The One With The Circle People

When I read the first five speeches of the Symposium, Aristophanes immediately stuck out to me. I didn’t give much thought to my “favorite”, but when Dr. Schultz asked us in class I immediately knew that Aristophanes spoke to me the most. And at first I couldn’t really concretely explain why. But looking through my book I had underlined a certain quote which summed up, for me, Aristophanes’ speech:

“It’s obvious that the soul of every lover longs for something else, his soul cannot say what it is, but like an oracle it has a sense of what it wants, and like an oracle it hides behind a riddle” (192D).

Aristophanes tells a story about love which describes a human condition of continually searching for one’s other half. In romcoms this is said figuratively pretty often, but in Aristophanes’ case he’s being literal. He says humans were once circle people who were split apart by the gods in punishment for their hubris. He says:

“Love is born into every human being; it calls back the halves of our original nature together; it tries to make one out of two and heal the wound of human nature” (191D).

And that is, I think, what is most appealing about Aristophanes’ speech. It affirms what everyone hopes for and truly wants to believe about love. That somewhere out there is another half of you and all you have to do is find them. It is poetry and romance and hope. And in this, Aristophanes hits on something that no one else does in the dialogue. The nuance of love. The unexplainable draw and magnetism. So I’ll leave this blog with some relevant song lyrics by Sam Smith:

"You’re the one, designed for me

A distant stranger, that I will complete

I know you’re out there, we’re meant to be

So keep your head up, and make it to me"