The Case Of Abelard And Heloise

Throughout history, people faced many difficult decisions that impacted their life greatly, such as who to marry and love. Most of the time, the decision of marriage was made for an individual and based on their status in society. In the case of Abelard and Heloise, Heloise took control of her life and made her own decision regarding who she wanted to be with. The main choices Heloise faced were when she chose to engage in a relationship with Abelard, going against her family’s wishes, and whether or not to marry Abelard when the time came, which she chose to do in the end no matter the consequences because she could not go against his wishes. Her decisions greatly showed her character and courage in life as a woman with great strength. Even though there were many choices of proper suiters that Heloise could have chosen, she decided to follow her heart and make the decision to be with Abelard. As her teacher and a philosopher, Abelard was not the type of man

She not only had the strength to stand up to her family, but she chose love over everything else in life. By going against her uncle’s wishes, Heloise demonstrated how fearless she was. She disobeyed her uncle just to be with a man that at the time was supposed to be a mentor and teacher to her. Another characteristic Heloise exhibited was her selflessness. She was willing to do anything for Abelard with no personal gain, which showed her true noble and generous character. Heloise was so in love with Abelard that she “would have followed [him] to Vulcan’s flames” if that is what he desired of her (61). Her devotion and utter love for Abelard was her drive in life and for that, she was strong. She was willing to give up anything for another person, something that others would not be able to voluntarily do. Heloise was a strong woman that would do anything for her love such as giving up that love and her life for