Comparing Diotima And Beatrice
In literary texts, Diotima, the “teacher” of Socrates in the Symposium, is often presented as a Beatrice-like figure which “inspires” creative men and guides them as a symbolic muse. However, in the immediate context of the speech of Socrates in the Symposium, Diotima was not a muse or an erotic-spiritual guide; she was a wise woman and priestess who taught Socrates the mysteries of love (Plato 31-34). The present paper calls for an adequate appreciation of Diotima’s status as a teacher, and - drawing on this - seeks to adumbrate the features of the female teacher of tomorrow who would not be “gazed” at as an erotic object by her male students, but who would, rather, teach her male students the secrets of an unaggressive Eros, thereby ridding
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Dante’s Beatrice is primarily an erotic object, and then elevated into the figural aura of a symbolic spiritual mentor (Williams 17-22, 175-186). She is actually not a woman occupying a subject position (Spivak 20-31). On the other hand, Diotima is a priestess and a teacher, she is not erotically eyed by Socrates but operates as the latter’s instructor in erotics. She is not a ghostly guide like Dante’s Beatrice, she has authority in her tone (Nye, “The Hidden Host” 84). The difference between these two celebrated female figures from Western culture must be appreciated. In many literary texts produced by male authors, Diotima is often presented as a Breatrice-like spectral muse, an erotic guide, who is just a slightly altered form of an erotic object. Thus, in a Bengali poem by Sibnarayan Ray, Diotima becomes a Beatricean guide in the male subject’s journey to love and wisdom (Ray 81-82). And, in the celebrated figurations of Holderlin, Diotima becomes Hyperion’s beloved, just like Dante’s Beatrice (Grange 161; del Caro 86). She is no more the majestic teacher who speaks with pedagogical authority, but an erotic object. The same thing happens in the case of the female teachers today, whether in India or abroad. They are secretly figured as erotic objects by their adolescent male students, and thus, a woman teacher who could have functioned as a Diotima de nos jours turns into an erotic object which must be subjected to (young) male gaze (Frueh
Dante’s Beatrice is primarily an erotic object, and then elevated into the figural aura of a symbolic spiritual mentor (Williams 17-22, 175-186). She is actually not a woman occupying a subject position (Spivak 20-31). On the other hand, Diotima is a priestess and a teacher, she is not erotically eyed by Socrates but operates as the latter’s instructor in erotics. She is not a ghostly guide like Dante’s Beatrice, she has authority in her tone (Nye, “The Hidden Host” 84). The difference between these two celebrated female figures from Western culture must be appreciated. In many literary texts produced by male authors, Diotima is often presented as a Breatrice-like spectral muse, an erotic guide, who is just a slightly altered form of an erotic object. Thus, in a Bengali poem by Sibnarayan Ray, Diotima becomes a Beatricean guide in the male subject’s journey to love and wisdom (Ray 81-82). And, in the celebrated figurations of Holderlin, Diotima becomes Hyperion’s beloved, just like Dante’s Beatrice (Grange 161; del Caro 86). She is no more the majestic teacher who speaks with pedagogical authority, but an erotic object. The same thing happens in the case of the female teachers today, whether in India or abroad. They are secretly figured as erotic objects by their adolescent male students, and thus, a woman teacher who could have functioned as a Diotima de nos jours turns into an erotic object which must be subjected to (young) male gaze (Frueh