Samantha Zhang

A3 Function Outline

Thesis Statement:

Though the flute-girl in Plato’s symposium seems to be a minor character with little
significance, she actually serves as the embodiment of beauty and love, an important theme of
the work. The irony of the men pushing her out of the room to engage in philosophical
conversation about love underscores the irony of gender roles in Ancient Greece. Although the
men must dispose of the flute-girl to speak about love, her music may serve as the wisest and
most philosophical incarnation of love itself.

- Describe the context in which the philosophers push the flute-girl out of the room

• They essentially dispose of the flute-girl in order engage in deep conversation about
philosophy. They say that the flute-girl may go play for the women instead (is this
significant??)

• Page 32 Line 176 E: “‘It’s settled, then,’ said Eryximachus. ‘We are resolved to force no
one to drink more than he wants. I would like now to make a further motion: let us
dispense with the flute-girl who just made her entrance; let her play for herself or, if she
prefers, for the women in the house. Let us instead spend our evening in conversation.’”

- Describe the gender roles and suppression of women that occurred in Ancient Greece

• Women were often ignored, men were considered “active” players in love whereas women
were grouped into the same group as younger boys and considered “passive” lovers. This
meant that men could engage in sexual activities with younger boys while simultaneously
having wives.

• Women were not allowed to own property or hold citizenship (https://

www.greekboston.com/culture/ancient-history/role-of-women/)

- Prove that the philosophers believe that music is essentially a form of true love/beauty

• Eryxmachus’s speech, focusing on the importance of music as a version or expression of

love, Eryximachus argues that music is the science of love

- Pg 44: “…an expert musician creates a harmony by resolving the prior discord between
high and low notes. For surely there can be no harmony so long as high and low are still
discordant; harmony, after all, is consonance, and consonance is a species of
agreement. Discordant elements, as long as they are still in discord, cannot come to an
agreement, and they therefore cannot produce a harmony. Rhythm, for example, is
produced only when fast and slow, though earlier discordant, are brought into
agreement with each other. Music, like medicine, creates agreement by producing
concord and love between these various opposites. Music is therefore simply the
science of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.”

• Music as a metaphor for seduction (when Alcibades talks about Socrates’s seductive
powers)

- Page 78, 261 E Line 5 - “That’s the effect of this satyr’s music — on me and many
others.”

• Love and music through muses

- Pg 45: “This is the honorable, heavenly species of Love, produced by the melodies of
Urania, the Heavenly Muse. The other, produced by Polyhymnia, the muse of many
songs, is common and vulgar.”

- Mention the other references to music in the work and how they are significant

• Alcibiades draws comparisons between the seductive nature of the flute-girl’s music and
the seductive nature of Socrates

- Pg 77 215C: “And you’re quite a fluteplayer, aren’t you? In fact, you’re much more
marvelous than Marsyas, who needed instruments to cast his spells on people. And so
 does anyone who plays his tunes today—for even the tunes of Olympus playsd are
Marsyas’ work, since Olympus learned everything from him. Whether they are played by
the greatest flautist or the meanest flute-girl, his melodies have the

- In order to prove that the flute girl serves to contradict gender roles, mention the other
appearances that women make in the work

• The appearance of Diotima and how she is significant. Because Socrates (universally
considered to be the wisest of the men) channels his conversation with Diotima when
giving his speech on love, it signifies that Diotima is actually the wisest/most
knowledgeable when it comes to this topic, despite the fact that she is a woman

• Prove that the flute-girl serves as the catalyst for the philosophers’ discussion of low to
begin, as well as the catalyst for other plot events. For example, the flute-girl reappears
when Alcibades shows up in his drunken state

- Pg 73 176C: “A large drunken party had arrived at the courtyard door and they were
rattling it loudly, accompanied by the shrieks of some flute-girl they had brought along.”

- Pg 73: “A moment later they heard Alcibades shouting in the courtyard, very drunk and
very loud. He wanted to know where Agathon was, he demanded to see Agathon at
once. Actually, he was half carried into the house by the flute-girl and by some other
companions of his, but at the door, he managed to stand by himself, crowned with a
beautiful wreath of violets and ivy and ribbons in his hair.”