In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates and five others meet at a dinner party and engage in a conversion about the god of Love. Each guest gives a speech on their interpretation of what love is, including Aristophanes, whose speech will be the subject of my argument. He brings forth the idea that each of us are cut from one person into two and that love is the longing for a person’s other half. These ideas present themselves in Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog,” which tells a story about an affair between a man named Gurov and a woman named Anna Sergeyvna. The characters begin an affair, only seeking each other for sex, however, when they part ways they find that they cannot live without each other. This story breaks the mold of what is normally associated with adultery and questions whether adultery is actually morally permissible. My own claim is that adultery is not morally permissible because the one committing the act is betraying their loved one. I believe that two people …show more content…
This means that people don’t commit adultery just for sex. Aristophanes says that “no one would think it is the intimacy of sex—that mere sex is the reason each lover takes so great and deep a joy in being with the other. It’s obvious that the soul of every lover longs for something else” (176). What he means by this is that people do not share a deep joy of being together simply because of physical desire. I believe that people feel like something is missing from their life, so they try to satisfy it with sexual acts, even if they are deceiving a loved one. And sometimes one cannot avoid hurting someone even if they don’t mean to, which is why I think that if a person yearns for someone other than their spouse, they need to do the right thing and end their marriage before beginning another
The Greek word for adultery is moicheia, and the adulterous man is called the moichos (Carey, n.p). According to Euphiletos, moicheia was the “greatest of wrongs,” (Lysias, 45). This is an extreme issue in their society because it diminishes the power of the husband because he is her kurios, and failed protect her. Adultery was always considered to have been committed upon the woman because she is weak and unable to control her desires. However, moicheia was always done with her consent. In Xenophon’s Hieron, it is stated that adultery corrupts a woman’s affection to her husband, as she becomes attached to the other man both personally and sexually (Carey, n.p). Therefore, a key issue in adultery was interfering with the connection of the
“The Storm” by Kate Chopin illustrates an affair between old lovers, Calixta and Alcée. “For my Lover, Returning to His Wife” by Anne Sexton, the narrator describes that the man she is having an affair with will never leave his wife for her. “Adultery” by James Dickey proves that at times an affair is nothing more than just an affair. Throughout all three texts, you begin to read the different attitudes towards sexual and marital fidelity and the different reactions the individuals have to their affairs. Although, infidelity is viewed as a terrible thing, some people have reasons for the actions.
Aristophanes thinks that a human’s love is clearly “a lack” – a lack of one’s other half- and having no meant to satisfy themselves they begin to die. Zeus, having failed to foresee this difficulty repairs the damage by inventing sexual reproduction (191 b-c). Any “embracements” of men with men or of women with women would of course be sterile – though the participants would at least “have some satiety of their union and a relief,” (191 c) and therefore would be able to carry on the work of the world. Sex, therefore, is at this stage a drive, and the object is defined only as human. Sexual preferences are to emerge only as the human gains experience, enabling them to discover what their “original form” had been.
Within Symposium, Plato portrayed Love not as an idealization, but rather on the judgment that was made from Love’s control of the human body (lecture). One speech in particular, the one told by Aristophanes, presents an interest and mythical view on the concept of love. The love he describes is a dedication to the idea of soulmate love (lecture). Spherical people were being that were completely round, “they had four hands each, as many legs as hands, and two faces, exactly alike, on a rounded neck. Between the two faces, which were on opposite sides, was one head with four ears (Plato 25).” As these beings has more limbs and eyes than any god, they were considered too powerful which led to the god Zeus, splitting them in half. Once split, the beings began to die as they starved and became idle as they could not live without their other half (Plato 26-27). Aristophanes concluded that as their separation from one another was the cause to their deaths it was no less than a demonstration for the desire humans have to love one another, as stated on page 27, “This, then, is the source of our desire to love each other … heal the wound of human nature.” The perspective Aristophanes presents is about a fusion between one object - or individual, and the object of desire; love is about momentary intimacy both physical and emotional. Aristophanes presents the desire of the momentary intimacy that the human body craves in his speech by saying “ The purpose was this so that … they could stop embracing, return to their jobs, and look after their other needs in life (Plato 27).” This particular quote is important because it represents Aristophanes’ overall view that, human beings desire one another, they need one another; however, one they obtain their object of desire they are free to continue on with the rest of life’s
Love is something not easily or even completely understood, it is an always too hard to but it 's only to look but not touch. But how far can temptation go before it turns into desire? In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “The Gilded Six-Bits”, marriage and betrayal are something that is wired in the heart of many people. Marriage creates a bond within the institution of any relationship that can make it more emotionally connected to the spouse. Betrayal can tear the most delicate flower into dust; it violates any type of trust in the relationship. Hurston gives an example of three stages in a relationship which consist of Love, Admiration, Betrayal and Forgiveness in this story. The character Joe Banks love his wife Missie May, but her infidelity
After stating this, Augustine continues to support his statement by talking about friendship. Is the friendship Augustine mentions lustful or sincerely about love? "Thus I polluted the stream of friendship with the filth of unclean desire and sullied its limpidity with the hell of lust." (pg. 35) Obviously Augustine is letting the idea of love turn straight to lust. He talks about unclean desires, but he says he wants to be clean and courtly. Maybe Augustine has the wrong idea about love.
Love is unvarying; not just the god, but also the emotion itself. There are similarities between Carver 's short story as well as Plato 's work where not all relationships were the same. By love also existing in different forms, it supports both the homo and heterosexual relationships found in Plato 's work. Another form of love is found in Greek mythology, as expressed by Aristophanes, where the idea of soulmates originates from these two beings who had two sets of body parts that were connected together, constituting of a variation of mixes between the three sexes. The two people started out as one, but their power was too strong so the gods had to separate them which is where the idea of looking for one’s other half comes from (Plato 25-28). There are older men who pursue younger men, as discussed at this symposium, where the older man would act as mentors or guides for the other. They were discouraged from exhibiting any signs of pleasure that they could feel from the less experienced partner. These homosexual relationships were looked upon with more respect because women were viewed to be inferior mentally to men, so by men desiring other men, it meant that their relationships were countered by an intelligent partner.Pausanias believed in two types of love; celestial, meaning physical and mental attraction, and common. Celestial love is related with not having affairs with younger boys who are “younger than the age at which intelligence begins to form”(Plato 14), while common love was regarded as a negative form because it was someone “who
Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway both convey their ideas of love in their respective stories The Lady with the Pet Dog and Hills like White Elephants in different ways. However, their ideas are quite varying, and may be interpreted differently by each individual reader. In their own, unique way, both Chekhov and Hemingway evince what is; and what is not love. Upon proper contemplation, one may observe that Hemingway, although not stating explicitly what love is; the genius found in his story is that he gives a very robust example of what may be mistaken as love, although not being true love. On the other hand, Chekhov exposes love as a frame of mind that may only be achieved upon making the acquaintance of the “right person,” and not as an ideal that one may palpate at one instance, and at the another instance one may cease to feel; upon simple and conscious command of the brain. I agree with Hemingway’s view on love because it goes straight to the point of revealing some misconceptions of love.
Infidelity is depicted as an extremely negative thing in the United States, and is often blamed for trust issues, psychologically damaging the spouse and their children, tearing apart marriages and families and more. People who commit adultery are often shamed and told how wrong what they did is and what a terrible person they are for doing it. According to the Journal of Martial and Family by the Associated Press, however, 41% of “marriages where one or both spouses admit to infidelity, either physical or emotional.” Clearly, while infidelity is generally viewed negative by society, many people either decide that it is not as negative as it is portrayed, or do not care and do it anyway. “The Lady with the Pet Dog” and “The Storm” both go against the typical view of adultery being a negative thing in a relationship by showing that it can actually have a beneficial outcome and leave some, if not all people happier.
In today’s society, adultery is not viewed as it would have been viewed back in the 1600’s. Adultery is defined as a voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse. In society today, people understand that it is not right to commit adultery, despite knowing that it is often done more. Adultery is committed more now, in the view of its not a punishable act, as it was in the 1600’s. Committing adultery in the 1600’s was considered committing one of the sins that can not be forgiven. Many people were killed for this type of act, however as generations past people begin to view adultery differently.
Throughout the short story of “Lady with a Dog” many characters drastically change. Personally, I believe that the person that shows the heavier amount of change is Gurov. Of course, both Gurov and Anna change, but Gurov takes things to a different level considering his past.
Lust or the common love was looked upon in the symposium as vulgar and immoral. This was the type of love was filthy with sin "since all they care about is completing the sexual act."(p.466, 181 b) This is because it comes from a strong sexual attraction that is produced from only desiring the physical body rather the soul. This common love was thought to come from the younger Aphrodite born from Zeus and one of his many mistresses.
...beral - perhaps amoral - society, adultery can be justified if we are truly in love or somehow deceived in marriage. There are many in our society today that would teach that adultery is not a great sin, but rather the guilt is the sin. They would say, "I am no devil, for there is none." In general, if you declare something not to be a sin, or at least a justifiable sin, you can do away with the guilt. According to Christian theology, however, there is a catch that states, in 1 Corinthians 32:12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." When we know of our self-deception perfectly, hell has arrived, the day has passed, and we are no longer able to repent. From a Christian's perspective, you can deny or disagree with what God declares to be sin, but only temporarily ...
The ideas of physical love, or the lusting for body rather than mind, are discussed within the speakers and related to their own physical loves as compared to their intellectual loves. Though they all have their own contrasting views as to the nature of love and it origins, it is Socrates who "tells the truth about Love," (33.199b. Despite these differences on the nature and origins, all of the orators are in general concordance on the ideas of the physical side of love. Pausanias promotes the idea of "two Loves, since there are two types of Aphrodite," (12.181d). The type of love he associates with physical lust is Common Love, "the kind of love that inferior people feel. People like this are attracted to women as much as boys, and to bodies rather than minds," (13.181b). He argues that these Common lovers are attracted to partners with very little intelligence because they seek only sexual satisfaction as opposed to intellectual satisfaction. Eryximachus continues on this duality of Love, but extend it in the form or good and bad love. Similar to Pausanias' Common Love, Eryximaachus agrees that "when this type of love is applied, it must be with caution, to ensure that th...
... Imagine how difficult it would be to trust one’s spouse again. It would be like starting all over. Many believe that “once a cheat always a cheat”, people who have several affairs have a higher divorce rate (figure 7). One would have to put forth time, and effort to restore something that they did not destroy. All of the years of marriage, all that was shared and considered sacred is gone. How can one be expected to believe that the affair was an isolated incident that never took place earlier on in the marriage? It is with all of these doubts and unanswered questions that it becomes evident that adultery destroys marriages and therefore marriage cannot survive infidelity. Infidelity not only destroys marriages, it also destroys families. Children turn away from their mothers or fathers, and it is at that point that the marriage should be considered null and void. The possibility of a marriage being able to survive infidelity is far fetched. Therefore, the answer to the question: ‘can marriage survive infidelity’ is evident.