Love In The Alchemist

765 Words2 Pages

Love is such a controversial topic in which it takes on many forms depending on the individual. In “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho, everlasting love becomes a major theme in the novel for driving the personal legend of Santiago and his soulmate, Fatima. Fatima and Santiago have two totally different personal legends, but both have the inspiration to follow it to enhance their love for each other. “The Alchemist,” uses love as an inspirational force for the characters and is relatable to the concept of love and possession, we have today. In the novel, the protagonist Santiago falls for two women. These two women are Fatima and the merchant’s daughter. From reading, I was able to gain the idea that this novel was set back in an earlier time …show more content…

It was love.” (Coelho 95) This was an example of everlasting love because Santiago initially, did not want to pursue his personal legend in order to be with Fatima. However, the alchemist warned him that not following his personal legend would make their relationship worsen as the years go by. To prevent this, Santiago followed his personal legend and Fatima encouraged him to go because her personal legend was to wait for him to come back. Coelho proposed the idea of true everlasting love by throwing in a fake love that Santiago had with the merchant’s daughter in order to strengthen the comparison between her and …show more content…

It is looked down upon because we stress the importance of finding out perfect Choi, 3 companion and if you love someone due to their riches or anything of that realm, it is not true love. Instead, they are in love with the materialistic items, not the person. However, there are many in our culture, today, who get into a relationship or even marry for money. It goes against our morals of finding true love, but many mix the conception of love with riches due to a materialistic mindset. As expected, these relationships usually do not go well and can cause stress or depression for both parties. In conclusion, in “The Alchemist,” Coelho uses love as the force behind his plot and characters’ motivation to find their personal legend. The idea of love in the story is relatable with the idea of love we have in our culture today. Santiago and Fatima show an everlasting love by following their personal legends not for the treasure that awaits, but for the sake of their

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between The Odyssey And The Alchemist

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Only time will tell”. This common phrase states that the truth and true essence of everything will be revealed as time endures. Written in 700 B.C.E, Homer’s nostalgic epic poem, The Odyssey, has inspired many writers to follow. Nearly 30 centuries later, this classic indirectly influenced Paulo Coelho's writing of The Alchemist. Despite the myriad differences on the surface, The Odyssey and The Alchemist have many connecting parallels. The protagonist in each of the examples of the hero’s journey learned countless lessons along the way that can be taught to everyone. The most prominent of which are the dangers of fear, the importance of perseverance, and the seriousness of pursuing what you love.

    Read More

  • The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    Santiago thinks about the beautiful merchant's daughter. He imagines explaining to her why he knows.....

    Read More

  • The Corruption of Love in the Plays of Lope De Vega

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the history of literature, love has always played a large role in plot because it is a feeling that is universally shared by all humans and has been throughout human history. Spanish culture specifically, tends to be a culture more associated with romance and love than others. It is no surprise that because of this high importance placed on love and romance in Spanish culture that many Spanish authors and playwrights incorporate some form of love into all of their works. Lope De Vega was no exception and was one of the most famous playwrights of his time during the Spanish Golden Age. Something that makes Lope’s plays, specifically some of his unpublished ones such as Fuenteovejuna and Punishment Without Revenge so interesting is not the presence of perfect, harmonious love but rather of corrupt and distorted love within the characters’ relationships in his plays. By writing plays involving imperfect love, Lope comments on the culture around love and marriage of his time and even criticizes it, something Spanish audiences during this time were not ready to handle, which is the reason why some of these plays were never published until recently.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Love In The Time Of Cholera

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since we are kids we are taught the importance and meaning of love. Obviously, when we are kids we don’t realize such a big felling, until we grow up. I would say that love isn’t the feeling of intense hormonal urges; it is much more than that. It’s a real genuine feeling. The intense connection of true love cannot be broken because true love is unconditional and it has no boundaries. I have read many books about love, but in this case this book I would talk about is special because it makes us ask many questions about ourselves. Gabriel Garcia Marquez without writing it in the book Love in the Time of Cholera sets the question how long could we will be willing to wait for love? Since the first moment we open the book we can see it is going to be about love, so after reading some chapters we can ask ourselves about this question, and that obviously traps us. Love in the Time of Cholera is a novel that has a very strong meaning of love, some types of love presented in this books focuses on pure, and innocent, passionate, interested, divided love and among others, but the good thing about these kinds of love is that it gives the readers a teaching.

    Read More

  • The Alchemist as a Monomyth

    1931 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...In conclusion, we can say that after applying Joseph Campbell's theory of The Monomyth on The Alchemist; it is noticeable that despite The Alchemist being a postmodernism wok of literature, the author Coelho used all major patterns of the hero's journey of ancient myth in his novel and this developed Santiago's journey from an ordinary one into an archetypal one.

    Read More

  • Overcoming Problems in The Alchemist

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever encountered problems while trying to fulfill a goal in your life? In the book The Alchemist, written by Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago overcomes obstacles to reach his personal legend. Throughout the book Santiago encounters many friends to help him fulfill his destiny. Santiago encounters many problems throughout the story. He overcomes them with the help of his friends and his wife-to-be. These problems shape Santiago into a dignified man of many traits.

    Read More

  • Whats Love Got To Do With It; Everything!

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    to love, money makes no matter, be it past, present or future. Love is love, and

    Read More

  • Many Women Marry for the Wrong Reason

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished,” said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. An American wealth-research corporation, Prince and Associates, once did a research on a sample group of more than thirty women that if they would marry for money. Surprisingly, about approximately seventy-five percent of the group said “yes”. In fact, many women admit that they would rather marry a billionaire that they barely know than a penniless guy they truly love. We often read in novels and see it in those late night soap dramas, in the most romantic setting with exquisite background music, the main character solemnly promises his passionate love to the female actor with ninety-nine roses in his hand; the female character of course feels touched by his actions and blissfully accepts his proposal. Depressingly, those fairy-tales are too beautiful to become true. Take Mr. and Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice for an example, it is quite obvious that these two irresponsible adults did no marry for pure love. Mr. Bennet was more attracted to Mrs. Bennet’s physical appearance in his youth, and he rushed into courtship without further consideration. As time passes, Mrs. Bennet no longer has her good-looking face. Twenty years later, Mr. Bennet lost interest in her and regret ever marrying her. As you can see, in the twenty-first century, a time full with fierce competition, material gain is the first thing most women concern about when they marry, followed by physical attraction and security to a stable home.

    Read More

  • Comparison of "The Alchemist" and "The Book Thief"

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two books by Markus Zusak and Paulo Coelho tells the stories of two characters, Liesel Meminger and Santiago, each in their own respective stories. In The Alchemist, Santiago’s story is a much lighter tale with an overall optimistic and adventurous air. He journeys from Spain all the way to Egypt and back before his adventure ends. Zusak’s The Book Thief, sharply contrasts Coelho’s story with the much darker and dangerous world of Nazi Germany.

    Read More

  • Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: Synthesis Essay

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many obstacles in everyday life, but none as detrimental to ones future as fear. Fear can cause people to not only avoid achieving their goals in life but it also forces them to think about it throughout every day. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist shows that those who wallow in fear will never achieve their personal legend, and those who conquer fear will achieve anything they strive for. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a commonly analyzed and criticized piece of literature. One of these articles is Rejendra Kumar Dash’s “Alchemy of the Soul: A Comparative Study of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Dash’s article is a literary criticism of the different parts of the character’s journey in The Alchemist. He talks about, in his article, how the theme in The Alchemist is found through analyzing the different parts of Santiago’s journey and what those parts mean. Another one of these articles is Lily Hasanah’s “Decision Making in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist”. Hasanah’s article is a literary criticism of the main character in The Alchemist, Santiago. She searches for the theme in The Alchemist through analyzing the decisions, and the outcomes of those decisions, made by Santiago. Paulo Coelho provides access to his theme, for the most part, though the actions and adventures of the main character, Santiago. Although this is the method of delivery he had in mind, Dash and Hasanah view the delivery of his theme differently.

    Read More

  • Irrational Love Analysis

    1068 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are people in this world that become irrational when they fall in love with their mates, but are blind to the opportunity costs they are exchanging to win their devotion. Basically, according to Brian ORoark, love is the reflection of an inelastic demand curve. Tim McGraw, for an example, wrote a song “Just to See You Smile,” explaining that he would do anything no matter the cost to get his girl to love him. Unfortunately, most people cannot pursue the happiness of their spouse by spending money – even though they ignore the fact that they are penniless because love makes them irrational. By becoming incoherent upon love, it will back fire one financially due to the amount of money one spends for his or her spouse exceeding the income

    Read More

  • Theme Of Sacrifice In The Alchemist

    1796 Words  | 4 Pages

    Upon arriving they said they would stay at the oasis until it was safe to cross the desert. A camel driver tells Santiago that, “There are rumors of tribal wars” (The Alchemist 80). When entering the oasis they had to hand over their arms and stay in tents with locals and fellow travelers. During his short time at the oasis Santiago experiences love at first sight with a girl named Fatima. As the war drags on Santiago tells Fatima about his personal legend and she encourages him to continue on to Egypt. Although she has been waiting for him her entire life she still insisted that he achieve his personal legend. She said if they are meant to be together they will meet again one day. Then Santiago left the oasis with the Alchemist towards the pyramids. Through this he realizes that each challenge he faces on the way to his destination forms part of God's

    Read More

  • The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Theme of “The Alchemist,” by Paulo Coelho is, always follow your dreams and listen to your heart. At the start of the novel Santiago does not know what he should do when he is confronted by his dream. But by the end of the novel Santiago completely trusts his heart to guide him though life. Santiago’s story shows him learning and living out the theme of the novel.

    Read More

  • Love in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.

    Read More

  • A Farewell to Love, Where Love Leads to Pain

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hemingway synthesizes the theory that because of the pain that is brought about, love is not able to survive. The feeling of love is felt by both Henry and Catherine, but it is hard to realize that when pain always surrounds the couple. Hemingway’s creative mind creates a frustrating love story for the reader – one in which ends in devastation. Love is present but will not last. Human nature is to be attracted to love, but humanity may be destined for pain because of the tragedy brought about by love.

    Read More

More about Love In The Alchemist

Open Document