Socrates Apology Analysis

When one thinks of an apology, they visualize a person asking forgiveness for their actions and hoping to receive a second chance, yet Socrates’ “apology” to the court is anything but that. By naming Socrates’ defense “Apology”, the author, Plato, develops an irony illustrated throughout the entire monologue. Socrates cannot overcome his pride and instead of admitting his alleged crimes and begging for his life, he mocks his accusers and praises himself. Pride can be defined as a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority. Socrates is not the only one guilty of owning such a term. In fact the main reason for Socrates’ predicament originates from the prideful men he insulted on his quest to discover a …show more content…
Socrates consistently insults Meletus’ character in order to increase his standing. Similar to a political debate, Socrates speaks in order to persuade the audience, aka the jury, that he is the better candidate or in his case the innocent man. But in doing so, similar to many politicians, he exploits the weaknesses of the opposite party’s argument in order to sway the voters to his side. Throughout the entire defense Socrates insults Meletus’ intentions, reputation, and intelligence to build on his own pride. Socrates says “I turn to the second class, who are headed by Meletus, that good and patriotic man, as he calls himself,” in which he claims Meletus’ reputation was a creation of Meletus’ own mind, and one that holds little substance or actions behind it to be worthy of such respected terms. Socrates insults Meletus’ intelligence a number of times as well as most of the audience because of his manner of speaking. His diction and tone reflects a feeling of superiority over his listeners, unintentionally insulting everyone listening, only increasing the likelihood of them finding him guilty and revealing the maliciousness and negative effects of pride. He further insults Meletus by calling his accusations a deal of nonsense that was formed from a generic issue that could be used against any philosopher. Though it may be true, the bluntness of his delivery insults Meletus and causes odious thoughts from the people who respect him. Socrates continues later in his defense by questioning Meletus’ intentions of bringing him to court. Meletus made the accusation off of the assumption that Socrates was corrupting the youth with his atheist beliefs and talk of things out of this world. He tells the audience that Meletus does not wish to keep the youth out of harm’s way, that he in fact didn’t have the smallest interest in the matter, but