Alcibiades’ speech in Plato’s Symposium is a digression from the previous speakers’ because he illustrates a personal instance in which eros (love) is and is not felt, whereas the previous speakers defined it. Additionally, he shows eros as not always beneficial. His unrequited love for Socrates proves that it is not always a mutual emotion and can have a detrimental impact, unlike the other speeches which portray love as a beneficial force for both lovers and society. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention that his speech does also share a commonality with Diotema’s since Alcibiades situation exemplifies what she describes.
To begin with, a difference is seen between Alcibiades’ account concerning eros Phaedrus’s speech. As the first speaker at the symposium, Phaedrus makes the point that eros and the erōmenos/erastēs (beloved/ lover) relationship should make men behave more righteously. Phaedrus says, “if a man in love is found doing something shameful . . . then nothing would give him more pain than being seen by the boy he loves . . . We see the same thing also in the boy he loves” (Sym. 178e). However, this does not appear to be the nature of Socrates and Alcibiades’ relationship. Alcibiades desires to be Socrates’s erōmenos but Socrates does not reciprocate and states that he has no desire to do so (Sym. 213d). When Alcibiades finishes recounting the multiple instances he blatantly offers himself to Socrates as a beloved, he quotes Socrates as rejecting him in a harsh manner. Socrates says to …show more content…
His speech and the story within comment on and detail aspects that compared to Diotema’s speech and contrasted with Pausanias’s and Phaedrus’s. Ultimately Alcibiades disproves a few widely held notions regarding the customs of an erōmenos/erastēs
To begin with, a difference is seen between Alcibiades’ account concerning eros Phaedrus’s speech. As the first speaker at the symposium, Phaedrus makes the point that eros and the erōmenos/erastēs (beloved/ lover) relationship should make men behave more righteously. Phaedrus says, “if a man in love is found doing something shameful . . . then nothing would give him more pain than being seen by the boy he loves . . . We see the same thing also in the boy he loves” (Sym. 178e). However, this does not appear to be the nature of Socrates and Alcibiades’ relationship. Alcibiades desires to be Socrates’s erōmenos but Socrates does not reciprocate and states that he has no desire to do so (Sym. 213d). When Alcibiades finishes recounting the multiple instances he blatantly offers himself to Socrates as a beloved, he quotes Socrates as rejecting him in a harsh manner. Socrates says to …show more content…
His speech and the story within comment on and detail aspects that compared to Diotema’s speech and contrasted with Pausanias’s and Phaedrus’s. Ultimately Alcibiades disproves a few widely held notions regarding the customs of an erōmenos/erastēs