Love is Opposites

I wanted to post something, so this is an essay I wrote for one of my classes.

“Now look and see, where these two have gone to bed and lie there in love together. I am sickened when I look at them…” (Homer 8.313-314). In The Odyssey, Homer explores the complex theme of love. According to the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, love “results from the tension of opposites”. Love is happiness and misery, ugly and beautiful, repulsed and desired. The story of the love triangle between Hephaestus, Aphrodite and Ares in the eighth book of the Odyssey shows this idea of the duality of love. Aphrodite, the beautiful goddess of love, was married to Hephaestus, the lame and ugly god of the blacksmiths. One day, Hephaestus learned from Helios that Aphrodite was having an affair with Ares, the god of war. Hephaestus devised a bed with secret bindings on it would allow him catch them in the act of adultery. Hephaestus’ plan came to fruition and he “[saw] where [those] two [had] gone to bed … in love together” (8.313). Hephaestus demanded that the wedding dowry he paid be returned to him before he would set them free from the trap. Poseidon agreed to pay the debt, allowing Ares and Aphrodite to be set free. Through a study of this particular myth and how it fits into the entire work of The Odyssey, it becomes clear that love is composed of opposites in both its composition and outcome.

The union of Aphrodite and Hephaestus demonstrates the “tension of opposites” of which love is composed. Under Heraclitus' definition, love occurs when two opposites come together resulting in harmonia, the term he coined for love (Wiener 95). This may explain why Hephaestus and Aphrodite were put together as ideal companions. Hephaestus holds the title of the ugliest god among the Olympians. He is misshapen with crooked feet, and could be considered to be among the “low-class” gods. On the other hand, Aphrodite is considered the most beautiful and exquisite goddess, and is high up in the hierarchy of Mount Olympus. The marriage of these two antithetical deities, the ugly and the beautiful, perfectly supports Heraclites’ argument that love is the union of two opposites coming together harmoniously.

Aphrodite’s other lover, Ares, also displays Heraclitus’ view that love consists of the fusion of two opposites. These two gods, Aphrodite and Ares, were also opposites. Ares was one of the twelve Olympians. His reign was over the brutality and violence in war. Because of his dominion over such a hateful thing as war, he was the most hated of all the gods. Ironically, the only Olympian who actually loved him was Aphrodite. Unlike Ares, who was hated and repulsed by all, Aphrodite was the most sought-after and desired goddess of Olympus. Hermes even admitted that he would have suffered through Hephaestus’ trap three times over if he had the chance to lay with the irresistible Aphrodite. Again, two opposites – desire and repulsion – were coalesced into one, balanced whole through the union of Ares and Aphrodite. The friction between these two contrasting ideals, brought into harmony, is what Heraclites described love, harmonia, to be.

Love can have two opposing results: happiness or misery. All three members of the love triangle in this particular myth had a negative experience with love. It brought misery to each one. They had been ridiculed in front of all the gods of Olympus – blatantly caught in the act of adultery. However, love does not brew only misery. The story of Aphrodite and Ares’ love affair is recited within The Odyssey to comment on Odysseys and Penelope’s love (Alden 95). The outcome of these two separate love affairs are in sharp contrast with each other. Hephaestus and Odysseus were both put in similar situations – both were away from their attractive wives, leaving them open for suitors to chase after them. However, Penelope’s love was one of loyalty and faith. She never gave in. She always remained true to Odysseus. The wild and frivolous Aphrodite did not possess such attributes, andshe willingly gave in to Ares’ advances. These two situations display the outcomes that love can result in. To those who foster a carefree and thoughtless attitude towards love and loyalty, love often ends in misery and despair, much like Aphrodite and Ares. On the other hand, those who have a love that is true, honest and faithful will also have a love that ends in joy and longevity. Each story ends with love causing the opposite outcomes from the other. This again supports the belief that Heraclites had in love - it can, and often does, result in both joy and misery.

Through the story of Aphrodite, Ares and Hephaestus, it becomes clear that love cannot simply be defined as one thing, but rather, it is the culmination of many contrasting things into a beautiful, harmonious whole. It is all about balance – nothing is in excess. Love is ugly and beautiful. Love is desired and repulsed, and love is joy and misery. Love encompasses them all.