To bring to life his own views on love, Plato uses the voice of Socrates and a few others. Through this he is able to express the different key aspects of love. We never directly hear Plato’s voice, nor do we have confirmation that this symposium did take place. What we can be certain of is that he was influenced by, and greatly admired Socrates for his wisdom and understanding of life. It is as if Plato is expressing his views on love through such speakers as Agathon, Aristophanes, and Eryximachus and others present. Whenever he wishes to criticize his various and differing thoughts, he uses Socrates’ voice to present an opinion, which often mocks or criticizes those points presented. It is as of he is getting into the mind of Socrates and uses what knowledge he has gained through following his example to almost question himself.
Plato doesn’t just stick to one form of love, but covers all types and how they relate to the gods. If it were one person speaking Plato’s thoughts and then Socrates breaks down those illogical thoughts one by one, then you don’t really have much of a discussion, nor is it all that interesting. Instead by using the setting of the Symposium, you have various opinions being tossed around like fish bate, waiting for Socrates to snag the line, but he doesn’t. He rejects all thoughts laid out, even the desires of Alcibiades. It is almost as if Plato is unable to lay down a thought that he feels won’t get torn down by Socrates, so instead of not speaking, he allows what Socrates would have said to make him a more wise philosopher.
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