Symposium by its very definition is a drinking party held after a banquet in ancient Greece. “The Symposium” by Plato is set place after a heavy day of drinking, where all the men are still recovering from their hangovers. They all decide to go easy for the night and just tell stories. Aristophanes and Socrates both tell stories about love, but both have very different meanings. Aristophanes, who is a comic playwright tells a story in which he talks about the myth of soulmates and love, and his meaning of love. Socrates then tells a story of his version of love, and what he believes it to be. Both Aristophanes and Socrates stories gives interesting ideas, in Aristophanes Male/Male pairing is favored, and with Socrates love is for an object, and to love is to desire that object. In Aristophanes story of love, people were once doubled, and there were three types of them: male/male, female/male, and female/females.
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These people rebelled and caused the gods trouble, so out of punishment the gods cut them in half and separated them. These people then spend their entire lives trying to find their other halves, or their soulmates. In order to be together, the gods allowed them to have sexual intercourse to be closer to their other half. This speech of Aristophanes is interesting because it encourages relationships between two males which was the strongest of the pairs. During ancient Greek time, it was considered a right of passage in a way for a young boy to be close with an older man, that may or may not have been sexual. It was a way for the men to be shown the way and taught. This is why the stronger of those pairs were man and boy. In today’s society some people do not see male/male as masculine or bold, which is what Aristophanes did. Another thing interesting about Aristophanes speech is that as a comic playwright, he wanted everyone to take what he was saying seriously, even though it is a joyous, uplifting story to hear. By having people take him seriously it is as if his motive was to have the audience find a deeper more romantic perspective on love. The myth has a beautiful notion that we do not find out soul mates based on physical attraction, but someone who shares a similar nature as ours, which makes us want to bond and spend the rest of our lives with them. It is as if the attraction to our “other half” is the noblest pursuits in life, and is the only thing of importance. It is important to note that in this story, love is a force that is uncontrollable, this story can also serve as a warning, when the pairs were together they were so ambitious and strong and tried to ascend and attack the gods. Perhaps this is saying that we should not find our other halves because negative effects can come out of it. This is perhaps why before we find the one we have to go down other paths of temporary relationships before we can ultimately find our one. I completely agree with Aristophanes’ perspective on love, it is nice to think that we find the one we are supposed to be with because of how much they complete us, and not because we find their body, or facial features attractive. These similarities are what make us want to continue to bond with this person and form an everlasting life with them. More than 2,000 years later, this speech was able to give me a new perspective on love, and it was very refreshing. The only thing wrong with the notion of soulmates is that one has to go searching for them. This could be why people get divorced, because they did not find their right match. People can go their whole life without finding the right one. When telling the story, Aristophanes does not say how the halves are supposed to find each other. He just says that they have to find them in order to be whole again. I do not see this as fair because someone can find someone with all their similarities, but maybe one thing is off and now they are with someone they should not be with, and the other person now has no one to be with. In order for this myth to go
These people rebelled and caused the gods trouble, so out of punishment the gods cut them in half and separated them. These people then spend their entire lives trying to find their other halves, or their soulmates. In order to be together, the gods allowed them to have sexual intercourse to be closer to their other half. This speech of Aristophanes is interesting because it encourages relationships between two males which was the strongest of the pairs. During ancient Greek time, it was considered a right of passage in a way for a young boy to be close with an older man, that may or may not have been sexual. It was a way for the men to be shown the way and taught. This is why the stronger of those pairs were man and boy. In today’s society some people do not see male/male as masculine or bold, which is what Aristophanes did. Another thing interesting about Aristophanes speech is that as a comic playwright, he wanted everyone to take what he was saying seriously, even though it is a joyous, uplifting story to hear. By having people take him seriously it is as if his motive was to have the audience find a deeper more romantic perspective on love. The myth has a beautiful notion that we do not find out soul mates based on physical attraction, but someone who shares a similar nature as ours, which makes us want to bond and spend the rest of our lives with them. It is as if the attraction to our “other half” is the noblest pursuits in life, and is the only thing of importance. It is important to note that in this story, love is a force that is uncontrollable, this story can also serve as a warning, when the pairs were together they were so ambitious and strong and tried to ascend and attack the gods. Perhaps this is saying that we should not find our other halves because negative effects can come out of it. This is perhaps why before we find the one we have to go down other paths of temporary relationships before we can ultimately find our one. I completely agree with Aristophanes’ perspective on love, it is nice to think that we find the one we are supposed to be with because of how much they complete us, and not because we find their body, or facial features attractive. These similarities are what make us want to continue to bond with this person and form an everlasting life with them. More than 2,000 years later, this speech was able to give me a new perspective on love, and it was very refreshing. The only thing wrong with the notion of soulmates is that one has to go searching for them. This could be why people get divorced, because they did not find their right match. People can go their whole life without finding the right one. When telling the story, Aristophanes does not say how the halves are supposed to find each other. He just says that they have to find them in order to be whole again. I do not see this as fair because someone can find someone with all their similarities, but maybe one thing is off and now they are with someone they should not be with, and the other person now has no one to be with. In order for this myth to go