Comparing Candide, Cervantes Don Quixote, And

Three Works of Three Loves Love is heavily intertwined with being human. Indeed, everyone doubtlessly experiences some form of love in their life, be it towards objects or people. This love is organized into three types; eros, philos, and agape. Eros, likely the most common kind of love in western culture, denotes sexual desire, or lust. Philos covers love among friends, or love for the purpose to gain something. Agape, the rarest of all, encapsulates selfless love, or the willingness to die for another. All forms are present within the three works, Voltaire’s Candide, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, albeit in differing levels. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight features all three types of love, the strongest among them being eros. From the beginning, there is a flash of agape between Gawain and his king, Arthur. When Arthur is prepared to take the Green Knight’s challenge in the opening, Gawain steps up in face of possibly deadly consequences (734). Also, Philos makes a quick appearance in the friendly relationship between Gawain and Lord Bertilak, although the latter is

Eros is the most powerful in this work, overshadowing the others by a large margin. Of course, this eros does turn to philos in the end. Agape makes a slight appearance with the anabaptist, but this is most likely explained with Voltaire’s deep appreciation for anabaptists. However, the most explored relationship is between Cunegonde and Candide, which is strictly eros for massive portions of the novel. “He found Cunegonde exceedingly pretty” (Candide 101) basically sums up the extent of their relationship. Whenever Candide recalls Cunegonde, it is generally alongside him describing her beauty in some way. Yet, in the end, Candide no longer wants to marry Cunegonde when she loses her looks. Their relationship is segregated completely to philos, only marrying out of Candide’s promise to