Review:
Plato's The Symposium is, for do doubt, one of the most important western writing about Love. Since this book alone is quoted and used as major literary device in so many novels(the first book that comes into mind is E.M Forster's Maurice, but the tale of humans being cut apart from the other half has become a proverb of its own), I've decided to give it a go. Well, after reading this, it's very obvious that what The Symposium discusses is love limited to a very narrow group of people-greek, men of high status, and also of wealth or beauty- and also has the possibility to be misconstrued as severly misogynic(which... in honesty it quite is) neverthless I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it and am happy that what Socrates says about love still resonates today! Humans really are the same regardless of times, aren't they. lol
I've read the penguin classics version translated by Christopher Gill and god why do I keep reading penguin when I promised not to- print the letters bigger dammit or change the font for goodness sake
So Socrates and friends start by each giving an eulogy to love and then comes the Diotima part, where Socrates gives a speach on what he's learned from her, and then a speech about Socrates by his lover.
One surprising thing I learned is that lover is the typical masculine role whereas boyfriend is the feminine role in greek homosexual relationship. Also Plato is on the side of Achilles as the boyfriend role so yeah props to him! Achilles is described more effeminate, a blonde beauty and the younger one, so in ancient greece he would've been the protected, guarded one. Yeah... this was quite interesting. Maybe interesting is not the right word in this case.... But I ship PatroclusxAchilles so bad it's unbecoming, and Plato's a genius so this is a proof that my ship is the right shit
Besides, it's only lovers who are willing to die for someone else
179b
Aeschylus talks nonsense when he says that Achilles was Patroclus' lover: he was more beautiful than Patroclus (indeed, he was the most beautiful of all heroes), and was still beardless, as well as much younger
180a
this is the part guys.... this is the part....
Supposedly love has two categories, one 'Common Love' and other that derives from Heavenly Gods.
Since their original nature had been cut in two, each one loned for its own other half and stayed with it. They threw their arms around each other, weaving themselves together, wanting to form a single living thing.
love is the name for the desire and pursuit of wholeness.
Desire and love are directed at what you don't have, what isn't there, and what you need.
If someone who's given birth to true virtue and brought it up who has the chance of becoming loved by the gods, and immortal - if any human being can be immortal.
I've been struck and bitten by the words of philosophy, which cling on more fiercely than a snake when they take hold of a young and talented mind, and make someone do and say all sorts of things.
