The Symposium Rhetorical Analysis

Plato was one of Socrates’ greatest admirers, and our knowledge of Socrates stems mostly from Plato’s dialogues. Plato wrote his dialogues so that his students could read them out to each other and from a phrase discuss what it is about.

Plato’s thought is mostly recorded in the form of dialogues that feature Socrates as the protagonist. The symposium was written between the middle and the late period, and the figure of Socrates serves more as a mouth piece for Plato’s own views. For instance in the symposium there is a brief mention of the theory of forms, which is entirely Plato’s invention. The complex framing devices set up by Plato at the beginning of the dialogue are meant in part to suggest the fictionality of the account.

The symposium is one of the foundational documents of Western culture and arguably the most profound analysis and celebration of love in the history of philosophy. It is also the most lavishly literary of Plato’s dialogues – a genius prose performance in which the author, like playful maestro, shows off an entire repertoire of characters, ideas,
Justice, moderation, courage, and wisdom were called the four "cardinal virtues," and it would be a common rhetorical move to list all four in turn, showing how each is manifested in Love. Agathon identifies injustice with using force, and goes no further to elaborate on this connection. When speaking of moderation, he fudges a distinction between mastering one's desires by controlling oneself (moderation) and mastering one's desires because a greater power or desire (Love) is acting as the master. The example of Ares suggests that bravery consists in the ability to capture someone, which is completely unfounded, and when discussing poetry, Agathon unjustifiably suggests that since Love motivates us to wisdom, Love must also be