The Gadfly

Gwen Gettle

GSI: Jerilyn Sambrooke

Rhetoric 103A

26 November 2016

The Gadfly

            In Plato’s Apology, Socrates attempts to defend himself at trial against accusations of impiety and “corrupting” the youth. Socrates gives a speech in which he employs a variety of tactics to sway the audience to vote to spare his life. Towards the middle of the text, Socrates compares himself to a gadfly clinging to a “noble steed” in order to argue that while his pestering questions and musings may upset many people, his input benefits the state because it forces people into action and provides useful feedback.

            A gadfly, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, refers specifically to a species of fly that bites, which in Socrates’ analogy surely refers to his tendency to incessantly ask questions and deliver criticisms. He aims his questions sometimes to seek clarification on what someone said, which he could further use to prove a point, or in other times he may inquire out of genuinely trying to learn or prompt discussion. However, he actively seeks out inconsistencies and contradictions in other speakers’ arguments so he can either discredit them or provide critical feedback, like how he questions his accuser, Meletus, in the trial:

And now, Meletus, I must ask you another question: Which is better, to live among bad citizens, or among good ones? Answer, friend, I say; for that is a question which may be easily answered. Do not the good do their neighbors good, and the bad do them evil? 


Certainly

…

And when you accuse me of corrupting and deteriorating the youth, do you allege that I corrupt them intentionally or unintentionally? 



Intentionally, I say. 



But you have just admitted that the good do their neighbors good, and the evil do them evil...

            While he means for his questions to help others find truth or virtue, his questions irritate other speakers because it can easily come across that Socrates is challenging or insulting their intelligence, expertise, or authority. Socrates acknowledges this by stating,

This investigation has led to my having many enemies… And so I go my way, obedient to the god, and make inquisition into the wisdom of anyone, whether citizen or stranger, who appears to be wise; and if he is not wise, then in vindication of the oracle I show him that he is not wise; and this occupation quite absorbs me, and I have no time to give either to any public matter of interest or to any concern of my own, but I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god. 

Socrates establishes his role as a gadfly as positive and virtuous role, pushing for the good of the state, but acknowledges that people can instead see it as an annoying disruption.

            Socrates first introduces his gadfly analogy in the following passage:

For if you kill me you will not easily find another like me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by the God; and the state is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has given the state and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.

His analogy paints an overall unflattering picture of both himself and the state, as the horse is lazy or slow to act and the gadfly is a bothersome and unwanted insect, and also an ugly image to which be compared. However, Socrates also tries to lessen the blow of his potentially insulting metaphor by emphasizing the state’s powerful figure as a “great and noble steed,” perhaps out of attempting to pander to his audience. In contrast to the mighty figure of the state, Socrates refers to himself as the simple fly, which seems ironic after he dedicated his first part of his speech to reminding his audience that the Oracle of Delphi declared him to be the wisest man in the world. After using his intellectual prowess to intimidate his opponents in trial, here Socrates tries to make himself appear to be a more humble, and perhaps more easily pitied figure by the audience, while still acknowledging his important role in determining the course of events.

            His gadfly analogy even seems to mirror the Oracle of Delphi’s prophecy, that Socrates is the wisest man of all because he thinks he knows nothing. While Socrates admits that he knows nothing, which comes off as a humbling statement, Socrates still realizes that he is the wisest man in the world and thinks himself to be better than his peers and thus comments and criticizes people when it may not be his place to speak—hence a tiny fly heckles a horse until it moves.

            Socrates uses the analogy of the gadfly to assert that only he, as the wisest man in the world, can best benefit the state by motivating people with his inquisitions, however unwanted they may be.

Works Cited

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2016.