The Accounts Of Eros In The symposium Essay -- essays research paper

The Accounts of Eros in the "Symposium"The word hunch carries with it many, many different interpretations. In modernday, our views on what is appropriate love is much different from the views fromthe time of Socrates and Plato. To them love was eros, a direct translation ofthe word love.However, the word itself wasnt the only function that was different about love. InPlatos "Symposium", there is a celebration for Agathon. He had just won adramatic contest in Athens, Greece two nights ago. It is prevalent to drink muchwine at these gatherings, however, every cardinal present is too weak from the night beforehand. (Nehamas & Woodruff, pg. xiii) So a proposition is do, by Phaedrus, toproperly give praise to the god Eros, and speak on the topic of love. It wastheir opinion that no poet has yet been able to properly do so. (Nehamas &Woodruff, pg. 7) in that respect were a total of seven accounts given in praise of eros,by seven different people who are presen t at the party. Of these accounts, theone that made the most sense was the speech of Socrates when he quotes Diotima.This account is practical, and shows love not as a heavenly creature, but as amortal being, where we nominate interact with him. It also has answers that most ofthe other accounts could not even question. This is what stands the speechofSocrates and Diotima apart from most of the others. But, there were two otherspeeches that were also impressive and brought about points that Socrates didnot make. These accounts were given by Aristophanes and Agathon. Through thesethree speeches, we can get a good picture of what eros is. Starting with themost complete account Socrates and Diotima and woful through Aristophanes andthen Agathon, this paper will show why these accounts are superior, and whySocrates makes the most sense.After Agathons speech, it was Socrates turn to present his account of eros.But before he does, he tells Agathon that his speech was marvelous and that atone time, Socrates also believed in what Agathon believed. That was until awomen named Diotima taught him the real truth in eros. It is however, believed,that Socrates made up the region of Diotima, the reason, though, is unknown.In spite of this, Socrates gives a remarkable speech that is truly complete. Oneof the first misconceptions among all the speakers was the age of the god Lo... ...s right to them, may not await correct to us, and this is a problem thatarises with Agathons speech.In the times of Socrates and Plato, eros was a much different word then itstranslation love. He have seen how love takes the shape of a god, and how ithas influenced the evolution of human kind. In the "Symposium", Socrates givesthe most sensible account of eros when he quotes Diotima , even though to thisday, it is unclear whether Diotima was a assembly to fit Socrates needs whendiscussing love. The speech of Aristophanes was also worth noting, as he hadbrought up the point of human n ature, the only speaker to do so. As well,Agathon had a very complete speech, he chose to describe the god Love in termsof his moral character and his virtues. These three accounts were the best ofall that were offered. Socrates was the superior one to the other two, butnonetheless, the speeches of Aristophanes and Agathon were complete. Together,these three accounts form a very good picture of eros, one that shows everyaspect of what eros truly is.BibliographyNehamas, A. & Woodruff, P. "Symposium", Hackett publishing Company,Indianapolis, Indiana, 1989