Elements of Childhood in Platos Lysis :: essays research papers

Childhood in the Ancient world was viewed in somewhat of a different light then in the post Greco-Roman world of Europe circa the Medieval age. For this very reason the attitude, language, and style of the writings that are found from the Ancient world must be considered in the context of their time period. Classical Greek writers like Plato comprised extensive works detailing their own teachings through plays or epic poems. Plato commonly would write plays in which his teacher, the famous philosopher Socrates, would commence in extensive dialogue and debate with several other characters. As a student of Socrates, Plato viewed his teacher as a great man who’s teachings were worthy of documentation and most of the present-day knowledge of Socrates’ works are through the writings of Plato. In addition to the philosophical merits of these works, they are also of great importance because they provide the reader with a first-hand look at the attitudes of the Ancient Greeks towards such things as the ancient idea of Childhood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Lysis,† written by Plato in approximately 380 BCE (the exact year is unknown) is an in depth look, through the teachings of Socrates, at the nature of friendship, desire, usefulness and personal identity. This work is relevant to our course about childhood because the characters in the dialogue that Socrates is speaking with are youths. Socrates reveals through his teachings many of the ancient attitudes towards different aspects of â€Å"childhood.† It is quite apparent that this outlook on children more closely resembles the later ideas of the Renaissance, rather than those found in Medieval history. Due to the obsession with knowledge and learning found in both the Classical and Renaissance eras, those who partook in the learning, the youth of society, held a much higher standing in society than the children of the plague-ridden society of the 14th and early 15th century. This specific work by Plato is particularly interesting and relevant because in the text Socrates talks about childhood in great extent and he seems to have a great appreciation for the young men in Greek society. Socrates also employs a much different style of teaching than that is found in later Judeo-Christian society of Europe. Plato describes this method with great admiration as he writes, â€Å"Socrates maintains his character of a 'know nothing;' but the boys have already learned the lesson which he is unable to teach them, and they are free from the conceit of knowledge.

Character analysis Essay

Priestley describes him in the opening stage directions as a ‘rather portentous man’, full of his own self-importance. In the play, he is certainly very concerned with his social position – he twice mentions that he was Lord Mayor as a way of impressing Gerald (pp.8, 11), and mentions the knighthood to him, even though it is far from definite. He is solely worried about how his family’s reputation will suffer at the inquest when he hears of Mrs Birling’s part in the girl’s death (p.45), and he is more concerned about how to ‘cover†¦up’ Eric’s thefts (p.54) than about how to put them right. He tries to use first Gerald’s family name (p.13) and then his friendship with the Chief Constable (p.16) as ways of bullying the Inspector; he obviously believes that others are as easily impressed by social connections as he is. (We know he is easily impressed because of his evident pride at Gerald’s family background ; he obviously believes he has made a good match for Sheila.) His key characteristic is his complacency. He is well-off (as the opening stage directions suggest), and he believes he always will be: that ‘we’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity’ (p.6). This success, however, has been at the expense of others – he threw the girl out of her job for asking for a modest rise, and intends in the future to work with Crofts Limited ‘for lower costs and higher prices’ (p.4), exploiting his power as a capitalist to profit at the expense of others. Birling does not believe he has a responsibility to society, only to his family: ‘a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own’ (p.10). He is not upset, unlike Eric, at hearing the details of the girl’s death (p.12), which shows him to be a little heartless. He is suspiciously defensive when he thinks the Inspector is accusing him of causing it, and – like Mrs Birling – is relieved when he thinks the finger is no longer pointing at him. This is hypocritical because, as the Inspector says, ‘the girl’s [still] dead, though’ (p.18). He also has double standards: for he sees nothing strange in wanting to protect Sheila from the unpleasantness of the girl’s life and death, yet feels no guilt at not having protected the girl herself. Crucially, Priestley undermines this self-important, complacent man, who believes his only responsibility is to his family, right at the start of the play. He is shown as short-sighted and wrong:  Prediction  Reality  Ã¢â‚¬ËœWe’re in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity’  The Wall Street Crash (1929) and the Great Depression within a generation  Ã¢â‚¬ËœThere isn’t a chance of war’  World war within two years, with a second to follow within the same lifetime  Ã¢â‚¬ËœIn 1940†¦you’ll be living in a world that’ll have forgotten all these Capital versus Labour agitations’  The General Strike (1926) and the continued rise of the Trade Union Movement. The Titanic: ‘unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable’  SS Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage  This dramatic irony at his expense encourages us to question how many of his other beliefs are correct; Priestley, as a socialist, is not sympathetic to what this capitalist believes.  He also undermines Birling’s relationship with his family, the only institution that Birling believes matters. In Act Two, both his children – who learn from the Inspector in a way Birling never does – behave badly in front of him (pp.32-33), and his heir Eric is later revealed as both an alcoholic and a thief. After the Inspector has gone, Birling simply wants things to return to the way they were. He cannot understand Sheila’s and Eric’s insistence that there is something to be learnt, and he is relieved and triumphant when he feels that scandal has been avoided and everything is all right. Right up until the end, he claims that ‘there’s every excuse for what both your mother and I did – it turned out unfortunately, that’s all’ (p.57). Birling is not the cold and narrow-minded person that his wife is; he simply believes in what he says. He is a limited man, who is shown to be wrong about many things in the play; it is the Birlings of the world whom Priestley feared – in 1945 – would not be willing or able to learn the lessons of the past, and so it is to the younger generation that Priestley hopefully looked instead†¦Ã‚  Mrs Birling  Priestley describes her in the opening stage directions as ‘a rather cold woman’ (p.1).  She expects Sheila to make the same sacrifices in marriage that she had to (p.3); she has a clear sense of her duty within the family.

Dishonesty As A Vice, Is Universal And Timeless Essay

Dishonesty, as a vice, is universal and timeless; according to the Bible, the very first humans on earth committed the first sin of deception. Adam and Eve lied to God about whether they had eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, cementing the human race as one which feels that the burden of truth is too cumbersome to carry, and dooming humanity to a life of sin. Modern liars still carry on this legacy of deception, and rather than seeing â€Å"modern liars† as their own association, all living humans are modern liars. Regardless of whether the practice of dishonesty is daily or hourly, small â€Å"white lies† or large-scale intentional misdirection, each mortal creature contributes to the act of lying. Some of these â€Å"large-scale liars† were interviewed in the documentary entitled â€Å"(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies† - people from all walks of life who share solidarity in the experience of the exposition and chastisement w hich frequently follows the act of lying. The interviewees also collectively understand the snowballing effect of lies taking on a life of their own and growing exponentially in size as they must be maintained through an ever-expanding mountain of mistruths. All those who were interviewed started with good intentions and seemingly justifiable excuses for their dishonesty, and yet have all had to face the consequences that come with lying. The act of lying along with the question of its morality was viewed to be paramount in the study ofShow MoreRelated Modernism and Postmodernism in Shakespeares Othello Essay1463 Words   |  6 Pages Othello teaches us much about our current postmodern culture. The play connects to our ideas of sexism, male-bonding, racism and capitalism. Shakespeare uses these universal and timeless flaws in humanity along with our use of language and truth to tell his tale. Iago, over a period of about three days, uses these facets of humanity to turn Othello against his wife Desdemona and his friend Cassio. Othello reveals both the struggle of the British people of the early 1600s and Americans in the late