Symposium - AIC

Nicholas Riegel
dialogue’s structure is as follows: 4
278
Tetralogy 1 Tetralogy 2
Phaedrus Agathon Tragedy
Pausanias Socrates Tragedy
Eryximachus Diotima Tragedy
Aristophanes Alcibiades Satyr Play
This analysis becomes even more persuasive when we attend to what I think is the dialogue’s second
most salient feature: namely its many allusions to tragedy and comedy. First, there is the fact that the
symposium takes place at Agathon’s house. Agathon is a tragic poet. And the symposium is held in
honor of his victory at the Lenaia in 416 BCE. Second, the famous comic poet Aristophanes is there.
Third, a symposium is literally a drinking party. And so it must take place under the auspices of
Dionysus: god of wine and drama. And Alcibiades is depicted as Dionysus, and Socrates is compared
to Silenus (215b ff.), companion of Dionysus, and leader of satyr chorus. And finally there is the
ending of the dialogue itself, as we have already mentioned. Thus it seems that contrary to what we
might have thought at first, the Symposium has quite a lot to do with tragedy and comedy.
Regarding the second major question - namely, what is the meaning of arguing that it belongs
to the same person to write good tragedies and comedies - I want to argue that all three: Philosophy,
Tragedy, and Comedy claim to address life’s problems. Two of life’s central problems are love and
death. The questions concerning love are: What is the good? What is happiness? And what should we
desire? And the question concerning death is: Why is there badness especially in the forms of
suffering and death? I think Plato’s point is that comedy and tragedy have no answer to these
questions. We can never be sure whether what they say about love is true. And we are left with the
feeling that they both say that suffering and death are meaningless. Tragedy emphasizes the horror of
this, and comedy emphasizes the ridiculousness of it. So, insofar as all the speeches in the Symposium
are like tragedies or comedies, they all fail in some way – even the speeches of Socrates and Diotima
– although they fail perhaps least of all. The first tetralogy fails because it does not follow a correct
methodology. And this leads to the content being wrong. But even if the methodology and hence the
content were correct – as they are in the second tetralogy – tragedy and comedy still fail because the
medium is wrong. Tragedy and comedy are essentially mimetic, and so they cannot lead us to the true
object of love – the good itself – nor can they solve the question of death and suffering. Plato’s point
is that only philosophy can do this.
II. PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS
Before we begin, however, I would like to address a number of questions or objections which may
have already occurred to the reader. The first major objection may be that there is a difference
between satyr plays and comedies. Satyr play was one of the four types of performances at the City
Dionysia, the other three being dithyramb, tragedy and comedy. 5 Satyr plays consist of a chorus of
satyrs led by their father, Silenus. According to Bernd Seidensticker there are four major differences
between satyr play and comedy. 6 The first is that Satyr Plays are more light-hearted than comedies.
Comedies tend to engage more in satire and parody, and often have a biting, caustic side to them,
whereas satyr plays are aimed at pure relaxation and enjoyment. Second, satyr plays do not take
contemporary issues as their theme. They resemble tragedies in being about the stories from wellknown
myths. Comedy, on the other hand, often takes contemporary issues, like the Peloponnesian
War, as its theme, and it often addresses contemporary figures and ridicules them by name. Third, in
4
In his article The Cycle of Becoming in the Symposium John Brentlinger also divides the Symposium into two sets of four
speeches. However, he does not consider Diotima’s to constitute a separate speech; rather, he divides the second set of
speeches as follows: 1. Agathon, 2. Agathon and Socrates, 3. Socrates, 4. Alcibiades. In addition, he does not make the
connection between the series of four speeches and the dramatic tetralogies of Antiquity. And, though he goes on to make
many excellent points, I believe his analysis of the order of the speeches ignores an important critique of Socrates, which my
analysis reveals. Brentlinger, "The Cycle of Becoming in the Symposium," 7.
5
The dithyramb is a cult song in honor of Dionysus. It was sung to the accompaniment of the aulos by a chorus at the
beginning of the festivals.
6
For this and much of what follows my source is Bernd Seidensticker, "Dithyramb, Comedy, and Satyr-Play," in A
Companion to Greek Tragedy, ed. Justina Gregory (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005).