4 Works on Social Values & Heroes

This study will examine four works: Plato's The Last Days of Socrates, Sophocles' Antigone, and two works with unknown authors, The Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf. The study will look at how these works mirror the social values of their respective societies. Also, the study will consider which of the heroes in the four books is the most appealing, and which is the most difficult to identify with.

The books can be separated into two pairs in terms of the social values and heroes described: the action-oriented epics of Beowulf and Gilgamesh, and the more psychological-oriented works on the Greeks---Socrates, and the fictional Antigone. This difference tells us a lot about the differences in the societies in which the works were written. The Greeks were philosophers who wanted to create a society based on reason rather than passion. This can be seen in the life and death of Socrates and Antigone. All major Greek social values are to be seen in the characters of these two people. Socrates chooses to drink poison rather than betray his principles. He also chooses to honor the laws of the society of which he is a part when he refuses to escape when given the chance. Antigone also mirrors the values of Greek society when she refuses to obey the orders of Creon not to bury her father. Antigone tells Ismene that Creon will not allow her to bury her brother:

For disobedience is to be stoned to death.

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have in common with either of the Greek works. Whereas Socrates was an actual historical figure, and Antigone was a fictional character who was at least a believable personage, the characters of Gilgamesh and Beowulf are meant to be larger-than-life epic heroes performing magnificent feats in times of trouble. For example, we see in the Gilgamesh story that When the gods created Gilgamesh they gave him a perfect body. Shamash the glorious sun endowed him with beauty, Adad the god of the storm endowed him with courage, the great gods made his beauty perfect, surpassing all others, terrifying like a great wild bull. Two thirds they made him god and one third man (Epic 61). This is far from the quiet heroism of Socrates and Antigone. The "deeds" of Antigone and Socrates which bring them honor are quiet deeds of mental and spiritual determination. All Socrates did was ask questions. All Antigone did was bury her dead brother. These actions would not deserve a footnote in the societies in which Beowulf and Gilgamesh lived. The Europe of the 8th century (Beowulf) and the Mesopotamia of more than two thousand years ago were societies in which bold and courageous action was the way heroism was expressed. Greece was a very settled and pea

Category: Literature - 4