David Fedaie

In Plato’s Gorgias, there exists a gap between the portrayal of Gorgias and Polus. It is in the portrayal of this gap between teacher and student that Plato conveys the idea that the youth, although strong-spirited, are still naive and inexperienced in the ways of the world.

Throughout the dialogue with Gorgias in the first portion of the text, Gorgias is portrayed as pompous and self-assured. In the beginning, as Socrates teases Polus for skirting the question of what Gorgias art is, Gorgias is quick to defend his student. He doesn’t see anything wrong with Polus’ praises of the orator because those beliefs lie within Gorgias as well. Both Gorgias and Polus are pressed concerning the name of the art in which they share, but it is only Gorgias, the elder and wiser teacher, that names the oratory art. Although they both share knowledge of the oratory, Gorgias is more comfortable and doesn’t feel as strongly the need to defend it. Plato portrays how Gorgias is assured his art is fine and would rather entertain Socrates on whatever semantic journey he may take him on.

Plato contrasts this portrayal of the confident teacher with the vigorous spirit of Polus. The reader is introduced to Polus in the first portion of the dialogue, and the contrast between teacher and student is immediate. Although the two believe in the same things relevant to oration, Polus displays a fervorous defense, explaining how “the best men practise the best arts” and that the art that the two practice is “the finest of them all”.^[1] In the later dialogue with Polus, he attempts to use Socrates’ method of questioning against him. Plato uses this attempted turnaround to display the naivety of the youth in general. Polus witnessed how Socrates simply questioned Gorgias and used his own words against him, and so he tries to do the very same thing to Socrates. In portraying this, Plato argues that although the youth are quick-witted, their lack of experience leads to the suffering of their attempt at discourse.

Although Polus elegantly garnishes his praise, his arguments are quickly picked apart by Socrates’ questioning. Gorgias’ positions at the very least demanded further questioning and a request for more dialogue at length. Ultimately, Plato uses this juxtaposition to argue how the youth must experience and live in the world before attempting any discourse or dialogue.