Abstract

The paper puts forward a detailed analysis of some passages from book III and V of Plato’s Republic. The aim of the paper is to understand the inner relation between theatre and world, which are closely linked. From book III, it emerges that poetry is essentially related to telling or enacting events. From book V, it emerges that this is quite a different matter from getting in contact with what is fully real. The main finding of the paper is that Plato consistently makes use of theatre as a way to illustrate the nature of human experience.