Aphrodite of the Spangled Mind: Eros and the Death Instincts

This analysis will proceed in three sections: first, I will examine the presentations of Aphrodite in the mythopoetic tradition (Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, and Empedocles), then I will demonstrate the manner in which Plato splits Aphrodite into two in Symposium and all the while erases her by shifting androcentric worship to a male god, Eros. Plato utilizes myth but deliberately bends it to his philosophical wishes and seems to emphasize a binary structure and furthermore, one that reflects androcentric fantasy in its hierarchical values (e.g., Aphrodite Ouranos is superior to Aphrodite Pandemos). Finally, through a close reading of Beyond the Pleasure Principle, I will demonstrate the way in which Freud follows the playbook of Plato and splits eros into two by defining libido solely as masculine while casting female desire into masochism and the death instincts.