Ai Lin Ng 635992

Textual Analysis of Platos Symposium 179d2-180a4

Platos Symposium recounts numerous speeches made about love. Whether referring to
Eros, social convention or behaviour influenced by love, each speaker praises in their
own way.
In this passage, Phaedrus establishes love as the ultimate vehicle in the pursuit of honour.
He focuses particularly on actions spurred on by love that garner the admiration and
benevolence of the gods. To demonstrate what kind of honourable love-inspired actions are
rewarded, he recounts and compares the myths of Alcestis, Orpheus and Achilles. I suggest
that this appeal to deeply embedded folk-culture serves to highlight the power love held
over Grecian society, in the same way romantic notions of the one capture us today. A
poignant example is when the gods send Achilles to the blessed island
. Who could possibly decline the equivalent of the Homeric Elysian Fields?
Conversely, it is plausible that Plato includes myths to further distance the audience from
any real-world application of Phaedrus ideas. Notably, as both Arieti and Bury mention, the
accounts of the myths he gives are inconsistent with other renditions of Homer and
Aeschylus. They also appear in a greatly simplified form, which perhaps infers they are
merely a means to an ends that encourage an idealised yet unobtainable vision of love and
honour.
However upon closer inspection, the values Phaedrus ascribes himself to are indicative of
his society. For Orpheus, possessing love itself is not enough to ensure divine favour. Being a
lyre player and a faint-hearted one at that, Dover points out that the
departure from classically favoured farmer-warrior is both effeminate and weak. This has an
apparently causal relationship with his cowardice and inability to sacrifice himself as Alcestis
did. Coupled with the inferior loving of a woman, this elicits a damning punishment from the
gods who made him meet death at the hands of women.
Orpheus is deliberately juxtaposed with Achilles, the brave hero who goes to battle knowing
well he will die avenging his lover Patroclus. In addition, Achilles chooses to die both on
behalf of him and with him (Dover). The use of the
preposition (in defense of) and (after) in conjunction with the repetition of dying
- emphasises the significance of Achilles act and speaks of finality. This is a
decisive choice compared with Orpheus somewhat rude passing. Phaedrus also goes so far
as to say that the gods honoured him because he thought his lover to be of great
importance. The well-considered placement of explains why Achilles
receives higher honours than Alcestis. Society deems the virtues associated with love
between and far outweigh those of the necessary union between
husband and wife.
Therefore perhaps it is easier to relate to Phaedrus depictions of interconnected love and
virtue because these myths mirror (what Plato sees as) life. Or possibly it is the fame that
follows after death which has the utmost influence on our current actions. Perhaps this is
how Plato subliminally appeals to our sense of love and virtue, with the promise of
recognition after death in his enduring work.
Ai Lin Ng 635992


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arieti, James A. 1991. Interpreting Plato: the dialogues as drama. Rowan & Littlefield, 100
Dover, Kenneth. 1980. Plato: Symposium. Cambridge University Press, 93-95
Bury, R. G. 1932. The Symposium of Plato. Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons Ltd, 28-29