Vices and Virtues

Euthyphro is a character that at first seems to have very little personality. Throughout most of the play he is merely agreeing with what Socrates says, which doesn’t reveal much about him. However, the few times he does speak a person with virtues and vices is revealed. Euthyphro’s main vice is his agreeableness. By agreeing with everything that Socrates he is showing an unwillingness to think for himself. He lets Socrates lead him along and seems unable to make up his mind about what piety really is. Agreeableness is not a vice in itself, but the extent to which Euthyphro takes it makes it become one. Another vice that Euthyphro has is his ego. Euthyphro is so convinced that what he’s doing is right. “…the pious is just what I am doing now…”(46). This unshakable belief in himself is a huge vice. With such a belief comes a feeling of superiority that would make him a very undesireable person to spend time with. Socrates destroys Euthyphro’s definition of piety, which humbles Euthyphro because Euthyphro believed that he knew everything about piety, and Socrates humbled him.

Despite the previous paragraph, Euthyphro does have virtues as well. Euthyphro is very concerned with Socrates and what the charges are against him when he finds out that someone is prosecuting him. This concern shows that e does care about others and makes him a good friend, always a virtue. Euthyphro also has a very strong sense of justice. “It’s laughable, Socrates, that you suppose that it makes any difference whether the dead man is an outsider or of the family…” (44). Euthyphro has such a strong sense of justice that he is prosecuting his own father for murder, because he believes that a murder is murder, no matter who the murderer and the victim happen to be. This sense of justice is a virtue because it allows Euthyphro to stand by his beliefs even when it must be hard, and allows him to help justice prevail.