Symposium Part 1

I confess that I have not had time to read anyone else's post. So please excuse me if I repeat what others have said. I found myself puzzled by how the initial structure of the Symposium. The first aspect that stands out to me is just how removed the narrator is from the original events that he retells. Moreover, Plato seems to go to great lengths to inform us about exactly how many layers of narration exist between us and the events that did transpire. It seems like this could serve to accomplish at least two opposite ends. On the one hand, Plato could use this literary devise to emphasize just how important the material in the Symposium is; our narrator spent a substantial amount of time "memorizing" most of an conversation that lasted over the course of an evening. The details are so important that people are asking our narrator to recite what he remembers for their edification. On this view, we as the readers seem to be the recipients of a special gift. On the other hand, Plato's explicit reference to the narrative layers and our narrator's inability to recall exactly the details of the conversation (let alone the fact that he acknowledges that he is simply telling us the points that he found important) could serve to let us know that we are not getting the whole story or should caution against taking the story too seriously. Although I hesitate to accept the latter option, I do not want to deny that it is a live option. On a different note, I enjoyed the heavy dose of irony and sarcasm in the first quarter of this dialogue. Here are just three instances that come to mind: (1) Socrates invites someone of lower stature to a party with him and then ends up urging him to run along with.out him; (2) Agathon rebukes Aristodemus for not bringing Socrates to the party when Socrates is the one who technically brought Aristodemus; and(3)Aristophanes of all people cannot speak at his turn because he has the hick-ups. On yet another different note, I think it is interesting that around 174d Socrates says to Aristodemus "Let's go...We'll think about what to say 'as we proceed the two of us along the way.'" I find this interesting for at least three reasons. First, Socrates ends up needing to think about "something to say" because that evening is filled with conversation and speeches. Second, the allusion to the Illiad is great given that Socrates actually does stop off multiple times because he gets an idea before Aristodemus. Third, they never even have to come up with something to say about Aristodemus's attendance at the party, because Agathon wanted him there. So that line fills "pregnant with meaning." Well, that is all that I want to say for now. My next post will go into depth about the actually points made in the speeches.