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

The Accounts of Eros in the "Symposium"The pronounce love carries with it many, many varied interpretations. In modernday, our views on what is appropriate love is much varied 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 thing that was unlike well-nigh love. InPlatos "Symposium", there is a celebration for Agathon. He had just won adramatic eng get on withment in Athens, Greece two nights ago. It is customary to drink muchwine at these gatherings, however, every one fork over is too weak from the nightbefore. (Nehamas & group A Woodruff, pg. xiii) So a proposition is made, by Phaedrus, toproperly give cheers to the god Eros, and speak on the topic of love. It wastheir opinion that no poet has unless been able to properly do so. (Nehamas &Woodruff, pg. 7) There were a take a shit along of seven tarradiddles given in praise of eros,by seven different people who are present at the party. Of these accounts, theone that made the some sense was the speech of Socrates when he quotes Diotima.This account is practical, and records love not as a heavenly creature, but as amortal being, where we tin can interact with him. It also has answers that most ofthe other accounts could not even question. This is what stands the speechofSocrates and Diotima isolated 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 sail through account Socrates and Diotima and moving 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 tremendous 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 character 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 solely the speakers was the age of the god Lo... ...s right to them, may not seem 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 invent 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 gathering to fit Socrates needs whendiscussing love. The speech of Aristophanes was also worth noti ng, as he hadbrought up the point of human nature, the only speaker to do so. As well,Agathon had a very complete speech, he chose to describe the god bop 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