The Function of Desire in Relationships Between a Man and a Youth Essay

The structure and run away of different types of inner relationships were an important dissociate of Athenian culture, and hum any rules and traditions stimulateed around these relationships based on the mores of society. The manly citizens were considered the most important segment of the population, and many Greek writers address the heathenish conventions, ideals, and beliefs that formed around these relationships.The three main types of cozy relationships that involved a male citizen are marriage, the relationship between a young man and an sometime(a) mentor, and sexual encounters with prostitutes. Platos Symposium, a dialog on the genius of retire and desire, describes many of the beliefs that Athenians held, especially about the relationship between a man and a youth. The main focus of this paper is the ideal function and place of desire in these male with male relationships, and the benefits this particular adherence held for society. The socially accepted struct ure of these relationships between an Athenian man and youth was characterized by pursuit and courtship on the part of the man. He was to go after an attractive youth, hoping to make him his beloved eromenos. The older man was evaluate to be the aggressive partner, pursuing the youth out of his erotic desire. In turn, the beloved was expected to be the passive partner, rejecting the mans advances for a respectable amount of time, and then to enter the relationship to gain the older man as a mentor, not as a sexual partner. This aggressive man and passive youth structure continued into sexual acts, with the older male acting as the dominant, penetrating partner, while the younger man was the passive receptive partner. According to cultural rules, however, it was considered emascul... ...in parentage of any children the wife might give birth to after this time. In the body politic of politics, a failure to serve or to fulfill ones duties was also a stain on the honor of the househ old and family- it is portrayed as more than more public than the ideal private perplex between caramel and beloved. This manifestation of Celestial love benefited both the lover and beloved, as considerably as serving society by creating a strong bond that was characterized by its honor and virtue. This bond generated the most powerful form of truth a citizen man would experience, and he believes that more than any other loyalty, this love would make men honorable in battle, politics, and business in orderliness to make their beloved proud. In turn, the beloved sought to learn form his mentor in order to become an honorable citizen and individual, eventually transitory these values on to his own beloved.