Plato’s Symposium is a dialogue of a party that was thrown to honor Agathon on the success of his first tragedy. In order to explain what was discussed at the party, Apollodorus uses information that he’s gained from various sources to explain the events of the party as well as to explain the many eulogies given by men to honor the God, Love. At the party, the men decide to drink until they do not feel like doing so anymore and they also decide to eulogize Love; these eulogies cover a wide range of spectrums and bring forth very interesting arguments and claims. Out of all the men, Phaedrus is the first to give a eulogy. The main point of his speech is to convince the others that love is great because of its origins; he is the most ancient
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He starts by stating that no one has succeeded in recognizing the power of love. He tells the story of what humans looked like in the past: androgynous, with double the features that they now have. The reason that humans look different now, according to Aristophanes, is because they attempted to rebel against the Gods and as a punishment, they were split in half. After they were split, the two halves longed for each other. They made great efforts to form one whole being again and many died as a result. In order to solve this problem, Zeus made sexual intercourse possible. This, according to Aristophanes, is how the desire of human beings for each other started, “it draws the two halves of our original nature back together and tries to make one out of two and heal the wound in human nature” (p. 24). The reason that we never want to be separated from our lovers is that we long to be fused with our other half; love is the desire and pursuit of wholeness. Aristophanes then warns everyone not to act against the Gods and risk being split up even more; to work against the Gods is to work against love. He concludes his speech by making the statement that the human race can only achieve happiness when everyone finds their other halves and restores their original
He starts by stating that no one has succeeded in recognizing the power of love. He tells the story of what humans looked like in the past: androgynous, with double the features that they now have. The reason that humans look different now, according to Aristophanes, is because they attempted to rebel against the Gods and as a punishment, they were split in half. After they were split, the two halves longed for each other. They made great efforts to form one whole being again and many died as a result. In order to solve this problem, Zeus made sexual intercourse possible. This, according to Aristophanes, is how the desire of human beings for each other started, “it draws the two halves of our original nature back together and tries to make one out of two and heal the wound in human nature” (p. 24). The reason that we never want to be separated from our lovers is that we long to be fused with our other half; love is the desire and pursuit of wholeness. Aristophanes then warns everyone not to act against the Gods and risk being split up even more; to work against the Gods is to work against love. He concludes his speech by making the statement that the human race can only achieve happiness when everyone finds their other halves and restores their original