Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook38 pages32 minutes
Socrates
By Voltaire
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Socrates is a 1759 French play in three acts written by Voltaire. It is set in Ancient Greece during the events just before the trial and death of Greek philosopher Socrates. It is heavy with satire specifically at government authority and organized religion.
The main characters besides the titular role is that of the priest Anitus, his entourage, Socrates' wife Xantippe, several judges, and some children Socrates has adopted as his own. Like more historical accounts by Herodotus, Plato, and Xenophon, the playwright shows Socrates as a moral individual charged with baseless accusations by a conspiracy of corrupt Athenians or Athenian officials although Voltaire implies that the wrongdoers are a select few. Unlike the historical account, Socrates deals with several judges, whereas his real life counterpart receives his punishment of death by hemlock by a jury of 500 Athenians.
The presence or mention of Socrates' best-known students such as Plato, Antisthenes, Zeno of Citium, and others are replaced by unnamed disciples, delivering only a few token lines at the end of the play. Socrates is also portrayed as a monotheist and a victim of religious persecution, an interpretation that is not generally shared by modern scholars and historians. Generally, this is not the most well-known of his works in comparison with Letters on the English which Voltaire published in 1778 or the Dictionnaire philosophique published earlier in 1764. However, hints of his contempt for government and religion are apparent here which later influenced the leaders of the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
The main characters besides the titular role is that of the priest Anitus, his entourage, Socrates' wife Xantippe, several judges, and some children Socrates has adopted as his own. Like more historical accounts by Herodotus, Plato, and Xenophon, the playwright shows Socrates as a moral individual charged with baseless accusations by a conspiracy of corrupt Athenians or Athenian officials although Voltaire implies that the wrongdoers are a select few. Unlike the historical account, Socrates deals with several judges, whereas his real life counterpart receives his punishment of death by hemlock by a jury of 500 Athenians.
The presence or mention of Socrates' best-known students such as Plato, Antisthenes, Zeno of Citium, and others are replaced by unnamed disciples, delivering only a few token lines at the end of the play. Socrates is also portrayed as a monotheist and a victim of religious persecution, an interpretation that is not generally shared by modern scholars and historians. Generally, this is not the most well-known of his works in comparison with Letters on the English which Voltaire published in 1778 or the Dictionnaire philosophique published earlier in 1764. However, hints of his contempt for government and religion are apparent here which later influenced the leaders of the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Unavailable
Read more from Voltaire
33 Masterpieces of Philosophy and Science to Read Before You Die (Illustrated): Utopia, The Meditations, The Art of War, The Kama Sutra, Candide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Philosophical Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Great Love Letters You Have To Read (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Philosophy of History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCandide: The Original Unabridged And Complete Edition (Voltaire Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Voltaire Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Candide: Bilingual Edition (English – French) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCandide: Illustrated Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Works of Voltaire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoltaire: Treatise on Tolerance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTratado sobre la tolerancia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Zadig and Other Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE AGE OF LOUIS XIV Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCandide (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophical Letters: (Letters Concerning the English Nation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Socrates
Related ebooks
Socrates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOh, My Son, My Son Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony and Cleopatra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Plato Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Impostures of Scapin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alcibiades I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSymposium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlato's Symposium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Semi-Detached House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Narrow Gate Series: The Narrow Gate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElectra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Ford: Eight Plays Translated into Modern English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerepto's Story: The AI Series, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelenium Night: ShadowShifter Series, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories from the Greek Tragedians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJaran Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chessmen of Mars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Ford's "The Broken Heart": A Retelling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Clouds Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5canon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntony and Cleopatra: Including "The Life of William Shakespeare" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlpha Eternal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories from the Greek Tragedians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato Raw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Atlantean Empire: Wisdom's Quest, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Ass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCynthia’s Revels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHousehold Gods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Works of Euripides. Illustrated: Alcestis, Medea, Heracleidae, Hippolytus, Andromache, Electra, Heracles and others Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Also Rises: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden (Original Classic Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Socrates
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews