The Symposium study guide

Socrates

Socrates guides the dinner toward examining personal pride and tests beauty through an argument about usefulness, though Critobulus defeats him. His account of love shows how attraction can become a demand for friendship, self-discipline, and public service.

Key parts: 3, 5, 8

Callias

Callias hosts the dinner and loves Autolycus, placing hospitality and attraction together at the gathering's center. His proud claim that he improves others invites scrutiny, and he ends by joining Socrates and others to escort Lycon and Autolycus.

Key parts: 1, 3, 9

Autolycus

Autolycus is the victorious young pankration competitor whose beauty and modesty draw the company's attention. He leaves with his father Lycon when exercise time arrives, connecting the gathering's admiration with the demands of physical training.

Key parts: 1, 9

Antisthenes

Antisthenes argues that wealth and poverty belong to the soul rather than to possessions. His declared passion for Socrates and frustration at missed conversation show how strongly he values a relationship that offers more than material advantage.

Key parts: 4, 8

Critobulus

Critobulus restores Philippus's spirits by laughing, and his desire for Cleinias places him within the discussion of attraction.

Key parts: 1, 4, 5

Philippus

Philippus is an uninvited professional jester whose failed jokes make him miserable until Critobulus laughs. His later mockery of the Syracusan draws Socrates' warning, showing how easily the effort to amuse can turn into verbal harm.

Key parts: 1, 6

the Syracusan

The Syracusan earns his living by presenting performers and resents the competition offered by the guests' conversation. He later introduces the bridal performance, showing that staged entertainment continues to shape the gathering alongside its discussions.

Key parts: 2, 6, 9

Pleasure and restraint

Discussion of moderate drinking and exercise shows pleasure being examined rather than simply accepted or rejected. Socrates' objections to verbal abuse and dangerous sword tricks suggest that enjoyment works best when it respects both other people and bodily safety.

Where it shows: parts 2, 6, 7

Personal worth

The declarations of pride show that the diners measure themselves through different gifts, advantages, and relationships. Their competing defenses, especially Antisthenes' account of inward wealth, suggest that personal worth cannot be settled simply by counting possessions or admiring visible advantages.

Where it shows: parts 3, 4

Beauty and judgment

The beauty contest then places Socrates' defense of useful features beside Critobulus's unanimous victory, suggesting a gap between reasoned standards and the judgments people actually make.

Where it shows: parts 1, 5

Love and goodness

Socrates' speech shows love as more than attraction by connecting it with wisdom, friendship, self-discipline, and public service. The closing performance turns attention toward marriage, suggesting that the discussion of love also bears on the guests' own intimate commitments.

Where it shows: parts 8, 9

Entertainment and conversation

Philippus's struggle for laughter shows that entertainment depends on an audience's response, not just a performer's effort. When Socrates turns amusement into conversation and the Syracusan challenges that competition, the gathering shows different forms of pleasure competing for attention.

Where it shows: parts 1, 3, 6

Sword-lined hoop

The sword-lined hoop makes trained skill visible through danger. Socrates' later objection suggests a limit to spectacle, since an impressive performance need not be suitable entertainment.

Parts 2, 7

Eyes and noses

Eyes and noses work as concrete tests of the claim that usefulness deserves admiration. Critobulus's victory suggests that attraction does not simply follow a functional argument.

Part 5

Kisses

Kisses as the contest's prize connect judgment with the pleasure of attraction. The closing lovers' embrace similarly shows desire as something enacted, not merely discussed.

Parts 5, 9

The narrator, Part 1. The narrator frames the gathering by defending attention to lighter moments. This shows why amusement and informal behavior can matter alongside serious dealings.

Antisthenes, Part 4. It suggests that possessions alone cannot establish whether someone is truly rich.

Socrates, Part 5. Socrates asks this during the beauty contest as he argues for useful features. The question shows beauty becoming a problem of standards rather than mere preference.

Socrates, Part 6. Socrates speaks as Philippus's mockery of the Syracusan threatens to become abusive. His warning shows restraint as a condition of enjoyable conversation.

Socrates, Part 8. Socrates speaks during his account of love and virtue. The line suggests that growing wisdom can deepen someone's worthiness of love rather than diminish it.