Aristophanes’_Speech_on_Love

Aristophanes’ Speech on Love In this paper I will discuss Aristophanes’ speech on love found in Plato’s Symposium. I will summarize his speech and explain the characteristics of love as Aristophanes thinks of it. I will also explain Aristophanes’ definition of love, and whether or not love is an admirable or good thing. And finally, I will critically discuss the plausibility and implausibility of Aristophanes’ view of love. Aristophanes, being a comic poet, offers an engaging and mythological perspective on the topic of love. Aristophanes’ speech begins by explaining the nature of man and what has become of it. Aristophanes suggests that long ago, the nature of the original human being was very much different from what it is today. He proposes that human beings once were comprised of two halves; that is to say, they were twice the people they are today. According to Aristophanes, this original primeval man had a round body, his back and sides formed into a circle from which two pairs of arms and legs protruded, he had two faces, and most importantly, two sets of genitalia. Aristophanes goes on to say that there were three different kinds of these original human beings, all of which were differentiated by their aristophanes, love, one, unification, being, male, human, beings, two, soul, original, out, half, female, speech, seek, gods, fulfillment, believes, another, very, unified, surely, speaks, sexual, say, race, point, once, nature, men, however, former, creatures, body, been