In June 2016, a man shot 49 people at a gay nightclub. The terror attack had such a horrific outcome that at the time it was the worst attack on the United States since 9/11, both attacks rooted in hatred. In the literary works, Symposium by Plato and Metamorphoses by Ovid, the narrators contemplate whether love acts as the disease or remedy for society and the individual. These themes still have an importance in today's society, as acts of hatred still permeate through the fabric of humanity tearing apart any hope for universal peace and happiness. By studying these ancient texts, a fuller understanding of love and how to apply it to modern life can aid in eradicating bigger societal issues, such as the bigotry that caused the mass shooting
…show more content…
Although love can act as a detrimental force in these texts, love brings out the best in humanity by promoting selflessness, delaying gratification, creating inclusiveness, and healing society.
The concept of love in these ancient texts provides a detriment to modern practices of love because it promotes internal turmoil and glorifies selfish love which encourages horrific acts such as rape. For example, in Symposium, Alcibiades discuss how when Socrates, the man he loves, makes speeches he "makes it seem that [Alcibiades'] life isn't worth living" (S 901), and that "Socrates is the only man in the world who has made me feel shame" (S 902). Alcibiades had been living his life free of agony before he began feeling this intense love for Socrates. He becomes so ravaged by this love that it pushes him to trivialize his life to the point of contemplating not living it anymore. Only Socrates had the ability to make him to feel this despondent. If Alcibiades had not become Socrates' lover, the weight of his shame and depression would no longer weigh him down. Similarly, Io, from Metamorphoses, felt an internal struggle in the form of PTSD when Jove, "concealed the land entirely beneath a dense …show more content…
Jove's acts of selfish love affected the lives of many individuals for the worse, such as Juno, Io, and Io's father, who lived in a state of worry and anguish while he didn't know how to get his daughter back to her normal life. Overall, these feelings of selfish love and the actions that happened as a result of them affected many people's quality of life by ruining their self-confidence, sense of safety, and respect of their personal boundaries. Although these acts do highlight heinous effects of love, these depictions of selfish love do not serve to glorify it. Instead, it functions as a cautionary tale against lust by portraying its volatility. Pausanias creates a distinction between Heavenly Love, what people should strive to attain, and Common Love, the destructive lust that these texts attempt to eradicate: "Love … depends on whether the sentiments he produces in us are themselves noble. Now the Common Aphrodite's Love … is the love felt by the vulgar, who are attached … to the body more than to the soul" (S 875). Jove, in the story of Jove and Io, preoccupied himself only with his lust for Io's body, which prompted him to defile her, but since this displays Common Love, it presents itself as
Although love can act as a detrimental force in these texts, love brings out the best in humanity by promoting selflessness, delaying gratification, creating inclusiveness, and healing society.
The concept of love in these ancient texts provides a detriment to modern practices of love because it promotes internal turmoil and glorifies selfish love which encourages horrific acts such as rape. For example, in Symposium, Alcibiades discuss how when Socrates, the man he loves, makes speeches he "makes it seem that [Alcibiades'] life isn't worth living" (S 901), and that "Socrates is the only man in the world who has made me feel shame" (S 902). Alcibiades had been living his life free of agony before he began feeling this intense love for Socrates. He becomes so ravaged by this love that it pushes him to trivialize his life to the point of contemplating not living it anymore. Only Socrates had the ability to make him to feel this despondent. If Alcibiades had not become Socrates' lover, the weight of his shame and depression would no longer weigh him down. Similarly, Io, from Metamorphoses, felt an internal struggle in the form of PTSD when Jove, "concealed the land entirely beneath a dense …show more content…
Jove's acts of selfish love affected the lives of many individuals for the worse, such as Juno, Io, and Io's father, who lived in a state of worry and anguish while he didn't know how to get his daughter back to her normal life. Overall, these feelings of selfish love and the actions that happened as a result of them affected many people's quality of life by ruining their self-confidence, sense of safety, and respect of their personal boundaries. Although these acts do highlight heinous effects of love, these depictions of selfish love do not serve to glorify it. Instead, it functions as a cautionary tale against lust by portraying its volatility. Pausanias creates a distinction between Heavenly Love, what people should strive to attain, and Common Love, the destructive lust that these texts attempt to eradicate: "Love … depends on whether the sentiments he produces in us are themselves noble. Now the Common Aphrodite's Love … is the love felt by the vulgar, who are attached … to the body more than to the soul" (S 875). Jove, in the story of Jove and Io, preoccupied himself only with his lust for Io's body, which prompted him to defile her, but since this displays Common Love, it presents itself as