The Dramatic Prologues in the Narrative Dialogues of Plato Cover Image

Dramatyczne prologi w diegematycznych dialogach Platona
The Dramatic Prologues in the Narrative Dialogues of Plato

Author(s): Anna Głodowska
Subject(s): History, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Ancient World, Latvian Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Plato; narrative; dialogue; prologue; narrator

Summary/Abstract: In Plato’s diegetic dialogues, as well as in dramatic works, you can find a distinctive feature, an autonomous part opening the work, which is usually called “a prologue”. This term is taken from an ancient Greek drama and means in literal translation “before the content”. In dramatic scenes, which precede the main narrative part of Plato’s dialogues, one of the characters is so interested in the discussion held by Socrates in more or less distant past, that he asks the discussion participant or the person who has some knowledge about it to relate him the debate. The aim of this analysis are the prologues in Protagoras, Phaedo, Symposium, Euthydemus and Theaetetus to answer the question what function in Plato’s dialogue structure they play.

  • Issue Year: XXVI/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 45-61
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish