Culture and Anarchy as a Platonic Solution to a Victorian Dilemma

Abstract

Demonstrates the close relationship between Plato’s ideas about society and the main tenets of Arnold’s Culture and Anarchy. Finds compelling parallels in the two authors’ perspectives on political forces, in their concept of the State as an organic whole, and in their insistence that the way to improve the State was to improve individuals. Cites parallel passages to explain how Platonic thinking shapes Arnold’s text. Sees Arnold modeling his three classes (Barbarians, Philistines, Populace) on Plato’s discussion of the Guardians, Auxiliaries, and Populace in The Republic. Claims Arnold breaks from Plato in his belief that the dualisms existing in society must be resolved on earth, chiefly through the individual’s struggle for perfection.