Narrative and Culture: Socrates, Sophocles, and Virgil, Essay Example

Storytelling has always been an important part of culture and cultural identity. Before human beings could read and write they would pass down stories from one generation to the next. This is still true even after the invention of writing, and after books and literature could be made to keep the stories and information that cultures believed were important.  In the United States, for example, there are stories about the Founding Fathers, like George Washington and the Cherry Tree. According to the story, George Washington cut down a cherry tree when he was a boy, and when he was asked if he cut it down he responded “I cannot tell a lie” and admitted what he had done. This story does not have to be actual fact in order for it to have an important message. The purpose of this story is to show that George Washington was an honest and honorable person, and that the first president of the United States was someone who deserved respect. Throughout history, cultures have stories like these that are not necessarily true in the factual sense, but that contain truths about the cultures and help us understand what was important to the people of those cultures.

For a philosopher such as Socrates, who did not leave any writings of his ideas behind, the only way to transmit his ideas to others was through speaking with them. In any situation where someone is trying to explain an important or difficult idea, it can be helpful to use metaphors or other examples to make a point. Because Socrates did not leave any written records of his works, the only way we know about him today is through the writings of other people. The most famous historical figure to write about Socrates was the Greek philosopher Plato, who discussed Socrates and his influence in several important works. Plato often used dialog and conversation to show the ideas of Socrates, and this approach to storytelling was a way to present the logic of Socrates in a way that made it easier to understand.

Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave     

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato writes a dialog between his own brother and Socrates, and the purpose of this dialog is to tell a story that helps to explain the way Socrates viewed the world. In the dialog, Socrates himself explains that he is using a parable, or story, to make his ideas as clear as possible. Socrates is interested in describing the nature of the world around him, and also to explain the difference between the “enlightened or unenlightened.” Socrates could use logos and reason to explain his ideas, but by using mythos and narrative he can present his ideas in a way that may be easier to understand. The basic plot of the Allegory of the Cave is that there are a group of prisoners chained in an underground chamber, who cannot see the outside world. They are chained so tightly that they cannot even turn their heads, and the only thing they can see is the wall of the cave in front of them. There is a fire burning behind them that casts shadows on the wall in front of them, and those shadows are the only things in the world that they can see. As Socrates engages in his dialog with Glaucon, he explains the significance of these shadows.

As people and objects move behind the chained men, they cast shadows on the wall of the cave. According to Socrates, “the prisoners would recognize as reality nothing but the shadows of those artificial objects,” and their only understanding of what they saw or heard was from the reflections and echoes. As the men discussed the things they saw with each other, they would obviously have a very limited understanding and could only discuss the shadows of the real objects. What they could not know, because they could not move, was that the things they were seeing were not real. That is the point of the story: that the prisoners in the cave had such a limited view of the world that the things they thought were real were actually just shadows of the real things.

If one of the prisoners were then released from the cave, he could go out into the real world and see things as they are for the first time. As Socrates states, “Suppose one of the prisoners was set free and forced suddenly to stand up, turn his head, and walk with eyes lifted to the light; all these movements would be painful, and he would be too dazzled to see the objects whose shadows he had been used to seeing.” This prisoner would not even recognize reality after so much time in the cave, and would think the shadows were the real things and that the real things were the shadows. Socrates uses this story to explain his views on the enlightenment of philosophical thought, and how difficult it is for many people to see beyond their own limitations. It is one thing to simply state that many people are limited thinkers, but it is another thing to tell a story that makes the point much more clearly.

Sophocles’ Antigone

Storytelling was an important part of ancient Greek culture, and the theater was a central part of life in the city of Athens. The playwright Sophocles wrote many plays, and one of his best known works is Antigone. Although the play is very different than the Allegory of the Cave, it still provides some insight into the nature of Greek culture at the time. It presents the story of two brothers who die while fighting each other in a civil war, and their sister Antigone who defies the king to bury one of her brothers. Even though the king wants the brother Polyneices to be shamed, Antigone tells her sister Ismene that “false to him I will never be found.” Her loyalty is not to the king Creon, but is to both of her brothers. Ismene argues with Antigone, and says “we shall perish, more miserably than all the rest, if, in defiance of the law, we brave the king’s decree.” Antigone responds by telling Ismene that she does not have to help with the burial of Polyneices, but that “I will bury him; well for me to die while doing that.” Even if Antigone is killed for burying her brother, she intends to do it anyway.

The story becomes even more complicated because Antigone is engaged to Haemon, the son of Creon. Once Creon realizes that Antigone has defied him he imprison s her in a cave. Creon is warned that the gods and the people of Greece will despise him for what he has done, but Creon does not listen. Antigone ends of committing suicide, and when Haemon discovers this, he also kills himself. Finally, Creon’s wife also kills herself, and Creon is left to mourn all of them. Creon speaks “Alas, my son, thou hast died in thy youth, by a timeless doom, woe is me! Thy spirit hath fled, not by thy folly, but by mine own!” The last line of the play states “Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise.” Creon may have gotten his way by punishing Antigone, but he paid for it by losing his son and his wife. Although this tragedy by Sophocles is set in an earlier time, it could be taken as a message to the leaders of his time to be careful about how they use their power to rule the country.

Virgil’s The Aeneid

Hundreds of years after Socrates and Sophocles lived and died the poet Virgil of Rome wrote The Aeneid, an epic poem about the adventures of Aeneas. If Antigone could be looked at as a warning to the leader of Greece, then the Aeneid could be seen as a work of praise to the leader of Rome. Virgil’s poem tells the story of how Aeneas was “forc’d by fate/and haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate” to leave Troy after it was overrun by the Greeks. After fleeing from Troy, Aeneas sails to various lands and faces adventures and challenges. The gods are on Aeneas’s side, and he eventually makes his way to Italy. The main point of the story is that Aeneas made his way to Italy where he established the city of Rome, which would become the Roman Empire. There is much more to the story, of course, but the narrative of the Aeneid serves as an epic tale that shows that Rome was founded by a man of courage and conviction.

Virgil wrote the Aeneid at a time when Augustus ruled Rome. The story of Aeneas is used to show how the city of Rome came to be established, and it explains that the leadership of Rome in the time of Augustus is connected all the way back to the myth of Aeneas. By using this narrative form, Virgil is able to show the culture and character of Rome itself as something that is powerful and great. This connection between narrative and national identity is seen in the works of Sophocles and Socrates as well. By examining the story elements, it is possible to see how they are intended to reflect larger ideas about the issues that were important to the people and the culture in their time. These storytellers did not just use mythos instead of logos; they used mythos to make logical, reasonable points in ways that the people of their time could understand and appreciate.