Subjects and Objects in Symposium and The Second Sex

There were three quotes from our reading of Symposium that reflected ideas we investigated earlier in The Second Sex. The first quote relates to the hierarchy of participants in a relationship. in his speech Phaedrus states that "A lover is more godlike than his boy... since he is inspired by a God"(12). The second quote concerns the hierarchy of participants in sex. Aristophanes says in his speech that "Zeus brought about this relocation of genitals... he invented interior reproduction, by the man in the woman"(27). The third quote addresses general power relations. Agathon in his speech explains "he who has hold is more powerful than he who is held"(35).

These three quotes echo de Beauvoir's ideas about object and subject. in The Second Sex de Beauvoir states that because humans relations are not "a Mitsien... based solely on solidarity and friendship"(7) a "fundamental hostility to any other consciousness is found in consciousness itself"(7). Furthermore de Beauvoir claims that this hostility leads to a division between object and subject, a division in which "the subject... asserts itself as essential and sets up the other inessential, as the object"(7). Such a division can be clearly seen in Symposium. The idea that the holder of the power, the one who is expressing the love, is superior to the lover, the one who is accepting the love, is just the kind of hierarchy de Beauvoir was illustrating. In the Greek system of men loving young boys the older man in the subject. As the subject he does action on "loves" the young boy; who is the subject. both the speeches of Phaedrus and Agathon express this idea.

de Beauvoir's ideas about sex are also similar to those expressed in the quote from Aristophanes. Like Aristophanes de Beauvoir sees the physical orientation of genitals as vital to the power relation of sex. de Beauvoir explains that in sex "[the male's] dominance is expressed by the coital position... the male is on the female... the male deposits his sperm; the female receives it... coitus... alienates her from herself by penetration"(35). de Beauvoir's analysis is an expanded form of the smaller insight of Aristophanes; that the woman is the object of the sexual encounter and the man the subject.

This comparison has shown that de Beauvoir's insights about power in relationships were present in the ancient past and can be applied to ancient texts such as Symposium. Furthermore it highlights the social power structures outlined in Symposium giving greater insight into the social background of the speeches.