Plato Vs Stockman

What factors in a difficult situation make a character favorable? Perhaps it is the one who is out for the greater good of the majority. Sticking to the right judgment is what many are all taught to do, but what if making the right and just judgement only brought rejection from the people. Out of the both leading noble men from An Enemy of the People and A Man for All Seasons, I believe that Dr. Thomas Stockmann is the greatest character because of his persistence and good intentions he carried. In Plato’s work, The Allegory of the Cave, there are people chained in a cave where they are shown shadow depiction of images. While there is a group of people casting these shadows, one of the chained prisoners is visited by someone who convinces him to leave the cave. Once out of
the cave the escapee learns new knowledge that he has never been shown when in the cave. When the escapee comes back into the cave he then explains to the chained group that the shadows are a lie, but to his surprise the chained people found his theories to be ridiculous and they try to kill the escapee. In today’s world, we as the viewers and consumers of the news represent the people in chains. The news channel and social media are the ones who project these one sided stories that influence the citizens to their favor. The news channels and social media project ideas that are one sided situations like criminal cases. Most of the time they project criminals as horrible people who deserve to die in jail without really going into the backstory of how these criminals came to be. Nowadays there aren’t a lot of people who escape this type of cave, but for those who do it’s usually the person who takes in account of all factors. To further this statement, the escapee is one who takes the time to learn the criminal’s background and learn the factors that lead up to the case. Now that the escapee has this new found knowledge of the situation, he learns that the criminal had a rough upbringing. This enforces him to think of the criminal differently and appoint a different approach to his sentencing. Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave has similar factors that are seen in An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen.
The village’s people are the ones who represent the people in chains because they are vulnerable to the King’s and the newspaper’s word. The mayor the newspaper people represent the people putting the shadows on wall because they’re trying to keep the information about the bathhouses away from the village people. Instead of telling the people the truth, they cast this shadow being that the bath houses are fine. Doing this ensures the power of the King and covers up the corruption going on within the government. The person who escaped this cave was Dr. Thomas Stockmann because he persisted that the information of the contamination of the bathhouses be reported to the citizens. Dr. Thomas Stockmann wants to the people to know of the contamination and that he believes it would be best of the bathhouse were to be closed to a couple of years for reconstruction. Stockmann’s ideas were seen as controversial because the King didn’t his power to be question as well as seen as corrupt. Also his ideas would ruin Morten Kiil’s invested fortune on the bathhouse if the information were to be
exposed. As noted, The Allegory of the Cave contains similarities in another story called A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt. Like in most stories, the people in England who are ruled by Henry VIII are the ones who represent the people in the chains. The people who are casting the shadows are Henry VIII himself and Cromwell. The shadows that are being displayed is the false image of a King because he wants his marriage to be terminated with the churches approval. Sir Thomas More is the one who escapes because he found out the truth behind the King’s desire for the divorce. Sir Thomas More’s revelation is that the King wants a divorce for reasons that go against the churches and his own morals. More doesn’t necessarily want to expose him but not grant him the divorce. His ideas were controversial because since the King is seen as someone who can do no wrong, More’s revelations will differ so. Also with More not granting the King the divorce he disobeys his wished which raises questions about the King’s power. Although both men played as the escapee from the cave, I believe Dr. Thomas Stockmann is the better man considering their situations. Both of their situations were different and both men fought for different reasons. Sire Thomas More was fighting to stay true to his faith and morals, but Dr. Thomas Stockmann was fighting for the town’s health. Stockmann main purpose was to help the people from getting sick through the contamination of the bathhouse; he fought for more people than himself. On the other hand Sire Thomas More fought for his own faith which I think is a little selfish compared to what Stockmann fought for. They both differ in the ending of their outcome because one man lost his life and the other was shunned by the town. Although when More was sentenced to death for fighting for what is right to him, I believe Stockmann was the better man in the end. In the end it was seen that Stockmann was shunned by the town for basically insulting them, but what made him greater than More is the fact that he still preserved through. Stockmann will continue to fight against the corruption with the bathhouse because it is of great importance to him as shown in the play, “. . .the truth is coming! Ring the bells, sound the alarm! The truth, the truth is out, and soon it will be prowling like a lion in the streets.” Although both men differ in many ways, they both ultimately share some similarities like in their families. Both men educated and carried a close relationship with their daughters. Both Sir Thomas More and Dr. Thomas Stockmann amidst the stressful situation they were put under, they both had their daughters supporting them. They also both have their fair share in corruption when it comes down to the people who want to put them down. Sir Thomas More had Cromwell as the corrupt villain that wanted to put him down in which resulted to More’s death. Stockmann had the Mayor against him and had the newspaper work against him as well which eventually got Dr. Thomas Stockmann shunned. Both men showed their similarities and differences, but it is Dr. Thomas Stockmann who I believe comes out as greater male based on his resistances and purpose. To conclude, both men from the An Enemy of the People and A Man for All Seasons contain similar situations to Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave which is a noble job to already to do. But it is Dr. Thomas Stockmann who reigned as a greater character and comparison to the escapee of the cave.