24 pages • 48-minute read
Crito
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Key FiguresCharacter Analysis
Socrates
Although Socrates was a historical figure, Socrates in Crito is also a literary character invented, to some degree, by Plato. (The relation between the historical Socrates and the character in Plato’s dialogues remains a matter of scholarly controversy.) In Crito, Socrates is, more than anything else, a rational person. When Crito comes to rescue him, Socrates says, “We must therefore examine whether we should act in this way or not, as not only now but at all times I am the kind of man who listens to nothing within me but the argument that on reflection seems best to me” (46b). Even when imprisoned and facing execution, Socrates insists that he cannot act rashly. Moreover, Socrates tells Crito, “I think it important to persuade you before I act, and not to act against your wishes” (48e). Rather than simply defying Crito’s wishes for him to escape, Socrates respects his longtime friend enough to try and convince Crito of this course of action. This act shows Socrates’s commitment to maintaining his friendship with Crito and to demonstrating to his friend what it means to live a virtuous life. By taking the time to explain his logic to Crito, he can help Crito get on the right path of thought.
Crito
Crito, who is also a literary character that Plato bases on a historical friend of Socrates, begins the dialogue extremely concerned with what others think about him. He tells Socrates, his dear friend, that “many people who do not know you or me very well will think that I could have saved you if I were willing to spend money, but that I did not care to do so” (44b-c). Crito certainly cares for Socrates, but he also cares what other Athenians will think of him if they believe he let his friend die. Despite their longstanding friendship, however, Crito has a far different circle of friends than his philosophical companion. When the laws ask Socrates where he will go if he escapes Athens, they say, “or will you leave those places and go to Crito’s friends in Thessaly? There you will find the greatest license and disorder” (53d). Crito’s preference to spend time with the kinds of people who behave decadently and haphazard contrasts starkly with Socrates, who prioritizes order and correctness.
The Laws of Athens
Although the laws of Athens are not a character in Crito in the usual sense, Socrates gives them life by personifying them in a dialogue with himself. The laws question Socrates in much the same way he has just been questioning Crito. In fact, the laws are very much like Socrates. They tell him, “Do not wonder at what we say but answer, since you are accustomed to proceed by question and answer” (50c). The conversation between Socrates and the laws is a kind of mini-Platonic dialogue within Crito, in which the laws take the place of the educator, the role Socrates usually occupies. Unlike Socrates, however, the laws of Athens are judgmental. They tell Socrates that if he leaves the city, thereby harming himself, his friends, his country, then “We shall be angry with you while you are still alive, and our brothers, the laws of the underworld, will not receive you kindly, knowing that you tried to destroy us as far as you could” (54c). This statement implies that, if Socrates leaves the city, he might live for a little longer, but he will suffer for that in the underworld. Although the laws occupy a Socratic position within the dialogue, they behave in a very un-Socratic way by essentially concluding their argument with a threat.
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