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“In the Eye of the Beholder?” In Plato’s Gorgias, Plato thinks it is important to explain what oratory is because he wants to question the ethical value or substance behind oratory’s nature and function. In 500c of the Gorgias, Socrates makes the defining statement that the “discussion is about the way we’re supposed to live” and therefore he enlightens the audience as to what Plato’s main objective is in creating the Gorgias itself. The primary participants in the dialogue are Socrates, who represents Plato’s own views, and Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles, who represent the views of the Sophists. Through Socrates’ dialogue with Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles, his revealed assumption that there are objective standards in morality exposes the orators’ “art”, belief, and ability to reach true happiness as it is related to pleasure and virtue. We then learn that Gorgias is convinced that oratory commands the power of all the other arts and that he believes that the orator is overall more persuasive than the actual practitioner of an art due to the skills and ability he possesses to speak persuasively on any topic. Like most Sophists, Gorgias is not at all concerned with the truth of his propositions