Love. In all its facets and colors, love is understood and accepted as a concept by even the most primitive cultures. But what is love? Many writers have debated this subject. Many works have been produced detailing the understanding individuals had of the concept of love.
The more accepted conception of love is usually found in Romeo & Juliet. Many people refer to it as love at first sight, in French, “le coup de foudre”, as if you had just been struck by a lightning bolt. This interpretation dates back to the courtly love tradition which manifested during the late Middle Ages, first through chivalry and then more openly among the nobility. In fact, many references to the courtly love tradition are found in the play, for example, Juliet's famous line: “I'll prove more true than those that have more cunning to be strange.” Here, Juliet is obviously talking about the other women, those who know to be coy.
The courtly love tradition is, however, best expressed in all the works I have chosen by “The Miller's Tale”, Chaucer's recalling of tales supposedly told in his time period. In this story, we witness the amorous liaison between Alyson, the carpenter John's wife, and Nicholas, a student of astronomy and courtly love. The lovers engineer a stratagem which will allow them to consume their passion without fear of retribution, but only after much insistence on the part of Nicholas.
“Then Nicholas began to plead his cause
And spoke so fair in proffering what he could
That in the end she promised him she would.”
It seems strange that, in both stories, there seems to be some resistance to the tradition of courtly love. Both stories were written during the Middle Ages, two hundred years apart. We can ...
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Everyone always thinks they hold the truth. The Word of God can be a convincing argument for those who rely on faith to survive. The word of man, however, makes a stronger point, as it demonstrates how foolish and artificial our beliefs can sometimes be, and how they can change and evolve with time.
Who is to say what love will be a hundred years from now? What will they write when they speak of us, of our own courtship rituals, of the looseness of morals we sometimes manifest? Will they see our behaviours as evil or good? Or will they see us as people who acted according to the values set in the culture in which we lived?
Or is it better not to think of the future, and just love each other, as we always have, regardless of everything else ?
Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. London: Cambridge University Press, 1959.
Cornelius, Michael G. "Sex and Punishment in Geoffrey Chaucer's 'The Miller's Tale.'" Human Sexuality. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. 95-104. [ILL]
Very different from traditional writings of the past was the new flourish of troubadour poetry. Troubadour poetry, derived of courtly romances, focused on the idea of unrequited love. “A young man of the knightly class loved a lady”, most often, “the lady was married to the young man’s lord”. The courtly lover would compose highly lyrical and erotic poems in honor of his lady, and the troubadour was filled with rapture even at the slightest kindness that the lady might offer him.3 This new literary artifice provides us clues to the cultural changes that took place in medieval Europe during this time.
..., the society begins to see love as a goal. Romantic love becomes a noble trait and just quest if one wishes to embark on it.
The Love Between Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespeare's Play Romeo and Juliet was written between 1594 and 1596 by William Shakespeare. The. The play is set in medieval times in the town of Verona. There is a possibility that this play was written for Queen Elizabeth. as she experienced many of the difficulties of forced marriage and managed to avoid it, he said.
Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "Romeo and Juliet" is a love tragedy based on different kinds of loves. Romeo and Juliet become married in a forbidden relationship over the high tension brawl between their rival families which Shakespeare clearly shows in the play. Despite the family brawls, the pair decides to let their "perfect" love defeat all. Peoples ideas have changed in the space of 400 years, for example back then some loves featured in this play would produce different reactions to the audience, than today. Shakespeare opens the play with the chorus who speaks a sonnet, where love imagery is found; "Two Star-crossed lovers" =
... of treachery and, luckily, Hamlet realizes the king’s subterfuge, crushing the plot and flipping it back on him. Claudius remains steadfast in his efforts to remove Hamlet, going so far as to set up a false fencing competition and foolishly pushing the poisoned wine without considering the suspiciousness of the action. In his short-sighted and rash decision making, Claudius shows that he allows his inflated sense of regality and self-worth to cloud his judgment.
the play is not solely about love but also a lot of hatred is involved
Marie de France’s “Lanval” is a Breton lai dominated by themes common to 12th century literature, which through its exploration of love, erotic desire, wealth, gender and community, tells the story of a young knight who finds himself caught between two worlds: his lover’s and his own. Forced to separate these societies by a warning in which his lover states, “do not let any man know about this…you would lose me for good if this love were known” (Lines 145-148), Lanval must keep his love a secret and exist apart from the Arthurian world into which he was born. Consequently, romantic love between Lanval and his fairie queen exists conditionally, that is upon Lanval’s physical and emotional isolation. This restriction suggests that romantic love, as described in terms of erotic desire and physical/emotional devotion throughout “Lanval,” is unsuited for existence in the mundanity of Arthurian society. Therefore, Lanval’s solitude is necessary for his maintaining his relationship with the fairie queen, a fact that suggests the incompatibility of romantic love with Arthurian society, as Marie depicts it.
Agoraphobia can be divided into two word parts: agora, a Greek term meaning “marketplace” and phobia, meaning “the fear of something” (Miller, 2011). It is the fear of being in a communal or open place (Miller, 2011). When people have agoraphobia, they often evade situations that may cause them to panic, such as crowded places, leaving a common place, being unaccompanied, or being confined or humiliated (“Agoraphobia,” 2011; “Agoraphobia,” 2014). People often become imprisoned in their own home because they do not feel safe in public places or crowded places, such as malls, planes, sporting events, elevators, or public transportation (“Agoraphobia,” 2011). Initiating treatment can be difficult because it means facing the fear, but a combination of therapy and medicine can reduce the symptoms substantially (“Agoraphobia,” 2011; Miller, 2011).
Romeo and Juliet is set during the Elizabethan period when women had to acquiesce to men. This was known as a patriatical society. It was the time when fathers decided whom their daughters should marry. In the Elizabethan period events such as marriage were more traditional and were taken very seriously as well as the fact that men were more powerful than women. The Elizabethan period was a period of internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics as well the battles between the Parliament and the Monarchy that repulsed the seventeenth century which relates to the Period that Shakespeare wrote the play because it creates this contrast that people were fighting over reputation for example, Capulet wanting to give his daughter Juliet to a rich and respectable man like Paris rather than someone like Romeo who does not have a reputation in the society. However, In the Elizabethan society men were the ''head of the household'' so the women of the Elizabethan society had no say in anything or anyone as well as not being able to know what the men had been up to because the men were seen as the dominant sex but on the other hand, in the twenty first century the women are mostly controlling the men such as a wife of a footballer. Men that were married were able to masquerade (sleep with another women or cheat) on their own wife's and even if the wife of the husband found out about the situation, she could not have done anything about it. She would either accept the situation or leave the husband but rarely women of the Elizabethan period did that because most of the men in the Elizabethan society were rich. As soon as the play starts, Shakespeare wants the audience to know that there is goin...
[4, 1, 40] These idiosyncrasies are observed in the play when Claudius becomes concerned he will lose power as King and the likelihood Hamlet will murder him to avenge his father’s death. This is apparent when Gertrude informs Claudius that Hamlet is, “Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend which is mightier”. [4,1,6] With these thoughts daunting Claudius, he approaches Laertes in a Machiavellian manner to convince him to murder Hamlet, for he knows Laertes is angry, deranged and “Vows to the blackest devil” [4,5,131] after the death of his father. In doing so, Claudius has the intent to use Machiavellian powers over Laertes who is currently mentally unstable, with the objective being that Laertes will murder Hamlet to avenge his own father’s (Polonius) death. Claudius is able to successfully persuade Laertes in a manipulative speech, especially with his snide comment, “Not that I think you did not love your father, but that I know love is begun by time, and that I see a passage of proof.” [4,7,96] Claudius’ malicious comment indicates he is using his power over Laertes, so that the burden and repercussions do not rest on him, so that he may retain his authority as King. By utilizing his power over Laertes, Claudius is successful, as Hamlet is slain, however, as reflected in Claudius’
Bloch, R. Howard. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991.
Michael Camille ,The medieval art of love : objects and subjects of desire (New York : Abrams, 1998.),11-13http://www.metmuseum.org/publications/bulletins/1/pdf/3258994.pdf.bannered.pdf Internet accessed 24 March 2011
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
Walley, Harold R. “Shakespeare’s Conception of Hamlet.” PMLA, 48.3. Modern Language Association, 1933. pp. 777-798 . 19 February 2009.