“Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend 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
Please use any of the myths we read about love to critique or support this
quotation? In your response, react, evaluate, challenge, or contemplate. (Please complete this blog response by Tue. Oct. 7th, 2014.)
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In Aristophanes’ speech, an argument in made that the Greek God, Eros, should have the most worshippers and be the most praised. I disagree with this statement. In the classic bestseller, Edith Hamilton Mythology, Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, there is a section dedicated to eight myths of lovers. From these eight stories, six end with love not being reached. From this lack of love, I would assume that the God, Eros, was responsible. For example, in Pyramus and Thisbe, a misunderstanding of scenery leads to the deaths of both. The two are never able to be together and reach love.The God, Eros, was accountable for this misfortune. Another example is the myth about Pygmalion and Galatea. Pygmalion was a gifted sculptor who created a statue with which he fell in love. Pygmalion soon became depressed, however, as the beauty of the art could not match any others’. One day Pygmalion came home to the statue, which he named Galatea. “He touched her arms, her shoulders; their hardness vanished. It was like watching wax soften in the sun. He clasped her wrist; blood was pulsing there. Venus, he thought. This is the goddess’s doing… Venus herself graced their marriage...” This myth differs from the others because at the end, both Pygmalion and Galatea are in love. This however was due to Aphrodites’ power, not Eros. Aristophanes’ speech was poorly constructed because he did not give reliable evidence that Eros should be the most praised God, and he ignores the work of Aphrodite. Because of these reasons I disagree with Aristophane.
A myth that we have studied in class and read through that are about love include the myth of Cupid and Psyche. This is a classic myth that relates to the quotation above. When the quote says, “Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros.” Eros is the God of love. Observing that men failed to comprehend the power of this God, they couldn’t comprehend the power of love all together. This makes sense because it is a difficult topic to understand. I can relate to this feeling of confusion as well. This is shown throughout the history of Greek mythology, because Psyche couldn’t understand love and broke trust and love with Cupid. However, this love was redeemed. The quote also explains, “If they did comprehend it, they would have built to him the greatest altars and temples…” I believe this could mean that they would worship the God of Love and treat him with respect for their longing of love. If they did understand love, then it wouldn’t be unique and different for everyone. I also believe everyone's love and relationships are different and they work in different ways. Overall this quote explains how love is strange, and difficult to understand.
The Myth of Cupid and Psyche shows the many sides of love. When this quote says, " Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros,” I believe it is saying that no one understands love. Love is something we all feel, but we never truly understand how much we love another until that love is broken. Psyche doesn't understand her feelings for her husband until he has left, and she realizes what she had done. . Also when the quote states, “for if they did comprehend it, they would have built to him the greatest altars and temples and offered the greatest sacrifices,” means if we had known how much our love had grown for someone, and how much pain we would feel if that love was taken away, we would most likely be more careful about how we trust with these bonds. Love isn't something you can chose, it is something that happens whether you are ready for it or not. People try to manifest feelings for someone else, but in the end, only a few people will ever receive and share the bonds of love with another.
In my opinion I personally agree with this quote because of its idea of comprehension. The quote states " Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros." I think this gives the idea of how love is uncertain. There are many examples of this in the eight myths of lovers but mostly I think in Pyramus and Thisbe. The two had a perfect plan to meet each other but it went terribly wrong. The night was uncertain because they did not know that the lion would show up and alter their course. “But of a sudden she saw by the light of the moon a lioness.” You never know what can happen in life or in love. Another example of this is in Cupid and Psyche. Psyche did not know whether or not Cupid was a man or a monster but she still loved him anyways. I also agree with the part " whereas he is given none of these honors, although he should have them most of all." Because if they did worship him then love would be a natural occurrence like the things in nature that other gods control. I don't think that they would worship Eros because love rarely works out and that is shown in most of the 8 brief tales of lovers.
What stands out to me most in this speech is the part about Eros and how if we comprehended him we would make him the greatest shrine of all time. This kinda relates to so many great people but since we cant quite understand them we as humans just think they are crazy or have mental issues. Sometimes people are just crazy but other times they are the smartest ones of all who see what no one else can see.
Aristophanes' speech argues that men don't know the power of Eros. Thus they don't worship him enough to have his effect on their life. I agree with him because it is just like going on a first date. If you don't do anything during the date such as make a joke or a friendly gesture, the date is dead. There was no effort or study put into it such as the ancient Greeks would have worshiped Eros. Edith Hamilton gave us six love stories from the that all show the valiant efforts on how these lovers became lovers. Not in any of them did either party do nothing. One or the other tried and succeeded or failed. Love stories don't just come to be without a supernatural power. They all need help and that help is sometimes looked past.
In the quote, it says, "Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros, for if they did comprehend it, they would have built him the greatest altars and temples..." Psyche is one of the people who couldn't quite understand Eros' powers, and if she could understand them, then she would have been much more appreciative of them. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Psyche betrays Cupid when she accidentally spills hot candle wax on him, while trying to see what he looks like, even though she vowed to him that she would be loyal to him in terms of their agreement. This quote very strongly relates to the quote, "You never realize how much something means to you, until it's already gone." Had Psyche understood how she would have felt after she betrayed Cupid, she would take back her betrayal.
It is true that we don't understand Eros because we still do not fully understand love. Love is uncertain therefore our human nature causes us to overlook Eros and are not able to understand why we should build great shrines to Eros. Similar to the myth of Cupid and Psyche there is always uncertainty with love which will always be there no matter what since we can not predict the future.
When I read the quote, I realize that the gods and humans didn't really understand love. They were always being untrustworthy towards women and without trust, there can be no love. The gods did not understand that if you were to really love someone, then you have to really trust them. You need to think about how the other person feels to become more of an understanding person/lover. The way that the gods thought about love has effected the way the humans thought about love. They were unable to show the humans how to treat your love because they weren't able to understand it themselves. Honestly, there is no way for the gods to become true leaders if they cannot effect the world in a good way.
I think this quotation is saying that love is hard to find because Eros is not truly understood. In the tale of Cupid and Psyche; Psyche betrays cuspids love for her. I think this is because Psyche did not understand what she was doing and that was because she does not understand how Eros works. Eros should be more loved and I think this lack could be the reason why true love is hard to find.
The quote suggests that humans are unable to understand Eros because if we did we would praise him more and build him the greatest alters and temples. I think that humans do understand love, but take it for granted. For example, Persephone was taken to the underworld by hades and it was not until after she was gone that she realized how much she missed her mother. I think humans are only able to understand and appreciate love after they have once lost it.
Aristophanes has made a great point in his speech, and I feel that it is incredibly accurate to how humans have acknowledged Love. Love is a power that people think is in their control, that they can determine who they love and who they do not love. This is shown in the story of Pygmalion and Galatea, as Pygmalion is originally a misogynist and dislikes women. The power of Love, however, triumphed over Pygmalion's misogynistic nature and Pygmalion eventually found love. He found love in a strange place, as he fell in love with a statue that he had been making. The more and more he worked on carving the statue, the more and more he fell in love with it. Pygmalion had gotten to a point where love had consumed him, and so the Gods made his statue, Galatea, into a real person. The power of Love had made a misogynist into a lover in this tale, and Love also made a statue into a living being. Humans cannot even begin to comprehend how this is possible, therefore, they cannot comprehend how Love works. This is shown in many other stories, but I found that it is shown the most in this story, as the effects of Love are greater than in any other.
In the speech given by Aristophanes about Eros, the Greek God of love, it is said that Eros should be given the best sacrifices and have the most worshippers if the race of men comprehended the powers of love. I extremely disagree with this statement. In the eight stories of love, some between mortal maidens and mortal men, some between divinities and mortal maidens, not all of the eight stories came out to be full of love and compassion. Some ended in death and sacrifice in one case, the rest ended with traces of true love. Most would blame Eros for the cruel and misunderstanding of their lover’s passing, but if the race of man is so uncomprehensive, how do they dare place the blame on a God who is said to bring them the powers of love? What proof in there that such a God such as Eros committed such crimes other than stories of old? The race of man has been told the stories of fairy for centuries, most about happy endings and finding a true lover at sight. It seems that by reading these stories of old, they speak the truth about life and true love from a different view of the modern day.
I do believe men underestimate the power of Eros' ability. I think Eros himself could be pinpointed. Reading the previous comments I do agree with the post about Venus granting Cupid and Psyche's marriage rather than Eros himself; I think that if Eros himself was so powerful and worthy of such great worship, then he should have been the one mentioned in the story between Cupid and Psyche. He should have been the one to redeem their love, not Venus. On the other hand, I also agree that Psyche and Cupid didn't quite understand love itself, and what all came with it. I think out of love, Cupid should have trusted Psyche enough to feel comfortable in showing himself to her. Even if he didn't understand that, it takes love to talk things out and resolve problems instead of just flying up and crying to mommy. That's not love.
In the quote it says, "Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros, for if they did comprehend it, they would have built him the greatest altars and temples. In my opinion I think that means we don't understand Eros since we still don't fully understand love and how big of a part it play. If we would have respect Eros a little differently things would have changed and they probably would have made him the greatest altars and temples. Love play such a big part because if you don't put your self out there then nothing will happened since your nothing special. This is very Similar to the myth of Cupid and Psyche because there is always uncertainty with love which will always be there no matter what. Also you can redeem that love just like cupid and psyche did.
What I found was most important, was in Aristophanes speech, if we knew Eros better we would build him the greatest shrines ever. This is similar to so many great people today. We don't understand what they do well enough, we humans just think they are crazy. Sometimes the people we think that are crazy are actually far more advanced.
It seems to me that Eros is the original man who was unappreciated. everything he did was under the nose, like most great figures of history they were ignored until further notice. Its interesting that how the important iconic characters of mythology and history alike were ignored till beyond there life was over. Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others. Rosa parks said
"Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros." I think this quote is pretty accurate. I know in life today women always say men are clueless when it comes to love and Eros is the god of love so its like saying we don't understand Eros. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche cupid doesn't want Psyche to see who he is but then when hes sleeping Psyche sneaks into his room to see him. So in this myth I think Psyche doesn't understand the power of love and trust, but Cupid does. Love is a tricky thing to comprehend and many of us today and in mythology are examples of this. So perhaps Eros did deserve altars and temples and offered the greatest sacrifices because he is the God who knew love best, and like they say in fairy tales every one wants their prince charming so we all wish to comprehend Eros powers it just doesn't always happen. Going back to the quote when it says the greatest sacrifices should have been offered I think he does get the greatest sacrifices, its gods, goddesses, and now humans giving up their hearts and some will be damaged along the way.
"Men seemed to have failed completely to comprehend the power of Eros" I believe that this says men don't understand love. In the myth about Narcissus, echo falls in love with him but he falls in love with himself. I think this shows that we fall in love at the wrong time with the wrong people. We cannot choose to love. Love/Eros is very powerful. "he should have [temples] most of all.."
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