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Plato describes in his Parable of the Cave the importance of education and how it changes the way people see things. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus makes rash and hasty decisions that at times are good, but more often than not, they get him into trouble. And finally, in Dante’s Inferno, Dante uses Virgil as a guide to show him the path through hell. In Parable of the Cave, Oedipus the King, and Inferno, the author’s text can be related to my own life in school, work, and how I was raised.
Plato’s metaphor of the idea of education changing the way people see things is seen in my life through classes that I have taken in college. Last semester, I took a leadership and management class that taught me how to be a better leader in the
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workplace. Before taking the class, I thought I already knew everything about how to be a good leader because I had held so many different leadership positions in high school, such as class president of National Charity League and the golf team leader. In reality, I was really like the prisoner Plato writes about that is forced to live in the dark and stare straight ahead at shadows because I had never formally studied how to be a good leader. I had done a good job while in these positions, but after taking the class, I realized I could have been even better. Some of the valuable things in the class that I learned was that in order to be a good leader, you first have to be a good follower. Another thing I learned about was the different types of power leaders hold and when certain situations call for different types of leadership styles. Now that I have completed the class, I think that I am at the stage where the prisoner’s eyes adjust to the light of day. I see the way people lead other people differently. I am aware, and I like to now observe different leadership styles and use the skills that I like. The education that I got from the class has helped and will continue to help me in my life. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus makes the quick decision when his people are dying of the plague to send for help.
This quick thinking decision was a good one. Unfortunately, for the rest of the story Oedipus makes quick decisions that result in him killing his father. Acting swiftly is good in certain time critical situations, but a lot of the time, it is good to take a minute and think about the decision before doing it. I learned this lesson when I was working at Old Navy. One day when I was working on the register, I had a customer come in that caused me to make a rash decision. When I was ringing up her items at the checkout, she demanded that everything that she was purchasing should have been on sale. Because I thought that the customer seemed very confrontational, I quickly called up a manager for assistance with the customer. The manager ended up having to show the lady the signs on top of the items to convince her that were indeed not on sale like she had thought. Thinking back on this experience, I realize that I didn’t need to make the rash decision to call up my manager at the first sign of trouble with the customer. Instead, I should have calmly tried to explain that her items were not on sale. I could have used this as a learning experience on how to deal with difficult customers. Maybe if Oedipus had calmly thought about what he was about to do before he killed his father, then his father might not be dead, and he would still have his
eyesight. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante uses Virgil as a guide to help and protect him when traveling though hell. Dante trusts and believes in Virgil. This situation is similar to my parents guiding and protecting me. I trusted them to make the right decisions and to help me learn to make the right decisions when growing up. A specific example was right before my freshman year of high school, I was involved in swimming, dance, golf, piano, and National Charity League. I was running myself to the ground, and I hadn’t even entered high school. My parents guided to me to make the decision to focus on a few select activities instead of so many so that I would be able to focus on my harder schoolwork. If they hadn’t helped guide to this decision, I don’t even know where I would be today. Because of them, I was able to make great grades and thoroughly enjoy the activities that I was involved in. In conclusion, the author’s of Parable of the Cave, Oedipus the King, and Inferno covered themes and ideas that I was able to see happening in my own life. I was able to relate their texts to my classes, work, and parents, and by doing this, I was able to understand the works even better.
In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus, the King, there are various instances where Oedipus tries to escape his destiny—enlightenment—only to discover the truth that he cannot. Similarly, in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” the prisoner travails to understand and adjust to his newly visited environment. In both works, the men first had to realize their ignorance before they could begin to acquire knowledge and true understanding of the complexities of the human condition. Specifically, in Oedipus, the King, it was Oedipus’ illusion of himself as a man unequaled in leadership whereas in “Allegory of the Cave” it was the prisoner’s initial refutations of enlightenment being shown him until he realizes its intellectual, spiritual, and social significance.
It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422). Oedipus’ anger causes him to kill the father he never knew and all the men in the entourage. Oedipus’ cannot control his temper and this personality flaw leads him to his fate.
In The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, a controversial issue has been whether “pouring in of knowledge” is not education or whether it is education. On one hand, some argue that education is the process of receiving or giving logical instruction. From this perception, education is all about learning and teaching from one generation to another. On the other hand, however, others argue that education is not all about “pouring in of knowledge.” In the words of Plato, “education isn’t what some people declare it to be, naming, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes (5). The issue is what is the true meaning of education. Though some may say that education is the process of receiving or giving knowledge, I will
Dante’s Inferno is a narrative poem, with a very complicated rhyme scheme, originally written in Italian. It documents the author’s, Dante, trip through hell, where he learns how hell is organized and the way in which sinners are punished. Dante is guided by the great poet Virgil, who leads him throughout hell. The Odyssey, is an epic authored by the Greek, Homer. The epics centers on Odysseus’ protracted journey home. The protagonist, Odysseus, visits the underworld for a very short amount of time. The two literary works contain many common elements, such as characters being punished, the protagonists interacting with those in the underworld, repeating characters, and the misery of the underworlds. There are also differences between the two works including the types of interactions between the protagonists and those they encounter, the reasons for each protagonists visit to the underworlds, and how the underworld operates. These differences and similarities can be attributed the Dante’s and Homer’s religion, the time period and culture in which they wrote their respective works, and the purpose for the visits to the underworlds in each work. Although there are many similarities between the underworlds in Dante’s Inferno and The Odyssey, the two works ultimately offer two different visions of the underworld due to the authors’ different religious beliefs and culture, as well as the role of the underworld in each literary work.
In Dante’s Inferno, the relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide is an ever-evolving one. By analyzing the transformation of this relationship as the two sojourn through the circles of hell, one is able to learn more about the mindset of Dante the Poet. At the outset, Dante is clearly subservient to Virgil, whom he holds in high esteem for his literary genius. However, as the work progresses, Virgil facilitates Dante’s spiritual enlightenment, so that by the end, Dante has ascended to Virgil’s spiritual level and has in many respects surpassed him. In Dante’s journey with respect to Virgil, one can see man’s spiritual journey towards understanding God. While God loves man regardless of his faults, His greatest desire is to see man attain greater spirituality, in that man, already created in God’s image, may truly become divine, and in doing so, attain eternality.
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This maxim applies to the poet Dante Alighieri, writer of The Inferno in the 1300s, because it asserts the need to establish oneself as a contributor to society. Indeed, Dante’s work contributes much to Renaissance Italy as his work is the first of its scope and size to be written in the vernacular. Due to its readability and availability, The Inferno is a nationalistic symbol. With this widespread availability also comes a certain social responsibility; even though Dante’s audience would have been familiar with the religious dogma, he assumes the didactic role of illustrating his own version of Christian justice and emphasizes the need for a personal understanding of divine wisdom and contrapasso, the idea of the perfect punishment for the crime. Dante acts as both author and narrator, completing a physical and spiritual journey into the underworld with Virgil as his guide and mentor. The journey from darkness into light is an allegory full of symbolism, much like that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which shows a philosopher’s journey towards truth. Therefore, Dante would also agree with the maxim, “Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools scarcely by their own,” because on the road to gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, characters who learn valuable lessons from the misfortunes of others strengthen their own paradigms. Nonetheless, the only true way to gain knowledge is to experience it first hand. Dante’s character finds truth by way of his own personal quest.
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
Many arguments have been made that Dante’s Inferno glimmers through here and there in Milton’s Paradise Lost. While at first glance the two poems seem quite drastically different in their portrayal of Hell, but scholars have made arguments that influence from Dante shines through Milton’s work as well as arguments refuting these claims. All of these arguments have their own merit and while there are instances where a Dantean influence can be seen throughout Paradise Lost, Milton’s progression of evil and Satan are quite different from Dante. Dante’s influence on Milton is noted by many scholars and is very apparent in several instances throughout Paradise Lost, however, Milton shows a progression of evil through his own vision of Satan and creates a Hell that is less meticulously constructed than Dante’s and more open to interpretation.
Dante’s work Inferno is a vivid walkthrough the depths of hell and invokes much imagery, contemplation and feeling. Dante’s work beautifully constructs a full sensory depiction of hell and the souls he encounters along the journey. In many instances within the work the reader arrives at a crossroads for interpretation and discussion. Canto XI offers one such crux in which Dante asks the question of why there is a separation between the upper levels of hell and the lower levels of hell. By discussing the text, examining its implications and interpretations, conclusions can be drawn about why there is delineation between the upper and lower levels and the rationale behind the separation.
Dante’s The Divine Comedy illustrates one man’s quest for the knowledge of how to avoid the repercussions of his actions in life so that he may seek salvation in the afterlife. The Divine Comedy establishes a set of moral principles that one must live by in order to reach paradiso. Dante presents these principles in Inferno where each level of Hell has people suffering for the sins they committed during their life. As Dante gets deeper into Hell the degrees of sin get progressively worse as do the severity of punishment. With that in mind, one can look at Inferno as a handbook on what not to do during a lifetime in order to avoid Hell. In the book, Dante creates a moral lifestyle that one must follow in order to live a morally good, Catholic
...teacher is always right and accepting this at the soonest made the students’ life of learning pleasurable or one that was like that of Caliban, learning out of fear and hence being rebellious. Each idea lacks certain aspects and therefore there is no perfect idea, and if there were a perfect idea, according to Plato, it would be education itself. Willingness to learn seems to be the way in which we can move towards the ideal form of education and be filled with Utopian virtue.
In conclusion Plato was a very knowledgeable man as while his education has been proven to be essential for understanding the universe. Plato lived for a long time doing the things that he loved and i believe he was a good man. After doing this paper over Plato I have learned so much more about the understanding of education and morals to life. I never knew how much a Philosopher could teach the world.
The word hamartia means a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero. Yet the cause of his downfall was not due to one flaw but to many flaws. Oedipus had great traits and qualities of a great king such as intelligence, pride and determination. These traits are also the main cause of his downfall. The traits that helped him also hurt him.
Education is a process of learning in which we acquire knowledge and skills under the guidance of a teacher. Ideas, information and culture are conveyed from one generation to another (Murphy, 2006). Education is the development by which we are formed as human beings and by which a society preserves and transforms itself. Education is the most important way in which we can fight oppression, injustice and inequality by promoting and fighting for equality and justice in our society (Norris, personal communication, September 4, 2013). There has been some sort of education, whether being formal or informal, ever since human beings existed. Many of our education policies and systems originate from ancient Greece. Likewise, there are many Greek educators and philosophers who influenced our education system today. The purpose of this paper is to identify the significance and contributions of four of these educators, who include Sappho, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, by observing their major contributions to education. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the relationship between these four philosophers, the key components of their philosophy of education, and their contributions to modern day education.
Plato did not just influence philosophy or our perspective of life it also inspired his students; most of his students went on to become famous scientists or philosophers. They were taught...