“Men seemed to have failed completely tocomprehend the power of Eros, for if they did comprehend it, they would have built to him the greatest altars and temples and offered the greatest sacrifices, whereas he is given none of these honors, although he should have them most of all…”
From Aristophanes’ Speech in the Symposium
Could you use any of the myths we read about love to critique or support this quotation? Please react, evaluate, challenge, or contemplate.
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27 comments:
I think that Aristotle's quote is very accurate. When one is in love, he forgets about money or material objects. Love is more powerful than those. It can make one happy even in the most dreaded conditions. Love is needed in order to live a full and happy life, so Eros should have been worshiped far more than he was.i
I agree with Connor. I think love is the key to everything. It can lead to happiness and even success. It is more important than any sort of object. A person's life decisions are all based off of love. Love is one of the most powerful things in the world.
Some say money makes the world go round, however Love is what truley makes the world go round. People want nice things to impress others so they in turn can find someone and fall in love. Love also causes people to behave in ways and make decisions that they wouldnt have otherwise. If there wasnt Love, everyone would simply be content with breathing.
I think this quote is fairly accurate. Man seems to take love for granted so often but when we lose someone we love we go crazy. In Cupid and Psyche, Psyche seems to take advantage of Cupid when she broke the vow. She said she was happy before she saw him, and then she betrayed him by seeing who he was. She was so depressed when Cupid told her he had to leave her. She took for granted of what she had. Love is one of the most powerful things on earth, and I agree that Cupid (or love in general) should be more important than anything.
Cupid was never dishonested so he was a trust worthy god compared to the other gods. He created the greatest gift, love, in the world to men. Maybe not the greatest altars and temples for Cupid, but he deserves credit for all the love he created. Even though he was naughty and tricky he could never do harm.
Zeus...the god who ruled all other gods...was ruled by Eros. Under "love" influence, he cantered around with different women. The same goes for Hera...who is jealous because of love. In fact, in most of the stories everyone, even most of the gods, are at one point or another dominated by love...and thus Eros. And although he is considered a lesser god, he is more. He should, as Aristophanes says, have "the greatest alters and temples and offered the greatest sacrifices...".
Eros created the one gift that man can't live without... People have tried and everyone fails. Eros' arrows pierce even the hearts of the frozen and cold. He warms the life of man and makes man a worthwhile thing to build trust around. We learned through Eros that no matter how often w try to outwit love it is buried in ourselves somewhere we can't dig it up and throw it out. We can't remove Eros' influence in our lives and the lives of those around us but we can surely use them to make ourselves and others happy.
Love the most powerful emotion any living being can feel. i agree with this quote because love is what makes everybody do any thing. people play a sport becaues they love it enough to work hard and play it. love is the key to happiness as well. love is also bad if used wrong, in ancient times wars were ever started over love (trojan war) so if love does all these thing why wouldnt you give the most worship to the god od love
So far, I would have to agree with everything that has already been said. Love may perhaps be the most powerful force that is known to man and the Greeks agreed with these ideas as well. In the 8 stories on lovers a few common themes are people cannot survive without love, and in the end love always wins. For example, in the story of Pyramus and Thisbe the two lovers feel that they cannot be apart and scheme to meet under a tree. When one of them tragically dies, the other realizes that they cannot continue on with their life without the love of the other.
Aristotle was right on track in his quote. Love is the most powerful emotion you can feel. Love and passion are the driving force behind almost every decision we make. Even the other Gods and Goddesses were driven by love and passion. Since Eros is the God of the most powerful emotion there is, he really should have been the most powerful God there ever was.
I think that this quote is fairly true in the sense that people take for don't appretiate the love that they already have. Because of this, I am going to agree with what Shelby said about the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
But just trying to play Devil's advocate, is love really the key to everything? How can it be when we see so many divorces, wars, and other major problems that come up in our society?
Love is the greatest emotion. When they say Eros should have been offered the greatest sacrifices, I think that love is a sacrifice in itself because you give up alot to please the person you love. In the readings from pages 135-158, the first one about two lovers who died, isn't that sacrifice? Also, you forget about alot of things that are important to let your love live, like money, etc.
I think that this quote is correct in the way that love is always taken for granted. An example of this is in that video we saw when psyche dis obeys cupid and looks upon his face when he is asleep. This is a perfect example of how humanity takes advantage of love and how badly it can hurt
Love is a pretty powerful force, a force that we will probably never understand fully. The gods were powered by love, and led them to sacrifices and other certain things that could be considered a hindrance. However, love is needed and sacrifice is also needed. This is why I agree with Aristophanes quote. Overall, Eros influences everyone, and if it doesn't affect you in one way or another, you have given no sacrifice.
I agree with this quote that men (or people in general) take things for granted. Love makes you blind for an instant. Psyche was first in love with Cupid but then jealousy got the best of her and saw his face. I think that jealousy over powers reasoning and she took for granted on what she had because she was upset when Cupid left her.
The characters in the Eight Stories of Lovers cannot survive without love, and in the end, love triumphs over all. In Greek Mythology, many of the stories include love as a more component, and in some the lovers don't realize the true power of love until it slips away. I don't know if I agree with Aristole's quote completely, but I do agree that people don't always realize the true powers of love.
To say that men have completely failed to comprehend Eros power may not be entirely correct. I do believe it is true that when you are in love, a mysterious feeling of the world’s good will comes over you, and you feel as if nothing can bring down your feeling of invincibility as long as you have the one you love right beside you. Nothing else matters, and you feel like you could survive on love alone. However I do think some of man has comprehended Eros’s power, because, as in many of the lover myths, those in love were separated from their love and then realized the power it had had over them, and that they couldn’t live again without it. The reason I believe that great temples weren’t built, and great sacrifices weren’t given, is because those who did realize Eros’s power, either eventually got back together with their love to live in bliss, committed suicide, or spent the rest of their days wallowing in despair about the love they had lost, not eager to build a temple in honor of cupid.
I think that there are many examples that we read in Greek Myth that can be tied to this quote. Like in Cupid and Psyche, that is ture love for one another. And love is more powerful than anything else. It can make the worst days of your life, one of the happiest.
I would agree with Aristophanes that love is very powerful. Romance can make one much happier than he or she otherwise would be. I also think other kinds of love are important too, not just romance. If everyone in the world had a respect and love for everyone else, the world would be a much better place.
i think that what Aristophanes has said is true. because everything that makes you happy involves some sort of love in one way or another. Now that i have read this, i do think it is kind of strange that no one ever really worshiped Eros.
I agree with Aristophanes. I don't think we truly understand how fully love is and how we need it everyday of our lives, until it is gone and then we don't want to think about it at all. The reason men don't build Eros monuments, is because we take him/love for granted. How Orpheus reacts in Orpheus and Eurydice, resembles how men feel when they lose love. He wondered the Earth with only his music until he died. To be loved makes a person feel on top of the world and they don't want that to go away; therefore, they don't think clearly, and don't build monuments to Eros.
I agree with Aristophane's quote. But I think the reason that Eros/Cupid did not have the greatest temples and alters and what not is because people underestimate love; they don't realize the power that it (and Cupid) holds. The myths emphasize love, but people who don't experience it will never value it. So I think this quote is very true.
I think Aristotle was correct in this quote, because in many myths, it was due to "love" (or eros) that many conflicts were started. For instance, Hades abducted the daughter of another god because of his love for her. Another instance is when Orpheus travelled all the way to the underworld to retrieve Eurydice (but failed).
The tale of Narcissus depicts how a young man fell in love with himself, and was so consumed by it that he withered away for fear of leaving his reflection in a pool of water
I agree with this quote because love affects everything we do in life. Love doesn't have to be toward a certain person, but it can be toward anything. For example, I love to ski. It is my favorite thing to do and I will spend every Saturday of my weekend in the winter skiing. But, as we mature we find something or someone we love and live the rest of our days with that person, doing that activity, etc... Psyche realizes that she made a mistake and that she truly loved cupid. she was willing to face the consequences for her actions and eventually she was able to be with the person she loved.
Man never realizes what's best for our world. We dig ourself deeper and deeper into a hole that we will eventually not be able to get out of. The Greeks did not realize that Eros, the god of lust and love, had control over everyone. Love is very powerful and can be an addiction, a painful experience and your wildest dreams. No one really knows why man kind becomes attracted to things easily. I think that love is man kind's biggest strength and weakness because it can create the strongest bonds and make the most opposed enemies. Love can also destroy and create people. An example is the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, when one of the lovers dies the other cannot live without her so he kill himself. Love is the strongest, unknown feeling that makes our minds wander around.
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