One of the most fascinating and marvelous examples of antique art is the statue of ‘Laocoön and His Sons’. Laocoön, an ancient priest of the Poseidon cult along with his lovely sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus are described to be entangled in the powerful as well as fatal arms of a sea serpent. (Pliny 7) The statue originates from the island Rhodes and was made approximately in the years between 42 and 20 BC.
This masterpiece of sculpture illuminates the traditional manner of antique Greek representation of art with flowing lines and mythological context. In this representation, main glimpses of depiction and discussion concern the statue of Laocoon which still excites by its manner of artistic implementation in every line. The discussion touches in the paper upon Plato’s treatise of Tripartite Soul and Temperance as detailed work on working out the theme and idea of antique as well as modern examples of art. This approach is applied to describe the statue.
Pliny’s supposed the overwhelming value of this creation of artistic thought to reflect the inner feelings of those who had devoted their lives to sanctuary projecting the outlook of some soul processes for the rest of the spectators. He admired the statue and explained the role of Laocoön as “a work to be preferred to all that the arts of painting and sculpture have produced”. (Pliny 11) Another outstanding philosopher of ancient times Plato depicted the idea of this sculpture by his concept of Tripartite Soul which demonstrates several approaches towards making out the philosophical value of the work.
Plato always pointed out the differences in the soul of a man. What is the extent of changes provided in a man’s soul? This key point Plato wanted to find out in his work and striving at the idea of the Laocoon statue. This, as he thought, stimulated people to do various deeds with sometimes opposing effects. The conflict of the soul constituent parts according to Plato presupposes a perpetual situation in a man’s everyday life when he is presented with a choice.
Among mentioned components of soul Plato designated three: appetitive, rational, and spiritual. (Popper 857) The point is that a man always evaluates the things and elements in life throughout all these three parts. It is like an integral unity of a man’s mind providing him with possible summed up outcomes which undergo the procedure of passing reasoning through the alembic of consciousness. A cleared-up picture of the statue’s representation gives birth to many thoughts and ideas of antique manner of soul matters implementation.
Taking into account these parameters of Plato’s theory the sculpture tends to emphasize inner changes in Laocoon as a victim of his many-faceted activities in soul treatments of other people. He seems to be trapped in the loop of his soul excruciation. One of the reasons, as it is seen; props up against the vivid side of Laocoon’s nature of striving to the entire world of myths and spiritual transformation resulted in his constant reasoning as for the main drawbacks of people’s realization in life.
That martyrdom written all over his face supports the idea of the materialization of all his emotional stress. The well-patterned tension of his muscles displays that Laocoon makes great pains resulted in his soul sufferings due to the rage of Poseidon. The deepest horror on his face represents a spiritual point of Plato’s treatise. The aesthetical framework of the sculpture implements the picturesque, live, and vigorous manner of the lines and shapes which it has. This factor grabs special attention on the distinct reproduction of soul peculiarities not only inside Laocoon but also in the description of his two sons. This is the additional shade that strengthens the emotional decline of the central character because he will be trapped not alone; this fatality comprehends also the destinies of his sons.
Hence, the paramount place while looking at and analyzing this masterpiece should be realized close to the extent of the primordial value of a man’s inner world with tints of probable effects unless the appropriate behavior model is based on moral and rational fundamentals is not followed.
One of the universal ideas takes for granted the concept which illuminates the approach according to which, as many scriptures of many religions interpret, people having imprecated once in their lives will give malediction to the following generations after them and while alive. Another approach continues this idea by remembering the devotion of Laocoon while alive – he knew many of people’s mysteries and bad things they had done. This could not but make him disappointed and caught in a trap of such a complicated relationships process. Such supposition illustrates possible desperation as an after-effect.
Thus, the Laocoon sculpture tends to display the aftermath of wrong actions as of their moral coloring them. By the statements of Plato written in his both works ‘The Republic’ and ‘The Laws’ the conceptual peculiarity of Tripartite Soul is distinctively implemented in the statue’s featuring giving ground for reasoning about the vital value of the work. Every detail of the Laocoon statue presents a spectator with appetitive, rational, and spiritual standpoints with regards to Plato’s Tripartite Soul. The paper gives an enormous flow of deep thoughts focusing on soul matters and teaches to follow the right decision-making way in life while it is too short.
Works cited
Pliny The Laocoon in Antiquity. Institute of Design + Culture, Rome, 2009.
Popper, K.R. (1968). Plato. In D.L. Sills (Ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. New York: Macmillan & Free Press.