdom. For those examined, they did not know how to come to terms of them being imposters of wisdom, so not to be at a loss of a defense, these people merely state the prejudicial charges that Socrates is an abomination and corrupts the youth.

On trial, with his life at stake, Socrates keeps his cool and defends his way of life as unassailably just. But he doesn’t justify the accusations at all. Socrates is not discussing and dismantling any one particular claim so much as he is laying out the method behind these

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