The Republic Analysis

How important can setting be for a book that's one long conversation? Hint: pretty important. Being the port of Athens, a major and powerful city-state in ancient Greece, Piraeus was a place to mee...

Even though the Republic is technically a "dialogue," we hear all about this dialogue from Plato himself. Now, Plato must have had a killer memory to keep track of this 300-page discussion—assumi...

This is kind of a no-brainer, since the Republic is nothing if not... you know, philosophical literature. A super important quality of Plato's take on philosophical literature is the fact that it's...

The characters in the Republic are one skeptical bunch. Constantly challenging what others claim, they won't rest until they've completely understood a problem from every angle. If you think readin...

For awe-inspiring drama or tear-worthy poetry, you should look elsewhere than Plato's Republic. Although we see flashes of personality from Socrates and a few of the other characters, the emphasis...

Believe it or not, the English title The Republic may not actually be the most accurate translation of this dialogue's Greek title Politeia."Politeia" means something much closer to our word "regim...

After telling everyone the lengthy myth of Er (which you can find out more about in our "Symbols" section), Socrates abruptly wraps things up by hoping, for the good of everyone's soul, that he's b...

Plato's Republic is the real deal. It's going to be a challenge—it's a challenge for everybody.Since the Republic is primarily a work of philosophy, there isn't much of a conventional plot to mov...

What's in a Word?If you want to hang out with Socrates, you need to be prepared for what that really means. When he and Glaucon arrive at his friend's house, your average "hey, how's it going?" sma...

Although no one seems obviously oppressed or unhappy in the opening of the Republic, as the dialogue goes on, a clear sense of discontentment with the present emerges. Some characters seem simply i...

Although a lively and thought-provoking debate is clearly underway, it's hard to see how, with so many differing opinions and personalities, this group will actually get anywhere in its attempt to...

Even though Socrates is serious about philosophy, he himself wasn't always taken so seriously. In a Greek comedy by Aristophanes called The Clouds, Socrates is a character who is consistently made...

While the Republic isn't the steamiest of Plato's dialogues (take our word for it: they can get pretty steamy), there are some pretty frank discussions about desire, sex, and the logistics of procr...

Homer (everywhere)Sophocles (329b-c)Aristophanes, The Frogs (329b-c), Ecclesiazusae (461d)Aeschylus (380a, 381d, 391e), Seven Against Thebes (361b, 362a-b), Agamemnon (408b)Hesiod, Works and Days (...