Platonic View of Love

Author: Plato

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE

Country or Culture: Greek

Genre: Myth

Overview

Plato’sSymposium is one of the most influential and widely studied texts in the Western literary canon. Composed in the fourth century BCE, the work presents a series of speeches on the nature of love that are diverse in tone as well as philosophical approach. While the structure of the work suggests that each speech was crafted by a different influential thinker, in actuality Plato wrote all of the speeches himself, seeking to explore the concept of love from a variety of points of view. While the philosophical subject is certainly serious, Plato finds plenty of occasions for humor and levity within his exploration. Setting the speeches at a symposium, a social gathering at which attendees typically drank large amounts of alcohol, announces from the start that the philosophers intend to have fun while debating the subject. In this context and in the middle of the symposium itself, the comic playwright Aristophanes offers up his own contribution, a myth explaining the origin of love and every human’s search for his or her other half.

Summary

At a drinking party hosted by the philosopher Agathon in the Greek city-state of Athens, the gathered parties all agree to take turns speaking on the topic of love. When the discussion reaches the playwright Aristophanes, he does not speak abstractly of love as the others had and instead tells a story explaining the origin of love itself.

Originally, Aristophanes claims, there were three sexes of human: the male sex, the female sex, and the androgynous sex. In addition, the human body was made up of twice as many parts: people had two faces, four arms, and four legs. These people were round in shape, and while they were able to move about just as modern people move about, they could also tumble and walk backward with great ease. In this form, the male sex (the children of the sun) consisted of two male halves of the body, the female sex (the children of the earth) of two female halves, and the androgynous sex (the children of the moon) of one male half and one female half.

In this double form, humans were incredibly strong and had strong wills and great aspirations. Because of this, they decided to challenge the reign of the gods. Some of these humans even climbed to the heights of Mount Olympus with the intention of physically harming the gods who lived there. In the past, the giants had behaved in the same manner, and the gods had slain them all with thunderbolts. However, many humans also offered wonderful sacrifices and worship to the gods, which would be lost if they all died. Because of this, the gods debated heavily what action should be taken to stop the disrespect.

It was Zeus, the leader of the gods, who finally came up with a solution. If the gods cut the humans in half, the humans would be weaker and unable to challenge the gods, as well as greater in number, which would increase the amount of worship the gods received. If humans became insolent again, Zeus could cut them once more, so that each would have only one leg and one arm remaining. Zeus set to cutting the humans in half, while Apollo set to fixing their forms. He turned the heads of the halved humans around so that they could face themselves and consider the consequences of their actions. At the same time, he stitched up their wounds, pulling the skin together at the navel and sewing it there, and smoothed out the wrinkles in the skin.

As the newly split humans returned to their lives, however, they immediately sought out their other halves. Finding each other, they embraced and refused to let one another go, with some even dying of thirst and hunger because of their devotion. Zeus quickly moved the genitals of the humans from their backs to their fronts so that when they embraced their former halves, they would have sex. For the androgynous pairs, this meant that they would have children and the species would continue. For the male-male and female-female pairs, this would leave them satisfied and tired and allow them to move on to other activities, even if only briefly. Aristophanes’s story thus indicates that the desire to be with another person has been a part of human nature since ancient times.

All humans, Aristophanes then explains, are only partial in their nature, and they are driven to find another person so that they feel complete. For formerly androgynous humans, this drive for a purely passionate relationship and union often leads to adultery. Formerly female-female humans find other formerly female companions and reject the love of men. Formerly male-male humans seek out older men as youths, trying to attach themselves to the masculinity there. When they are older, they often become heads of state, and while they might marry for the sake of convenience, they still find youths to love just as they had been loved in their youth. Whatever the case, when people find their other halves, they are overwhelmed with bliss and never want to leave their lovers. If the god Hephaestus were to approach such humans and offer to sew them permanently together, Aristophanes argues, they would gladly take him up on that offer in order to live as one again.

It is ultimately because of this story, Aristophanes concludes, that humans should praise the god of love. Love, after all, is what offers the promise of true happiness, even if it is rare. Love also challenges humans to be pious and good people, for in showing the respect to the gods that the doubled humans did not show, the two-legged humans might finally find their other halves and live as they were meant to live. This blessed promise can provide comfort in the present and hope for the future.

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