Klucht, satire en ernst

Summary This paper examines the themes of Plato´s Symposium and the general functions of the first five speeches. It also discusses the importance of the person of Socrates as a subject of the dialogue and his connexion to eros. Eros and Socrates together form the focus of the Symposium. The second part of this article analyses the speech of Aristophanes in detail. This funny speech has several functions: Plato uses the speech to develop a general notion of eros which is interesting and worthwhile to reflect upon. The myth offers an explanation for the three kinds of sexual identity, but also for things like promiscuity, the function of sexuality and the feeling that eros is more than just sex. Eros is a force regulating human life. At the same time, his speech is a defence of homosexual love, a rather strange position for someone who usually paints a very negative picture of homosexuality in his comedies. The article aims to demonstrate that Aristophanes is ridiculing himself in the Symposium. The things he says in his speech are the opposite of his own ideas. In fact, Plato treats Aristophanes in the same way as the poet of comedies treated Socrates in the Clouds. So this speech, too, is related to Socrates.