Literature Assignment | Custom Assignment Help

In which ways do ancient literatures, such as those we have been reading in Norton Anthology of World Literature. Fourth Edition, Package 1 (Volumes A, B, and C} offer us problem solving tools for the current pandemic? (including analysis of a theoretical position, and comparison of works from three different cultures; 8 pages) Please remember that the prompt is not a thesis. The thesis is your own organizing principle for the Research Paper!PLATO
429-347 B.C. E.
t is o ft en sa id t ha t a ll la te r Weste rn
p hilo so phica l writings are m ere ”foot n
o tes to Pla to … Pl ato ‘s dia logu es have
s ha ped how w e think a bout po litics,
e thics. meta phys ics, re aso n , e ducatio n ,
truth, d e sire , Cod , a nd th e s oul. But
Pla t o was n o t o nl y a gre a t thinke r but
a l so a great w rit er. The brillia nce of his
lite ra ry achie ve ment was recogni z.ed in
antiq uity . T h e a n c ie nt c ritical work O n
tlie S11bli111e im agines Pla to ch a ll e nging
Home r to a wrestling m a t c h : h e is
the o nly late r writ e r, the author s uggests,
wh ose w ork c ould possibly riva l
the Iliad a nd the Odyssey. Plat o’s di a logu
e s h ave the in te ll ectual co m plexity
o f gr eat philosophy, but also th e com e
dy, pa thos. a nd vivid evocation s of
peo ple a nd pl aces tha t we a ssocia te
” it h g re a t drama- or the nove l.
LIFE AND TIME S
Plato ca me from a prominent a nd aris to
c r a tic Athe nia n fa mily. In his youth,
h e was appa r e ntly inte re s ted m a inly
in poetry (we a re to ld that he composed
at least o ne traged y), a nd in spo rts.
Plat o m e a n s ‘ ‘broad-s houlde r e d” and is
p roba bly a nic kna m e fro m h is wre s tling
d a ys: his real n a m e was appa re
ntly Aristoeles. But Pla to’s life was
c h a n ged wh e n , in hi s la t e teens o r
twe n ti e s, h e e ncounte red the m ost
pro mine nt of th e Sophi s ts (“wisdo m
t e achers”) in the c it v: Socrate s.
Socrate s, oft e n s~en as th e world’s
fi rs t ph ilo,oph e r , wro t e n o thing. H e
111 u , 1 h ave h ec n a n e., traord inary
p e rs o n , inspi r ing tl c , ot io n in h is
fo ll owers- from all wa lks o f Athe nian
society- as we ll as mis trus t nn d eontro\
CrS\ a mo n g tho , c o utsid e h is int imate
c ircle. i\ I a n y o f his a c q uaintanc es and
s tude nts wro te ~ia lo~ues fe at u ri ng fictiona
li ze d portra it s o f the maste r. Pl ato
a nd Xe n ophon are th e o nl y students of
Socra tes w hose work s u rvives in bulk
a nd they g ive us t wo very differe nt ver ‘.
sio ns of the idea l thinke r, teache r, and
moral he ro. Xen o pho n ‘s Socrates is a
con ve ntion a l teach e r who r e comme nds
commo n -sen se prin c ipl e s a nd who
te aches in a fairly straig htfo rwa rd war:
by t elling p eople w ha t to J o and think.
Pla to ‘s Socrat e s is a puZ7.l in g a nd fa sc
ina ting fi g ure, w h o c la ims no t to be a
teac h e r al a ll , and w h o works by means
o f q u e s tio n s , i ro n y, a nd myth. It is
impossib le t o know whic h of th ese lite
rary c h a rac t e rs com e s closer t o th e
his to ri cal So cra t es. M o re over, Pla to’s
depi c ti on of Soc ra tes varies en ormouslr
from o ne tex t to a nothe r. In som~.
Socrat e s professes tota l ig nora nce, and
the result of all his questi o ns is only to
s h ow that oth e r p eople , too, hal’e
in comple te underst a nding o f basic evalua
ti ve con cepts lik e cou rage, pl easure,
a nd ho lin ess. In others , Pla t o’s Socrate s
ma kes fa r mo re s uhs t a ntive philoso phi
cal cl.1im s. P e rhaps Pla to modula ted
the cha r a cte r o f Socrates depe ndi ng on
the s e tting or genre of each dia logue. In
a ny c a se, probably non e of the dialogues
refl e c ts the real S~crates wi th a nv d egree
o f pre cision; a ll are the lite rary ; nd ph ilosophical
crea ti on o f Plato. –
W hat is certain is t hat the life and.
still m ore , the death o f S ocrat es had n
profound impa c t on Athe ni a n society
in general, a nd o n Pla to in pa rt icular. In
399 B. C.E . , whe n Pla to would have been
thirty, Socra t e s was put o n trial fo r
in ve n tin g new de ities, fa iling to belirre
in the god s o f the c it y, a n d ”corrupting
the yo uth” ; n one of these thin gs were
infract ions of s pecific laws, but Socra tes
5 p robabl y c ha rged u nder the ge neral ,va .. . . ..
Ja ,” 11ga ins l 1mp1et y.
Five years b efore Socrates· tri a l. Athe
ns h ad lost t he P elopo n ncs ia n War.
In the afte rma th of the war, Ath enia n
democ ra tic govern ment fa ile d: many
citizen s bla me d d e mocracy fo r the ba d
decis ions th e c ity h a d made durin g the
long year s of w a r. A r e pressive d ict a torial
r egime, do min a te d by thirty A the nians
o f oliga rc hi c sympathie s, seize d
p ower in pla ce of the rul e of the people.
“The T hirty.” a s they ca m e to be
know n , were overt h rown eight months
la te r , a nd a d e mo c ratic con stitut io n
wa s re instituted . Som e me mbe rs of the
Thirty, as well as o the r prominen t
Athe nia n s who h a d or were s u sp ecte d
of antide moc ratic lea nings, were associate
s o f Soc ra t es; o ne, C ritias . wa s
Pl a to’s unc le . T he tria l may well h ave
been p a rt of the r eaction against the
Thirty, e specia lly since on e of the main
acc users , Anytus, was a lea der of the
restored d e m ocracy. Socrates was de cla
re d guilty a nd conde mned to d eath.
The m eans o f e xecutio n was drinking
poison ( hemloc k). Plato tell s us that
he himself was s ic k, and could n ot be
present a t the mo m ent of his be loved
teac h e r ‘s d e ath. But he wrote in the
Phaed o a fi c tio n a l account of t he brave
death of S ocrates, s urrounded by lm~ng
a nd inte llectua l followers. and ma int
a inin g his philosophi ca l p rin ciples
ri ght up to the end .
After Soc rate s died. Plato became
a write r, philosopher, a nd teac h e r .. He
fea tured So crat es a s the p ri ncip a l
s peake r in philosophical d ia logu es tha t
ex-plored a variety of ethical and pohllcal
pro ble m s; the Republic. a n a ccou nt
of a n ideal po litica l and educati,~n ~I S) Ste
m, is the most fa mous . P lato s imagine
d c ity is n o t a de moc r acy: indeed ,
de m ocracy- the syste m untle r “hich
Socra tes was conde m ned- is ro untl ly
criticized a s little be tte r tha n I yran,w,
l’I \1 0 8 2 9
since. Plato’s Socrates s uggests h e re , it
gi ,·cs po, ,er to the igno rant many ove r
t he enligh ten e d rew. Idea ll y. t h is te , t
SU)(!(e~ts, rul e rs s ho uld become p h ilosophe
rs or p hilosophe r s. ru le rs: unde r
su c h a system . it imp lies, a 111 :1 11 like
Socrates wo ul cl n ot be a c r imi nn l con dem
ned 10 death , but wo ul d be ac l..n o\l Iedged
as the leader he dese rved to be .
Beyond \\ril ing. Plato m a de s everal
other kinds of :1t1 cmpt, to educa t t· h is
contemporaries and clwnge the wcict y
around him . I-l e fo unded t he /\cadem y
(fro m ,,hic h we get the mo dern t e r m
acacl emics). whi c h was the t’:trl ie s t
proto type for t he mod e rn u nivers ity,
th e first-ever philosophical school wi t h
a pe rma ne nt loca t io n. T he Acad e m y
rerna inetl ac t h e as a cente r of ph il osophical
train ing a nd rese a rc h until it
was supprcssccl by th e Ro ma n empe ror
Jus ti nian in 529 c.E. Pl ato a lso m a de
t hree tri ps to S ic il v. trying tn conve rt
the tyra nts o f Syracuse into philosopher-
ki ngs. He fa iled : b ut, mo re importa
nt. he t ried-despite the fa c t that tht·
Sic ili an court was hardl y a safe e n vi•
ronmcnt fo r a n in te rfering A thenian
p hilosoph er, a nti th ese trips coulcl ~\’e ll
have resulte d in slave ry o r dea th. fhc
attemp t shows th e tlept h o r h is com mitme
nt to t ryi ng to c ha nge th e worl d
a nd to be, like his hclovetl Socrates, n o t
onk a 1ealou s id ea li stic philosopher
bui° also a brn, c and good m an . I le
devot ed the la st thirtee n yea rs o f hi s
life to teach in!!, a nti writing at his Ac ade
my. wh ere h e d ie d anti wa s buri e d .
TII C Sl’,\ll’O~IUM
The SJ III/JO>i t11 11 (whic h mea n , ” D r in~ing
Party”) i, d esern:tl ly <H~e o l Pla to s
bes t -kJ\cd \l ur ks. Its ,u bJect- ,e, ual
lo,·e. fo r \\hic h the Cret’ k t e rm i, Ero, is
of un ive rsa l inlc re,t :, m l appe al. T h is
di alogue has a ” idc ra nge· ”. f ,·h id c h ‘.1racters.
all has e d o n rea l historical fi g ure,
\\ ho m Pla to k new. ‘ I hes.· inc l udl’
th e sent ime nta l vo u ng t ragic poetodern readers usually find Athe’
VI nian drama easy to appreciate.
Aristophanes· physical, earthy humor
is still funny today, and his wild fantasies
raise political and social questions
that are still relevant in modern
times. The tragedies of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides provide
compelling stories about human relationships,
whose absorbing, often violent
or melodrama tic plots invite us to
think about profound issues, such as
the nature of justice, the meaning of
suffering, and clashes between family
and state and between human and
divine perspectives.
But the original performance contexts
of Greek drama were radically different
from anything modern readers
and theatergoers have ell.perienced. The
city fe stivals of Athens, at which all
new comedies and tragedies were first
pe rformed, involved a mixture of things
we usually regard as wholly separate:
politics. re ligion, music, poetry, serious
drama, slapstick, open-air spectacles,
and dance. For the combination of
drama with song and dance, in a popular
format performed for large audiences,
our closest ana logy might be the
Broad11ay musical. Like Greek tragedy.
shows ~uch as Beauty and t,lie Beast and
The Little Mennaid update a traditional.
mythic story for a contemporary
audi ence. But Broadway shows usually
wke place indoors, and have no ob,~ous
connection lo poli1ics or religion. To
get a sense of the strangeness of Athenian
dramutic festivals, imagi ne a major
public political event, like the inauguration
of a new American president,
combine it with a major religious ga thering
like an evangelical rally, u papal
audience, or the HaJJ to i\ lecc.i, then
add to the mix the Cannes Fil111 festival,
a Veterans Day march, a l i,anksgh~
ng Day parade (with all the floats),
and a grand open-air musical C\’1: 111 like
Woodstock. The resulting hybrid ll’ould
be a modern equivalent of the t11\1 main
Athenian religious occasion, that
included major dramatic performances:
the Great Dionysia and the Lernaea.
Both fe stivals included tragedy and
comedy, although tragedy was more
central to the Dionysia, while comedv
played a larger role at the Lernaea, ·
Both festivals were held in honor of
the god Dionysus, who was associated
with \\~ne and, more generally, \\~th overturning
the rules and conventions of the
normal world. Dionysus was a ,11ld figure:
he rode a chariot pulled by leopards,
dressed in strange, effeminate clothing
and an ivy crown, and was accompanied
by ecstatic, crazy women (the maenads)
and hairy, permanently erect half-goat
men called satyrs. The Athenians knew
him as an exotic, fo reign god who originated
somewhere in Asia Minor before
being incorporated in the Olympian pantheon,
We should remember the subversive,
outsider status of this god when
reading Athenian drama,
We know very little about the origi ns
of tragedy or comedy. The word co111-
edy seems to come from komos, a Greek
word denoting a drunken procession.
Ari stotle tells us that tragedy (tragoidia
in Greek) means “goat song,” and suggests
I hat the genre o ri gi nated as part
of a ritual in which a goat was sacri-
6 2 4
ed or offered as a prize. Sometime in
fie late sixth century B,C,E. , ru ral celethe
, h f D· b
tl·ons in onor o 1onysus ecarne
bra I official, a nnua pa rt of the urban
f;stival calendar. Origina lly, the main
entertainment was probably choruses
f dancers, who sang hymns and como
ted for prizes: later, some form ol’
pe edy and, la te r st il l. comedy were
trag h •. 1 . .
added to t e program, 1 H:’,p1s, from
hose name we get tli:.· ierm thespia ,iw
b I • character a out ” n:1,11 we “now next
;
0
nothing-is trad :t.u,i:illy sn id to have
invented tragedy in the ) P::Ir 534 13.C,E.
He “stepped out of the Chorus.” creating
a part for a single ac!or “ho could
talk back to the c horns, fhe invention
of the individua l actor. dbtinct from
the group, was e normc,11, I) important:
it paved the way for the whole subsequent
history of Western drama.
Tragedy was something new in the
late sixth century, but contests of poetry
in performa nce had lung been a part ~f’
Athenian culture. At the largest city festival,
the Panathenaia (“All-Athenian,”
in h6nor of the city’s goddess. At hena).
performers called rhapsodes recited
parts of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey:
the best performers won prizes, The
Homeric poems were an essential model
for later drama. Aeschylus supposedly
called his own work “slices from the
fea st of Homer.” It was not merely the
plots of Greek tragedy that were
“Homeric,” although like the Iliad and
Od)’SSey many tragedies dealt ” ~th the
heroes who fought in the Trojan War.
Dramatists a lso learned from Homer
how to create vivid dialogue and fas t,
exciting narrative, as well as sympathy
for a range of different characters,
Greek and foreigner alike.
Each year at the Great Dionys ia, three
tragic poets were chosen by the offi cial
city governor (the archo11) to produce a
tetralogy of plays for each day’s enter·
tainment. Performances began at dawn
and included th ree tragedies, which
might or might not concentrate on a
,, ‘C I r , I ,, I 111 ” I ,,’ n R ;\ \ \ ,\ 6}..,
,, ,
This detail from the so-called Pronomos
Vase, painted in the late fifth n·ntun s ,c,[,,
depicts actors preparing fo r a ,atyr play,
linked set of stories, followed by a lighter
play featuring satyrs (a ”satyr play”). A
rich Athenian citizen put up the money
to pay for the costs of each day’s performance,
including purchase of costumes
and masks, and training of the chorus
members and actors, These producers
prided themselves on their participation,
and gloated if the performance they had
fin anced won the competition: at least
one backer tried to rig the results by
making a night raid to destroy the gold
crowns and costumes that had been
ordered for his rival’s chorus to wear.
Before the dramatic performances
began, the tribute paid to the city of
Athens by her allies was heaped up in
the theater for all to see, and the orphans