Agathon Essays

The Epic of Gilgamesh conveys numerous themes. Among those are the inevitability of death, the eminence of the gods, and strikingly the importance of love as an impetus. Love, defined in a consummate sense is intimacy, passion, and commitment. These traits are exemplified in Gilgamesh and Enkidu's relationship, and they are also implied between Enkidu and Sham hat. Despite the violent and abrasive nature of the happenings of this text, love is displayed blatantly throughout. From Enkidu's introduction

Agathon begins his speech about love stating that no one has discussed the nature of the god, but rather the things that they gain from love. He says that the god of love is the happiest of all the gods because he is the youngest and most beautiful. He only hangs around other gods who are young. Also, he says that love is soft because it goes into our character and mind. Love is around because no one forces love. People allow love to be with them. Also, he states that love is moderation. This means

envious, rather we are appreciative of what He has given us. In Symposium, Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, and Socrates each have a different definition of love from Jesus.

Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Socrates, and Agathon about the idea of love, specifically the effect and nature of Eros. Within the speakers, Agathon’s speech was exceptional in that his speech shifted the focus of the audience from effect of Eros on people, to the nature and gifts from the Eros. Despite Agathon’s exceptional remarks about Eros, Socrates challenged Agathon’s characterization of Eros through utilization of Socratic Method. Agathon describes Eros as young, delicate, beautiful, courageous

After Agathon giving his portrayal towards sexual desires with old people and Socrates being of old age himself defends his beliefes towards love by questioning Agathon and gives acknowledges his speech as well. “Well, son of Acumenus, do you still think my earlier anxiety was groundless? Wasn’t I speaking prophetically when I said just now that agathon would give an amazing speech and that I would be lost for words?” (Socrates

Exotic love is the simplest form of love, a love that has not properly developed, or has not made it all the way up the ladder to true love between lovers. From lust to a higher level of love. In the symposium plato seems to emphasize love between an older lover and a younger beloved, but the theory plato proposes can also be relevant in other types of relationships. There are two eros; the Vulgar eros is one who in love focuses on beauty and the body. They have yet to realize that a beautiful body

It resonates with the mode of approach executed by Eryximachus and Agathon to the subject of love. Eryximachus who was a medical practitioner related love as an element which gratified the good and healthy parts of the body while depriving the diseased parts of the body so that they will cease to be diseased. His claims

story he heard that takes place at a dinner party in honor of Agathon. Eryximachus suggests that all of the patrons at the table should give a speech to praise the god of Love. Socrates, through his speech and actions, appears to argue that being in love with a person is an inferior type of love that one can experience. Agathon’s speech, the one that prompts Socrates’ reply, praises Love to be young, beautiful, sensitive and wise. Agathon believes that all of our virtues are gifts that we receive

sarcastic comments, even to those that are popular. At the beginning of the book, Symposium, a story was being told to a rich businessman that was passed down by a few people because it was the famous story of a party that was to celebrate the honor of Agathon and the success of the first tragedy. Apollodorus, the one telling the story, heard it from Aristodemus, a guest at the party with Socrates. Socrates was going to a dinner at Agathon’s because his work of art won him the first prize at the Lenaean

Understand that this logical progression of ideas grows from speech to speech, where each speech builds off the last, which makes Agathon’s speech the platform that Socrates’ speech builds upon. To begin, I will analyze both the speeches of Socrates and Agathon separately, with a focus on love as being anchored in the soul rather than the physical relationships

of the Trojan wars showed the dramatic struggles of heroes, more importantly, it disclosed the morals and values that Homer’s society applied to. Ancients around the time of Homer believed that describing a person as ‘agathon’ was in fact one of the highest forms of praise. Agathon can be translated as ‘good’ or being ‘noble’. Although this was a moral belief amongst some city states (polis) during this period, the idea of good was soon changed by a group of teachers, namely the Sophists.

The Symposium Ancient Greece was a time of many great minds. Arguably one of the greatest was a man named Plato. Plato lived from about 429 to 347 B.C.E. He had an incredible life in Athens that was not always easy. At one point he was sold into slavery as the golden age of Greece came to an end. Dionysus of Syracuse did not appreciate Plato’s theories and sold him into slavery to be a tutor. Plato ended up being the tutor to Alexander the Great who would later take over Greece. When it was discovered

The Symposium was written by Plato, a philosopher who had shaped the way people think about topics such as ethics, politics, truth, and desire. He was one of Socrates’ prominent students. He had also written many other works regarding the themes of reality, education, and knowledge so in comparison, The Symposium, which is about love, (Naugle, 2010) and since the most appreciated classical literary works at that time were epics, which revolved around military heroism and masculinity (Allan, 2014)

In this paper, I will explain the deeper meaning of the passage of the Symposium in which Alcibiades crashes the party by explaining how it fits into the broader themes of the entire dialogue. As known, one of the most important theme of this dialogue is love. As I was reading the dialogue, I know right from the beginning of Phaedrus proposal that it is going to be not only entertaining but interesting. Indeed it was interesting reading what all of them has to says about what love is, what its

This starts the story off on a shaky note because then we are not sure of the creditability of such accounts. He goes on to retell the story by giving the background in the introduction. The play write, Agathon, had just “won the prize with his first tragedy” an award and he was hosting a symposium in his own honor. He then starts the story by telling about Aristodemus encountering Socrates, "who had just bathed and put on his fancy sandals-both very unusual

The speeches within the Symposium and Phaedrus are aimed towards praising ‘Love’ or ‘Erôs’, this covers sexual attraction and gratification between both men and women and men and teenage boys, but the focus of the speeches here is on the latter, whether the relationship was sexual or not. The speeches of the Symposium are given as part of a competition of who can “give as good a speech in praise of Love as he is capable of giving” (Plato, 1997, pp. 462, §117c). This essay will refer to ‘Erôs’ throughout

‘Platonic love’ today is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as a “love or friendship” that is “intimate and affectionate but not sexual.” A different definition provided by Dictionary.com described it as “an intimate companionship or relationship, especially between two persons of the opposite sex, that is characterized by the absence of sexual involvement; a spiritual affection.” In the definitions given above, the common understanding of ‘platonic love’ lies in the fact that it is non-sexual. It

He questions Agathon about love, “all love is love of something”. He also questions him about what he said in his speech of love and at one point Pausanias thought he was wrong. His main arguments in his speech is that love is not a possession. Although we desire it,

that a “dictator makes decisions for the benefit of themselves and a democracy will make decisions for the benefit of the people” (Shearer). Sophocles had a small family, had married twice in his lifetime and had two sons of the names Lophon and Agathon. Due to Sophocles great achievements and contribution to his society and people he was very well respected by the Athenians. This respect lead these people to place him in a position for the military services. He then became “responsible for collection

Minh Nguyen. Forms of Love. First rotation essay. Seminar leader: Marcella Perrett. 28-2-2015 Question :1. What is the significance of Alcibiades and his speech in the Symposium as a whole? Make sure to support your interpretation with evidence from the text. Alcibiades´s speech is an important part of the Symposium, because it serves as a companion to Socrates´s speech that precedes it, which is the Ladder of Love. The Ladder of Love is a highly complex, abstract treatise about beauty, which bring