Throughout history and fiction, individuals with
outstanding talents within their social settings
have been subjected to life-determining
societal responses. A more general issue is the
protection/transgression of an individual's rights
when they are perceived to be at odds with
the dominant forces of society. The problem
becomes acute in oligarchical societies, which
are controlled by a close-knit coalition insensitive
to the larger benefit of the majority. The
conflict between individual talent and reactionary
oligarchy is vividly seen in the historical
character of Alcibiades of Athens, during the
Peloponnesian War. The conflict of oligarchic
transgression over individual rights has been
given attention in the story of Philoctetes in the
Iliad, as masterfully brought into focus in the play by
Sophocles, in the medieval novel The Abyss
(L'Oeuvre au Noir) by Marguerite Yourcenar, and in
the history of Piri Reis. A critical analysis of
individual talents and rights under oligarchic
encroachment will be conducted, with
historical, biographical, and literary settings.
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