In Plato’s Apology, Socrates, an Athenian philosopher, is accused of not believing in the gods by corrupting the youth with his philosophical beliefs. Socrates uses the forces of logos and ethos to build the trust of his audience over his accusers, Meletus and Anytus, who have created prejudices against him in trial. Socrates uses a grand mixture of socratic irony and rhetorical devices to make his claim and prove his point in efforts to hopefully help find his innocence. However, in doing so, he reveals to the audience what kind of a person he is: a haughty, gadfly kind of man with an undesirable temperament. Although Socrates is indeed arrogant and comes off as egotistical, he is in fact quite admirable. “Let the judge decide justly and …show more content…
If the possession of such knowledge can be learned or taught, then so can virtue. It did not matter whether you were born with these ethics and morals or not; so long as you willingly sought out the knowledge of wisdom over material gain, and made an effort to understand, then all was right in life. This is what Socrates tried so desperately to elucidate while addressing the jury, but his pompous personality quite often got in the way from achieving his goal. In the end, the jury finds Socrates guilty, and condemns him to death; not before, however, he gets his last word in. “But I had not the boldness or impudence or inclination to address you as you would have liked me to address you” (Plato pg. 7). As the trial come to a close, Socrates suggests that if he were to have appealed to the jury’s mercy instead of speaking his truth, he may not have been found guilty. He would rather die and sacrifice his life for the principles he believed in to live on and impact the lives of others. His stance on his condemnation may make him seem overbearing, but it shows how seriously he was taking his …show more content…
Socrates played dumb during his speech and toyed with his audience. It is hard to build trust when you hold yourself higher than the others around you. Interesting enough, Socrates even had the gall to accuse the O men of Athens of not believing in the gods themselves, and place the blame on them for their failing civilization. If Socrates wanted to get the jury to pity him and believe he was not guilty, then he should not have spoken poorly about the others the way he didㅡthis much is true. Regardless, as Socrates said, “I would rather die having spoken after my manner, than speak in your manner and live” (Plato pg. 7). The satisfaction of teaching the audience the true difference between right and wrong, and telling them what they could accomplish if only they had listened to his words, was immense. Through it all, Socrates stands up for what he believes is right over what the general population wants, no matter the consequences. He may be arrogant, as discussed, but he is not afraid to be himself, which is a fundamental aspect of human life that many people struggle with, especially in today’s