In Symposium, many men are gathered and are discussing what love means to each of them. During Alcibiades speech, we see that he is in love with Socrates, however, it is also apparent that Socrates does not feel the same way as Alcibiades. Alcibiades’ struggle with this is shown when he says, “Some times, believe me, I think I would be happier if he were dead. And yet I know that if he dies I’ll be even more miserable. I can’t live with him and I can’t live without him! What can I do about him?” (Symposium, 216C). We see that Alcibiades can not seem to overcome his feelings toward Socrates even though he knows that he does not love him back. In a similar way, in Dean Lewis’s song “Be Alright”, we see that he is in love with someone who does not love him back. In the song he sings, “But it’s not the fact that you kissed him yesterday, it’s the feeling of betrayal, that I just can’t seem to shake, And everything I know tells me that I should walk away, But I just want to stay” (Dean Lewis, Be Alright). In the song, it becomes clear that the person that he loves has cheated on him, yet he still loves her very much.
One main difference between these two works is that in “Symposium” Alcibiades was never in an actual relationship with Socrates, while in “Be Alright” it appears that Dean Lewis was in a relationship prior to the song. However, even with this difference, I believe that the works’ messages are still very similar. Both of them show people who are in love even though they know that they should not be. Alcibiades talks about not being able to live with or without Socrates, and Dean Lewis talks about knowing that he should leave the relationship yet still wanting to stay. Both of them know that their relationships are failed, but their feeling are still hanging on.
“Some times, believe me, I think I would be happier if he were dead. And yet I know that if he dies I’ll be even more miserable. I can’t live with him and I can’t live without him! What can I do about him?”
(Symposium, 216C)