What is Love?

“I love you”. No other sequence of words has so much power; these words have the power to strengthen a bond, weaken a relationship, ruin a friendship or bring two people together. The concept of love is puzzling and we have struggled to understand it for centuries, everything between the Greek goddess Aphrodite and today’s Romantic comedies have attempted to comprehend and explain it. The theme of love is popular in Donne’s early poetry. His understanding of love from the perspective of a protestant preacher reveals much about the anti-Christian sentiments and of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. A close analysis of Donne’s poem, “Love’s Alchemy” and of the film “When Harry Met Sally” reveals the strength behind Donne’s idea that sex is the end goal in relationships and that true love is physical.

In the first two lines of “Love’s Alchemy” Donne sets up his attack on platonic love when he compares it to the unsuccessful results of alchemy. The words “deeper digged love’s mine” (1) creates the association between platonic love and alchemy. The mine represents both the physical mine in which we find base metals, and secondly the spiritual mine in which we find love. For Donne, the idea of platonic love is as worthless as the metals pulled from the mine – and much like the alchemist cannot turn it into gold, the Platonist will never turn his idea into true love. The metaphor of depth implies a direction inward, mainly into one’s soul. The “centric happiness” (2) of the next line reinforces the idea of inner digging; the center of the soul is where Platonists believe love to be. Another interpretation of the mine demonstrates how digging deep is necessary for love; since alchemy never produces gold, the on...

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...this way could represent how this notion of love plagues society and that it is an enemy we must unite against. The speaker also warns against the inevitable loss of these qualities should platonic love be pursued “for this vain bubble’s shadow pay?” (14) The use of the word “pay” likens the pursuit of platonic love to crime in which the guilty person must pay a fine. The image of the bubble on the other hand represents fragility and transparency which means that these are characteristics of platonic love. The concept of platonic love as fragile and transparent is also present in “When Harry Met Sally”. Initially when Harry tells his friend about his platonic relationship with Sally, his friend is unconvinced. This reaction is justified because near the end of the film, the platonic relationship dissipates and they have sex which eventually leads to marriage.