... Plato's "Symposium," the very influential speech by Diotima describes an ascent from loving particular kinds of beauty to loving Beauty itself. Diotima proves to be incredibly intelligent in the points she makes through her description of this ascent. Ultimately, it can be deduced that by being a lover of knowledge, one can in turn be a lover and seer of true Beauty. Throughout the Symposium ... . Through this process, young boys are supposed to be educated, learning that all bodies are relatively similar and that it is foolish to love only one body in particular. Looking at the different...

• Word Count: 1088
• Approx Pages: 4

... it eluded us for so many generations. There has yet to be a one universal explanation of love and there has yet to be one who understands it's powers fully. As we see from Plato's Symposium, even the wisest of men in a time when the search for knowledge was seen as the pathway ... to enlightenment love was still a concept that was not understood and unknown. Though many of the guidelines and characteristics of love are wise, some may not apply to ... seems an invalid argument today. Soon Phaedrus concludes his oration and Pausanias steps up to deliver another set of guidelines for love....

• Word Count: 2004
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... been a topic of conversation. Plato's Symposium provides us with many different views and theories about Love. Socrates and his intellectual partners discuss what Love is and twist it's meaning in every possible way. One of the memorable speeches is the Speech of Aristophanes. After describing history of Love, he proposes that each person is half of a complete love relationship, a whole. Some assumed that homosexuality alone is ... ultimate purpose being procreation. Aristophanes contradicts his peers with the speech by treating heterosexuality at the same level as homosexuality, arguin...

• Word Count: 367
• Approx Pages: 1

In Plato's Symposium there are three major speeches given by Aristophanes, Socrates and Alcibiades, where each portrays a different aspect of human sexuality and love. Aristophanes" speech is a fantastic representation of humans that were separated into two halves engaged in desperate search for their other half, ... a fantastical story that explained why humans are in constant, desperate search for our lost halves, it still captures the tragedy of human sexuality and love. The beings described within the story are characterized by their narcissistic nature, which results in their eventual de...

• Word Count: 608
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate