Plato Apology

The term apology stems from the Greek word apologia which means ‘to defend’. In this essay I would like to explain why I believe that The Apology by Plato should be classified as pity and fear, in regards to Greek tragedy. I believe that this is true because I can personally empathize with Socrates; this will be discussed later on in this paper. A tragic hero is considered to be an individual with an intellectual flaw or error, Socrates fits this description; Socrates failed to understand that he could not sympathize with the jurors because they only wanted to acknowledge his prior offenses, whilst he only sought out telling the truth, and not sullying his own moral code. Socrates could be considered a tragic hero because he had one primary …show more content…
Socrates said “It is not a lack of arguments that has caused my condemnation, but a lack of effrontery and impudence, and the fact that I have refused to address you in the way which would give you most pleasure. You would have liked to hear me weep and wail, doing and saying all sorts of things which I regard as unworthy of myself, but which you are used to hearing from other people. But I did not think then that I ought to stoop to servility because I was in danger, and I do not regret now the way in which I pleaded my case. I would much rather die as the result of this defense than live as the result of the other sort. In a court of law, just as in warfare, neither I nor any other ought to use his wits to escape death by any means.”(p.67) In his eyes if he were to have bowed his head he would lose his honor, because grovelling at someone's’ feet does not grant you respect, just humiliation. There are some cases where it is best to bite your tongue and back down, but in this particular situation it wasn’t the best course of action; Socrates was able to salvage his honor because he did not yield from his beliefs. I believe that you should never surrender, even if it is painful, the pain will subside, however the strength that you have acquired will not. A prime example of this would be how he retaliated, although many people opposed him. In the end …show more content…
From my research it’s apparent that Socrates would have answered ‘yes’, in fact here is a quote from him acknowledging the fact that he knew he was going to die one way or another: “If you had waited just a little while, you would have had your way in the course of nature. You can see that I am well on in life and near to death.” (p.67) I'm not saying that Socrates was joking around the whole time, because that is obviously not the case, Socrates fought back with all the knowledge or lack thereof that he had; he wanted to win. Unfortunately it was futile, once he realized that he may have became a little bit cockier. Socrates ended up threatening the court, he implied that vengeance and wrath would befall them, this would be a punishment would plague them to a greater extent than his own punishment. Socrates stated that the death penalty did not bother him; he said “I suspect that this thing that has happened to me is a blessing, and we are quite mistaken in supposing death to be an evil.” (68) Along with “Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told. It is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another.”(68) either way, Socrates tells the court that the punishment in which they have threatened him with is