TheGorgias:Dramatic form as argument

Abstract

Plato has been praised as a dramatist nearly as often as he has been landed as a philosopher. The Gorgias is a dialogue, a philosophical argument set forth in dramatic form. Thus, the formal defects in the dramatic structure of the work are at the same time weaknesses in the argument that is advanced. Further, because the Gorgias deals with the nature of rhetoric, while the characters of the drama act rhetorically, the contradiction between what is asserted and what is enacted is a logical and dramatic flaw of great significance. Because of these clashes between form and content, between dramatic structure and logical argument, the Gorgias fails as an attack on rhetoric. To varying degrees, the Platonic dialogues display these same faults.