Great Works of Literature, Spring 2017 (hybrid)

During the symposium, all the attendees attempt to explain love. Socrates describes love based on a conversation he had with Diotima long ago. He states that love is between beauty and ugliness, mortal and immortal, wisdom and ignorance. Diotima tells Socrates the story behind love: Love is the son of Poros (resource) and Penia (poverty). She explains that love is not just the love between two people, but rather the purpose of love is to give birth in beauty. Diotima then goes on to say that it is not enough for philosophers, or lovers of wisdom, to only assist in the birth of ideas. A real lover of wisdom must conceive ideas himself. Socrates’ speech on love is very different from the others. He delves into the different elements of love and not only the physical, sexual components of love.

In Plato’s Symposium, there is no such thing as a distinctive concept that is called love, it rather depends on the person experiencing it and their own conception of it. Phaedrus speaks of love being the oldest of the gods and it is what promotes virtue within people. Pausanias speaks of a common love and a heavenly love. Eryximachus states that love is not only something that can happen between two human begins, but it can be found other places as well. Aristophanes speaks of the concept of soul mates. What can be understood from all of these different conceptions of love, is that there is not only one but there are many. All of these views of love that are presented are surely true, but that depends on the person in question. Aristophanes concept of soul mates is something that some people of today believe in still, and Eryximachus statement that love can be found in other things such as music is just as true. To conclude, none of these men are neither right nor wrong in their own perceptions of love – it all depends on whom you are asking.

Love is part of human nature and it is discussed in Plato’s Symposium. In the symposium when discussing love, there is said to be two types of love. The first type being common love this is love in the physical sense such as because of someone’s looks. The second type of love mentioned is heavenly love this is when love goes beyond the physical and you care for the companionship or mentorship. These types of love can be seen in the Odyssey. Common love is seen when Odysseus is stuck on the island for sex. Heavenly love can be seen through the way his son will not give up and believe that his father is dead, he goes out to try to find him.

In Plato Symposium, all speakers attended the symposium in honor of Agathon. They started to give speeches in praise of the god of Love. Each speech takes us closer to understanding the true nature of love. Phaedrus who starts the dialogue, says that love is the virtue, Pausanias suggests that love is divided into two parts, Common and Heavenly love. Common love is when two lovers just want to satisfy each other through physical intimacy, while Heavenly love is when two people are attracted to each other through the soul. Eryximachus says, that love can be expressed in various things like in music, medicine. However, “According to Diotima, Love is not a god at all, but is rather a spirit that mediates between people and the objects of their desire. Love is neither wise nor beautiful, but is rather the desire for wisdom and beauty.” Socrates says that Diotima gives the correct meaning of Love. She explains that Love itself is being pregnant, both in body and soul. When women love, they give birth and when men love, they also give birth but simply through another form. For example, they seek birth to ideas.

In Plato’s Symposium, the form of the dialogue is a very important factor in defining love and explaining all of its characteristics. When the conversation begins, Plato establishes the setting, by showing us that the men are situated in a way that influences the flow of conversation. Then, one by one, each man gives his take on what he believes the true meaning of love is. As each man speaks, they either criticize the ideas proposed before them, or add on to the ideas, and this collection of speeches eventually allows the men to arrive at the very true meaning which is stated by Socrates. Also, Plato arranged the order of the men in such a way that as the speeches went on, the speakers were more philosophical, especially with Socrates being the last one to comment on the previous speeches and finally presents his ideas. Although for the most part the Symposium was very dramatic and climatic as the speeches progressed, there were also various comedic episodes that made Plato’s work very enjoyable to read.

Catullus views on love greatly resembles the view of love portrayed in The Odyssey. Catullus views love as a gift from the gods and a promise between two lovers, a promise that should never be broken. Even after Catullus’s love, Lesbia, betrayed him and “bad-mouths” him, it is clear he still loves her and can not get over her. He feels the need to continue to keep his promise to love her, a promise he signs with a kiss.

In The Odyssey, love is also seen as a promise between two lovers. Penelope, even though she has little hope that Odysseus is still alive, continues to keep the promises she made to him on their wedding day. She views love as sacred and refuses to remarry until she knows for sure that he was passed on to the underworld. The greatest symbol of that promise was the bed Odysseus made for the two to engage in eternal love on.

Sappho illustrates her perspective of love using the beauties of army soldiers and actual love.  To Sappho, as seen in lines 1-4, she writes that although soldiers are the most beautiful things of the earth, there are greater beauties like real love.  She uses Helen as an example, of how Helen left everything behind from her parents to her children and everything else, just to go be with the man she loves in Troy.  Sappho uses this example as it shows a great deal of the power of love, according to her, and that people may go through greater measures because of love.  Also, Sappho is able to relate to Helen as she misses Anaktoria, (presumably a girlfriend according to subscript notes), and how Sappho would rather see Anaktoria again rather than soldiers and chariots.  In using this comparison, it shows that real love/desire towards someone triumphs beauty among other things (even army soldiers in this case).

It was interesting to read about how different Greek writers viewed the idea of love. To Plato, love could take many forms, as shown through several different speakers in the Symposium. Despite these differing perspectives, Plato insists that the love of wisdom is the greatest form that love can take, in a sense because to love wisdom is to strive for self-improvement and knowledge. These virtuous qualities are what give love the utmost value in a man. On the other hand, Sappho views love with a more physical effect. According to Sappho, love can act as a driving force between two subjects, and is the most sought after beauty in any human. Love represents an inner connection between a person and a subject, and is rare to find in true form. Lastly, Catullus takes a view on love that is somewhere in between, as shown through his description of his relationship with Lesbia. Catullus establishes that love has both a physical and sentimental aspect. He briefly mentions that he enjoys kissing Lesbia, to demonstrate the physical love he feels for her. However, he does not move past this physical description, but rather talks about the mutual devotion of time and effort into their emotional connection. Thus, Catullus emphasizes that love is dual in nature, similar to Plato’s sentiment that love can take on many forms. Thus, these three Greek writers had quite varying perceptions of love.

In Plato’s Symposium, love is conceived as a harmony of opposites from the viewpoint of Socrates. It takes form as a god, Love, who is the offspring of Poros, god of resources, and Penia, a beggar woman. Being from such different parents, Love takes on the aspects of both and maintains a medium between each extreme. Therefore, love is neither young or old, ignorant or wise, without resources or rich, and so and so forth. However, all those in attendance are in agreement that those in love want it to last forever.

Despite making detours during his voyage back to his family and home, I trust in Odysseus’ desire to return to Ithaka. Odysseus may have delayed his journey back home, but he declined the offer to marry Nausikaa and left Phaiakia thus prioritized returning back to Ithaka. However, I think that Homer is not absolutely sure that Odysseus is willing to go back to his wife and matured son. In The Odyssey, Homer emphasized Odysseus’ long stay with Kirke on Aiaia; Odysseus and his men stayed with the cunning Kirke for a couple of years before continuing their voyage home. Moreover, Odysseus and his men are always caught in some sort of dilemma wherever they are even with Athena’s guidance. I believe that Homer does not trust in Odysseus because he creates an idea that Odysseus is not in any rush to return home. On the other hand, I blame Poseidon for prolonging Odysseus’ trip.