Rhetorical Analysis Of Alcibiades Speech

As Socrates wraps up his speech and the group was applauding him, a noise came from outside and this was Alcibiades. Alcibiades is drunk and everyone there wants Alcibiades to stay after he said he wanted to join. He sits next to Socrates and Agathon on the couch which separates the two of them. Alcibiades then notices Socrates is on the same couch as Agathon, the most beautiful person in the room and Socrates says that Alcibiades is jealous. The conversation then leads to everyone wanting him to speak about love, but he is too drunk so they suggest he should praise Socrates. This begins Alcibiades’ speech. Alcibiades begins by comparing Socrates to Satyrs and Marsyas, but he believes that Socrates is more gifted than them. If people were …show more content…
This is why Alcibiades states that Socrates made him believe that his life was not worth living. Socrates is able to make him feel shame as well. When he speaks to Socrates, he understands what he is saying, but once he leaves, he goes off and does what he wants. When he gets back with Socrates, he feels ashamed of what he did. Alcibiades continues to state that many people would believe that Socrates is going after the most handsome, rich, young boys out there, but this is not what he truly does. Once he realized Socrates had great knowledge, he wanted to learn from him. He was certain that Socrates fell in love with him so he tried to get with him. He thought that Socrates would pursue him, but he was wrong. After seeing him a few times, he could not get anywhere with him. With this, he felt like something had bitten him and he wanted Socrates really bad. He was frustrated with him, but would do anything to get with him. He decided to set him up and had him stay overnight on a couch with him. He said that Socrates was the best lover and he wanted to satisfy his needs, but Socrates said that Alcibiades fell in love with the person and he would only get outside beauty. This would be a terrible …show more content…
It might not be fully true, but it gave a lot of insight about Socrates and his background. When Alcibiades starts off by stating that he compares Socrates to Satyr and Marsyas, it is clear that he has a great appreciation for Socrates. He would speak to Socrates and then would go off and do what he wanted, but felt ashamed when he would get back with Socrates. This shows that he had an understanding of how he should live from Socrates, but he was too focussed on what he wanted and what the people wanted, rather than what was best for him. This would be being with Socrates. He also believed that Socrates would be the one to make a move on him, but he was wrong. Socrates did make a move to talk to him and make him understand himself and what he wanted, but he did not make a move for physical love. This is something that Alcibiades wanted. He tried very hard to get with Socrates, but all Socrates would want to do is talk. When he finally spoke with Socrates about it, it was obvious that Alcibiades was in love with Socrates’ soul, but Socrates had nothing in return. Socrates wants to be able to love Alcibiades’ soul as well, not just his body because that would not be a fair tradeoff. After this, it was clear that Alcibiades loved Socrates and had a great respect for him for his self control. Even when there was a food shortage or it was cold, he would not complain. This shows that Socrates had a great