The Comparison of Socrates and Jesus Trial - Essay Example

The Comparison of Socrates and Jesus Trial Born and raised in Athens, Socrates spent the majority of his life living a life of personal imposed poverty. He was the son of a humble father who practiced as a stonemason. He was brought up through this family business till he joined to serve in the military service. Socrates was never so poor and so he had time to go to the market center and share with other intellects. Socrates never liked the Athenian democracy. He opposed it together with the thirty people who tried to topple it. He served as a council in legislative issues and most of the time lived the life of a normal citizen. He opposed the trial and motion that wanted to slay the admirers of Athenian rule. This, however, depicted his downfall as it did not materialize as planned. Socrates lived a life of refusal and denial for the sole reason of obeying his own principles. He was accused of not recognizing and accepting the gods, and trying to bring his own ways of divine. He also faced charges of trying to manipulate young children. This came to the opinion that Socrates taught his pupils, and other associates to despise the documented laws of the society. His teachings focused so much on principles rather than the wants of the people. Socrates was thus victimized for his own personal beliefs and the need for people to know the truth. He admitted to his crimes and accepted the death penalty. On the other hand, Jesus grew up in Galilee with his peasant father who was a carpenter. Jesus was brought up in a Jewish society and all his ways reflected his native people. Jesus did not however want to create a new religion, but He thought his actions were within the jurisdiction of Judaism. Jesus left Galilee to proclaim the word of God to other people. He spread the news that the world could be changed to be the Kingdom of God. He was a prophet, teacher and healer to those who were suffering. Jesus was accused by the high priests of bringing heretic teachings and causing mischief among the people. At one point he had chased traders in the temple and even healed people on the Sabbath. He was accused of branding himself the Messiah and was feared that He could want to be the King of the people. Other accusations pointed to Jesus as one who could bring down the temple and build it in three days. All these were directed to Jesus and He kept quiet the whole time. The council of the priests thus passed judgment on Him. He was sentenced to death. Crucifixion was the ultimate point for Him as He was considered to be a traitor. Both Socrates and Jesus believe that Heaven is bound and while they were faced with troubles, they mentioned their aspirations to reach that place. Socrates told his followers to be self believers who are after something or else they risk losing out on their lives. Jesus too taught His disciples to live upon the principles he had taught them. Towards his misery, Socrates takes a shower so that the women do not have to clean him. This is similar to Jesus as well. He and his disciples wash each others’ feet as a way of purifying the soul. However, Socrates and Jesus had different ways of passing messages. Socrates would use the method of questioning, ignorance and pretense to expose his audience. Jesus would simply pass his teachings directly using hidden statements and self imitated questions. Both did not have writings of their own. Socrates is known through his student Plato, who documents about him while Jesus is talked about by people who never met him. The trial of Socrates has two similar accounts recorded by Plato and Xenophon. Even though Xenophon was out of Athens, his report does not differ with that of Plato who was present at the trial. The trial of Jesus is depicted in by Saint John, Synoptic Gospel and the Acts of Peter and Thomas amongst many others. While both these accounts are documented, Jesus story depicts so much of prophecy while Socrates events reveal much of his history. Socrates trial as reviewed by interpreters depicts a collision of tragic defensible situations. These situations do not arise between people, but as a result of different opinions on matters of the society. His counterpart, Jesus Christ had to face unproven criminal charges. His hearing causes problems because of so many judges with different opinions against him. Jesus viewpoint was to change mankind to be in a better relationship with God. In a real sense, Socrates is legally guilty, but morally upright while Jesus is guilty not by his works but for the fulfillment of the prophecy that had come. For both Jesus and Socrates, their moral standpoints are not really defined. This has allowed people to come with their own understanding and ideas that interpret what they wanted to accomplish. Both accept the consequences of their moral teachings and a sense of self proclamation of a divine purpose is noted within their works. Most of their teachings do not affect the public morals, but come out to challenge those who prejudice against them. Arenas history and argument The Aeneid is a writing that reveals the life of a man known as Aeneas. In this documentation, Aeneas is seen as the Romans’ ancestor after travelling to Italy as a Trojan. The writings also illustrate his victories in war with the Latins and how he made Italy his home. He made the people courageous and noble and Italy came to be a feared and respected nation. The gods play an important role in Aeneas life and cannot be replaced with any other thing. The destiny of Aeneas is determined by the gods. Venus, Aeneas mother is a god too. Their king Jupiter was a powerful god who took other gods by surprise. He had control over them and no other god could go against his will. This made the gods to involve the humans so as to release the pressures of Jupiter. This brought harm to the mortals as they tried to revenge. Rivalry is seen between god Carthage who conspires with Aeolus the god of wind to destroy Aeneas as he moved to Italy. To his relief, the god of the sea, Neptune, brings peace and Aeneas is able to cross safely to Libya with seven vessels. The gods held the immortal lives and could do anything with it. A divine intervention was inspired by Venus, who made Dido to befriend Aeneas. This was a plan to destroy Carthage without involving anyone in the war. All these scenes in the end reveal that the goddess of love is Venus while Juno represents the god of marriage. The rivalry between the two gods indicates that marriage and love cannot easily mix. The main idea of these gods is that the stronger gods influence the much lesser gods who on their behalf, harm or destroys the mortals. Venus and Juno while trying to do their activities caused Dido and Aeneas to fall in love. When this spreads to the kingdom, Iarbas laments about Dido, who left him for Aeneas. This forced Jupiter to assign Mercury some duty of dispatching Aeneas to Italy so as to accomplish his mission. As Aeneas left for Italy, Dido remained alone just thinking of the nice moments that they had together. As he left the shore, Dido was overwhelmed and said negative things on the descendants of Aeneas. She then stabs herself with the sword that Aeneas had left behind. As she was dying, her spirits were taken by Iris and Aeneas could only see her burning pyre from the sea. Their story continues up to the underworld, but Aeneas kept on avoiding Dido. It depicts that love is an emotion between two people and can be a distraction to achieving goals as revealed in the case of Aeneas. Italy as revealed by historians, had kings that took care of their territories and maintained all sacred events that were meant to appease the gods. A marriage between Turnus and Lavinia is seen to have taken place in those early times. This actually portrayed that marriage was an important part of the society in those days. With the arrival of Aeneas, trouble erupted between him and Turnus over Lavinia. This led to the death of Turnus and a beginning of a new error. This meant that the Trojans were free to get assimilated with the locals. Aeneas son who is known as Ascanius founded the Alban line of kings who helped in the ancient founding of Rome. Some also associate Remus and Romulus to be key figures in the establishment of the city of Rome. The two twins after they reached adulthood, decided to establish their own cities by building walls. The people accessed them and were made to like whichever pleased them. A fight broke out between the two brothers as one jumped over another’s wall. In the process, Remus was killed and Romulus made his city to be Rome from his name. Aeneas entered into agreements with him and as events unfolded, the city grew with so many people. Aeneas life was pre-determined by fate. In the ancient times fate was a call and all had to be done to fulfill it as per the gods. The Trojan hero had to undergo internal conflicts as he knew of his responsibility, but still wanted to lead his own life. Even after the death of his parents, Aeneas still focused on finding Rome. In his quest, he meets queen Dido, who falls in love with him. Love is seen as a distraction not only in fulfilling one’s duty, but also to the downfall of a kingdom held by Dido. Nevertheless, Aeneas is still considered a hero as he placed the wants of his people ahead of his personal wants. He had his father as the mentor and at some point went to the underworld to get some information from him. Aeneas life is full of respect as he obeys laid down the rules in the events that occupied his life. He is a hard worker as depicted by his actions. He lost the majority of his soldiers, but still proceeded with his mission. The story of Aeneas shows one who is willing to suffer and undergo many tribulations but still achieves his mission. Medea The characters of Medea as revealed in Euripides’s tragedy are very arguable. She is portrayed as a woman who undergoes pain in her marriage life and tries to come out of that by whatever means. Her troubles begin when her husband Jason wants to marry another woman by the name Glauce. Many people never supported their marriage and could not defend her against the actions of Jason. This makes her become a subject of painful events that change her attitude. Medea is a witch as depicted by the story. She presents a wedding gift to Glauce that is treated with charms and poison. When she puts them on, her flesh is burnt and she dies. Her father, who is Creon, also perishes with her as he tries to save her daughter from the fierce flames. She is also a betrayer in their kingdom. Medea falls in love with a young man named Jason. Jason was on a mission under the orders of King Pelias. Her father, King Aaetes disputes their association, but she ends up keeping for herself the magical objects of which she helps Jason to accomplish his mission. Medea is a brutal killer. She is indirectly involved in king Pelias death and directly kills her two children out of rage. She also contributed to the death of father and daughter; Glauce and Creon on the day of her wedding. Medea can also be seen as a clever skimmer who plans his ways of executing things and creating time for her. She requests for an extended stay once she was ordered to leave for Greece. She finds favor with the arrival of Aegus who is of her opinion about staying and she ends up doing what she had planned. She can be considered revengeful as well. She wants to hurt Jason just so much as Jason had done to her. She kills Jason’s bride to be and ensure that his children die too. Even after Jason agreed to be with her after the marriage, she declines and let rage take toll of her heart. She also appears to be a cunning woman. After killing all her children, she refuses Jason the corpses of the sons for burial and set out with them. She plans to bury his sons so as to help her solve her motherly instincts of killing her own children. Medea can also be viewed as regretful. She in the first place lamented why the ship had left Colchis with her. She also wishes as to have never known Jason she would still be having her respect and happiness in the face of her family. According to my opinion, power must have had a role in Medeas actions. She was once a very powerful woman with a family, but her stature was diminished by the introduction of a new woman. In order to keep herself up, she was overwhelmed with passion and rage. The ancient Greeks viewed rage and emotions as part of greatness and thus Medea was a good example who showed that over mercy. Revenge is also perceived to be a mindset of power. For her to perfect her mission, she had to go to the extreme of even killing her own children so as to protect them from her enemies. She ensured that Jason got the better of her and the fantasy of power and revenge cannot be justified as unfair in this event. Her misplaced thought of achieving pride and greatness by destroying others depicts how distorted the society can be. When compared to her barbarian origin, she must have gone through so much agony in the hands of foreigners than she could have experienced in her country. The play is not a real test of feminism. This is because the idea behind the play only shows war between a woman and her enemies and in the end all of them merge scared and losers of their destiny. Medea tries to find freedom in the form of power so as to show her place in the society. The position of women in ancient Greece is subordination under men with no voice to defend them of the injustices that find them. This is clearly shown by the opening statements of the chorus. Athens itself depended on the labor of women and encouraged their oppression. The attitude of the audience should be melancholic as they go through this play. With Medea considered to have gone for exile, she reveals the sacrifices she has done in order to be with the husband. She has locked out her family in many ways and has limited friends in her new place of stay. She has to live up with the problems that come into her marriage with no one coming to her rescue. She then decides to be independent and make decisions of her own. The presence of Creon, Jason and King Aegus indicate that man is the breadwinner, decision maker and a solid figure in the family. Their decisions and actions have direct bearing to Medeas change of character and attitude. Due to the nature of the story, one may not misjudge the actions of Medea so the ending of the play deserves applause. Read More