Rhetorical Analysis Of Apology Of Socrates

Tristan Courtney
AP Lang
Mr. Sontum
2/19/15
Apology of Socrates Rhetorical Analysis The Apology of Socrates has many rhetorical devices and he uses each of them to appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos. He uses these to defend himself against the ridiculous accusation of not believing in the gods recognized by the state and also of corrupting the youth in Athens, and also to prove that their acquittal or absolution does nothing to him.
Socrates appeals to ethos, or credibility, first. To do this he speaks directly to the audience, and all Athenians, by asking those who have heard him talk and preach to tell others that he is not an “evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse

His main argument using logos is when he questions Meletus, one of his accusors. Examples of this is when he asks Meletus that if there is anyone in the world that “believes in human phenomena but does not believe in human beings.” He makes an argument for why he isn’t guilty for the crimes that he is accused of, which are that he is a doer of evil, a corrupter of the youth, and does not believe in the gods of the state. To argue his point he proves, using logic, that Meletus is a doer of evil and that the evil was to make a joke out of a serious matter, which is to put Socrates on trial for a stupid matter. He proves at first that every Athenian improves the youth, and then asks Meletus if he, an Athenian, improves the youth, and he said no. He then uses a horse analogy to prove that not everyone can improve humans. His next point that he proves wrong is when Meletus says that socrates intentionally harms society, but he proves him wrong when he says that as a part of society he would not harm himself, and says that if harm was done, it was unintentional, and they should be helped and taught, not tried and punished. He then proves Meletus’ other point wrong by proving that he believes in gods of some sort by asking if there is anyone that believes in human phenomena but does not believe in human beings, and then asks Meletus if there is anyone that believes in spiritual phenomena (which Socrates does) that does not acknowledge

I believe that his purpose was not to win thought, it was to prove them wrong, and despite the outcome, that was good enough for him. He also wanted to prove that he deserved a reward for his services to Athens, not a punishment, and after he had stated his case, he says this in the part of the speech where he should beg for his freedom and their mercy. He states that he will die soon anyway and that since it is going to happen eventually, he will not struggle but instead will accept death with open arms, because death is good either way. He ends his speech with a question; asking if whether it is better from him to die, and them to live, and that god only knows. Even in his death he was promoting individual thinking, which was his purpose all