Which of these dudes in this painting would best represent your reaction to Socrates drinking the poison?

[Still-alive]

Socrates is the old guy sitting on the bed

Painting is The Death of Socrates by French painter Jacques-Louis David in 1787.

' 'I understand', he said, 'we can and must pray to the gods that our sojourn on earth will continue happy beyond the grave. This is my prayer, and may it come to pass. ' With these words, he stoically drank the potion, quite readily and cheerfully. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/socrates.htm

The dude in in the red reluctantly handing Socrates the hemlock

The guy in grey sitting down at the foot of the bed as he looks down

The guy in the archway in the back with his face and hands against the wall

The guy in yellow with his hands in his face sobbing over Socrates' fate

The guy with the maroon colored clothing with his hand on socrates thigh

The guy on the far right of the painting in red cupping his hand in his face who can't bear to watch him drink the hemlock

One of the other dudes in this painting (say which one)

[Rosexøxø]

I see myself between the three:

• Archway dude
• Hand on thigh dude
• and the "handing poison" dude

- My first reaction pulled and resonated with the sobbing yellow, but I refused. I know that would not be my choice of action or visible response- at least not at first. Maybe not at all. I don't think I could give up.. I mad let a loose tear, but that too would be mildly pointless in my eye (double pun intended lol)

- my second resonating feeling gravitated with the hand on thigh- I'd be watching in disbelief- maybe speechless, but some part of me holding them to imply I don't wish for them to follow through with their fatal decision. I may say a word after, if I can- and before they settled for despair.

- Also from the "'vibe" of this painting and text, I'd relate this in real-time as being someone who has their mind made up, so I'd be the archway dude because if I KNOW I will not be able to say anything, and the circumstance is severe, I may have to look away. I would hold the wall in trying to think of a better way and outcome so the person ("Socrates") didn't go through with fatality. Holding the wall trying to focus and simultaneously trying not to behold something that does no good in seeing/ absorbing, foremostly.

- I would probably, inevitably be the "assistant." I have many times with people, agreed about the "toughness" of certain scenarios, and life as well. I could not lie to them.. so I hesitantly agreed, also as a means of showing them- they were not crazy, nor hallucinating the severity of their case. At other times, once, I was *regretfully* the person who spoke poison into people with the wrong heart. No right. Some bottom motive that they be nearly suicidal, but I quickly apologized and had to essentially "praise" them and bash myself, just so they would see how wrong I was for those times of verbal terror.

Assistant because I agree about the harsh fates many of us are dealt, but in the terms of REAL-time self-destruction, I would not be that person. I merely saw this painting as attitudes and actions towards life/living (as the context gives), and not actual contemplation of life or bringing about self-extermination.

In life-or-death, I'd be hand on thigh, and trying to convince and show alternatives.

[Rosexøxø]

since I again, see this as mentalities, I vote red-garment dude.

[Still-alive]

welp i think you may be the only person to answer this question lol. its one of my favorite paintings and stories.

[Rosexøxø]

bit extreme to vote that, but i swear it's mentalities lmao

I'm not a criminal!

Poor Socrates :/

[Rosexøxø]

lmaoo it's late, that's probs why. I have to read it. It looks interesting. I love the deepness with the painting and the follow-up with the text.

Truly profound.

What do you like about it specifically? What draws you? (if it's not too much to share).

[Still-alive]

i just like how Socrates views his entry into death not in sorrow or out of fear but as yet another opportunity to learn more. so you see all the people around him who probably followed him around and revered him sob away and react in horror or despair but as you can see Socrates himself on the bed seems intrigued by this prospect.

a bit thought provoking. it asks us why shall we fear death? embrace it when it comes like any other endeavor in our lives...

thats my take anyways

[Rosexøxø]

very interesting.. I like your perspective and it's uniqueness

[Rosexøxø]

I had to re-read because I thought Socrates was contradicting himself-

I thought when he said *beyond* the grave

it meant to pass over and avoid it in some sense, but after reading your explanation,

it seems he meant fully through. Non-avoiding, nor circumvent, but completely through/within/overall/ and thoroughly.

I read his actions as despair- and you read it as curiosity and intellectual.

Why would he rush it? Why the seeming eagerness? Death is inevitable. I have a possible idea, but which do you say of it?

[Rosexøxø]

why the rush?

[Rosexøxø]

his entry was brought upon manually instead of gradually? assume of control? or something else?

( I still won't say the one I assume)

[Still-alive]

well he's not rushing it, this was an execution and forced to drink it. but as he has in his life he looks at his death with curiosity and intrigue instead of fear and dread. As he said once 'the unexamined life is not worth living' he embraces his death as an opportunity to learn the mysteries of this things all humans must endure at some point but few understand.

[Rosexøxø]

I see. I also wonder if he would be able to perform such a mannerism, if it hadn't been so quick to perform. If it were painful ( or maybe the drink was already painful) or long and torturous, would he be cheery, but I suppose the fear of death is really just the fear of pain.

Torture before death is the fear, and some lack of control I suppose.. like being kept underwater or any place, for that matter, against free will.

Was he at some content being in control of his exact "final moment" in fate, and the fact he'd possibly avoid pain? or was it purely, through and through, a genuine curiosity for that, which was beyond the path of life?

I mean we see his demeanor, his action/ willingness/ and his speech, but were all his thoughts transparent? and were his emotions secured/ sure?

I don't know maybe I am making too much of it. You may truly be right, and in that sense, it is certainly positive and it leads me to wonder about the way things are after this life, also. Not anything to cause me to bring " it " on before natural causes, but still the curiosity to wonder-

Profound, profound! thanks for this sharee

[Still-alive]

Well i hear hemlock is not pleasant.. i wouldn't know for sure but there's been reports of people surviving it... yeah lol.

[Rosexøxø]

yeah :// s'ppose any poison would be painful (since the body would treat it as a pathogen/ maybe allergic reaction) unless it was directly paired with some anesthetic component that disturbed the communication between us and our nerves/ pain receptors). Especially painful if it directly stopped the heart or attacked the brain.

Thought-provoking :O

[Rosexøxø]

only person in old writings to seem positive about death. I don't know I'll have to re-read on Joan of arc. Not the same as this though. Surely not.

[Sour-rose]

Dude in grey

Probably wondering what I'm gonna eat that night

[Rosexøxø]

lmaooo

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

The dude in the red reluctantly handing Socrates the hemlock

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Thanks for MHO: )

[NostalgiaSenpi]

Socrates himself, I'd do it, too.

[Rosexøxø]

ur a legend (if curiosity and bravery- not self despair ofc) ;)