How Is Love Revealed In Plato's Symposium

The Symposium is a dialog by Plato that depicts a drinking party that Socrates attended where the subject of love and what it really is was discussed. All the people who attended took turns giving speeches of what they thought about love and what its meaning really is. The first one to speak was Phaedrus who is known as the beloved and his speech details how he thinks love instills in us a feeling of being virtuous and honorable. This in turn makes us happy and good men following the path of knowing what is right and wrong. However, I will show that this view of Phaedrus’ is flawed and that it is far too grandiose when it is compared to things that love, or what someone might think of as love, can make a person do or not do. That love can make you do things that are harmful or even evil instead of the vision of godliness that Phaedrus is claiming it can do. Phaedrus begins by saying that Love is a great god and he(Eros) is one of the most ancient of gods and …show more content…
My partner, who became my wife, would smell the smoke on me and get upset. I would feel shame for doing what I did, but I still did it knowing full well that it would hurt her. No matter how much I loved her or felt love for her could keep me from shaming myself again and again to have a cigar. I did eventually quit, but that was due to my own desire and willpower. Love for my wife didn’t have anything to do with it. In conclusion, Phaedrus speech is beautiful and poetic. It describes a version of love that is truly of the gods and is one that if it were true it really could make us be the best we can be for our loved ones. But in the end we are all flawed creatures and no matter how much we might want to strive for perfection, most times will always fall short of the goal. It may hurt the ones we love and ourselves, but that is just how we are. All we can try to do is be the best we can be with or without the power of love in our