Love in literature. Love has been and is a constant motive for literary creation, as well as for many other manifestations of culture . We find it both in myths and legends of antiquity, as well as in contemporary literary works; in musical, pictorial and sculptural expressions from different periods, such as in philosophical texts, in movies, television series, in song lyrics, in short, in multiple and diverse products of culture
Summary
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- 1 Various contexts of love
- 1 Love in literature
- 2 Classification of love according to literature
- 3 Sensuality or idealization
- 4 Images
- 5 Source
Various contexts of love
The love is frequent reference in discussions of human beings in what they write often it said that almost without exception everyone we have ever written or poem or a love letter or at least an expressive note of that feeling.
Love is also a frequent subject of internal dialogues, of the confidences that are made between friends, of the consultations that psychologists, doctors or specialists in affective issues receive. And it is that the feeling and love experience, in the immense variety of its manifestations, are decisive in human existence, an expression of the desire to go beyond the limits of our individuality, to project ourselves on the other, to merge and be one with him. Love is a complex experience that is often ineffable, that resists the analysis of reason and that has given rise, in the field of artistic creation, to various forms and ways of representing and expressing it.
Love in literature
As a mythical figure, Eros and Cupid provide some of the symbols with which love is still referred to: bows, arrows, blindfolds, darts, torches with which the mischievous child inflames the hearts of mortals, also conceived, the Orphic cosmogony , as the force that emerges from the egg of the infinite Night that, when breaking, gives rise to Heaven and Earth, love is represented as the center of the Universe , the nucleus of unity, the principle of regeneration and life, a cosmic force that brings everything together, an irresistible power that can lead mortals to great disasters or to the fullness of happiness and personal fulfillment.
As a literary theme, the works of tradition give us the thousand faces of love, which correspond to various variants of the two types or conceptions of love that dominate in western love literature : that of passion or sensual love and that of love. idealization of love and the loved one, both associated with other great literary themes such as time, finitude, death, transcendence, the human longing for infinity, the search for unity, which completes being, the longing for happiness and fullness, the experience of loneliness, pain, suffering due to impossibility, absence, separation from the loved one, in short, the whole range of aspects and dimensions of interiority that are unleashed and flow under the influence of loving feelings .
Love literature thus becomes a siege to that complex affective experience that is so difficult to express, that seems to resist the power of the word to express it and that, nevertheless, has produced some of the most beautiful and significant works of literature. universal.
Throughout history it has been loved differently; understand, different historical-cultural visions of love towards the other or the same sex have been produced. Until the Renaissance , love was the concept of an ideal; Virtue and beauty were the mirror of the woman, an idealized woman. Dante’s Beatrice or Petrarch’s Laura. In the 18th century , love is not just a matter of the most favored classes, it is an inner quality for which all men are qualified. It is with Romanticismwhen a model begins to take shape that continues to this day; where everything is allowed: The chain conquests of the 18th century, platonic love, furtive love, the destroyer, and how many ways the lover can think of.
Classification of love according to literature
- Impossible love: Refers to love that cannot be realized due to external situations that condition it. Some representative works of this type of love are “Tristán and Isolda”, “The misadventures of young Werther” and ” Love in the time of cholera ” ( Gabriel García Márquez ). Romance – Is it one of a kind, usually with epic story. Problems usually speak of love heroes. It is filled with twists and turns, unexpected complications, often wonderful, fantastic events. This species originates from late antiquity and the romance flower falls into the decline of the Middle Ages. The legend of “Tristan and Isolde” is one of the most beautiful stories of love and destiny. This is a very old song, they can be found in the threads of the Celtic, Welsh and Irish applications. The most popular was in France, where it obtained extensive character.
- Idealized love: Perfect and unattainable love where there is no carnal contact. In it, allusion is made to those love relationships that are conceived as a legitimate way to approach beauty, good or God, that is, happiness and thus transcend within this conception, the loved one is understood as a beautiful and noble be of devotion and worship. The idealization is generated on how love should be, how the loved one should be. Examples of this type are “The ingenious hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha”. Throughout the entire work, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, a romantic attitude towards medieval ideals is observed in the protagonist, which contrasts markedly with the Renaissance thought of the time. His sense of honor and idealized love, characteristic of any knight errant, they cause laughter in any contemporary character. However, although Don Quixote seems an extravagant insane, could he not be the last character who tries to defend values, which although they seem outdated, defend the human being as a noble person that he is by nature? Who is crazier, the one who defends their rights and ideals above all else, or who lets them play with their freedoms and adapts to the situation, however oppressive it may be? Perhaps we should think about whether the misguided are the majority or the rare. the one who defends their rights and ideals above all else or who lets them play with their freedoms and adapts to the situation no matter how oppressive it may be? Perhaps we should think about whether the misguided are the majority or the rare. the one who defends their rights and ideals above all else or who lets them play with their freedoms and adapts to the situation no matter how oppressive it may be? Perhaps we should think about whether the misguided are the majority or the rare.
- Tyrantlove: Love is associated with freedom, in this sense, tyrant love is one that deprives a being of their freedom. An example of this category is the work of H. Ibsen, ” Dollhouse .” The Protagonist is the actor who plays the main role in a play and the one who takes the action forward. In general, the protagonists in a play are male, especially at the time when “Dollhouse” was written (1879), in Norway , a place where society was totally macho, as in the rest of Europe. But Henrik Ibsen, aware of this fact, says: “ Our society is male, and until it enters it, women will not be human.”And even writes this play, which features a female figure. This fact and her behavior throughout the play were a scandal for society and a revolution for the women of the time, who took Nora as a model of a modern and free woman. The society of the time had a very wrong idea of what was the role of women in the family and even in society; they passed from the hands of the parents directly to that of their husbands, without having any freedom. This is why the book ” Dollhouse ” by Henrik Ibsen is conceived as a tyrant love, a revolution for society and Nora a role model.
- Sensual love: It implies loving passion; relationships in which physical attraction and the enjoyment of bodily beauty stimulate feeling. This is also understood as the physical possession and union of lovers. Its characteristics are manifested in the implication of the desire for complete fusion with the other person, its exclusivity and, on certain occasions, in expressing deceptive forms of love. An example of this category is the work by Tirso de Molina, “The Trickster of Seville or Stone Guest.” Tirso de Molina creates in this work the myth of Don Juan Tenorio, who would later recreate great writers from all over the world. It is a clear, effective and perfectly focused religious-philosophical drama on its subject. It describes the adventures of a conqueror and libertine Spanish knight, who amuses himself by abandoning women after “enjoying” them after having promised them marriage or after taking the place of the man they expected. Every time his servant, his father or any other character reproaches him for his behavior and tells him that even if he gets away with his outrages God will make him pay for it after death, Don Juan Tenorio responds cynically “How long do you trust me!” which becomes a leitmotif of the work. The exemplary ending describes how don Juan is punished. phrase that becomes a leitmotif of the work. The exemplary ending describes how don Juan is punished. phrase that becomes a leitmotif of the work. The exemplary ending describes how don Juan is punished.
- Courteous love: It is characterized by taking from feudalism the conception of the lady as a sometimes inflexible and cruel lord, who must be respected and served. The lady is full of perfections and is morally superior to man, she is the faithful reflection of the supreme heavenly beauty, compared to the Virgin Mary. It may or may not correspond to love. If it corresponds, it implies concrete erotic enjoyment as a reward for love. Love must be difficult and secret. The wife and mother is revered by her husband, but is often the ardent lover of another man. An example of this category is the story of Paolo and Francesca illustrated by Dante Alighieri in his “Divine Comedy”
- Reciprocal love: Corresponds to mutual love between lovers. However, the fact that it is reciprocated does not mean that it is free from difficulties. In this category can be included works such as “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare and even “The Iliad” by Homer, since reciprocal love will be accompanied by some nuance of conflict so that the work acquires originality.
- Tragic love:It is characterized by the fatality of an irrepressible and forbidden love. The characters surrender to forces greater than those they cannot resist. The couple is prey to the games of destiny and cannot go against it. Tragic fate, rival families, loneliness and death are recurring elements. An example of this type is “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. Passion, hatred and death are the themes that surround this story in order to reflect on forgiveness and realize that love overcomes any obstacle. It is a love story made in 1597. Currently, the definition of love in our society is not accompanied by romanticism, therefore, it is difficult to understand how pure and true affection, passion and joy are present in such a short time, a single night at a party where a couple of boys meet and swear eternal love: Romeo and Juliet .
Sensuality or idealization
Through the development of the literature on love, as well as in the evolution of other cultural expressions, we discovered that there are at least two basic conceptions, that of “sensual love” and “idealized love”
What can be caused this?
In order to answer this question, we must not ignore the social context of the times to which we are approaching, the different conceptions of love, the love object, women and men and their roles in the plane of love and love. love relationship. Don Quixote and his “peerless” Dulcinea del Toboso.
While sensual, erotic or passionate love manifests itself in reciprocated, happy, tyrant, possessive or liberating love; Idealized love is one that considers that its senses are not capable of perceiving all the perfection of the loved object, and that it must be guided by the eyes of the soul, which put it in contact with the same essence, with the love par excellence. Both conceptions correspond to different variants of the two types or conceptions of love that dominate in western love literature: that of love. sensual or passion and that of the idealization of love and the loved one, both associated with great literary themes such as time, finiteness, death, transcendence, the human desire for infinity and transcendence, the search for unity and completion of being, the longing for happiness and fulfillment, the experience of society, pain, suffering due to impossibility, absence, separation from the loved one, in short, the whole range of aspects and dimensions of interiority that are unleashed and they flow under the influence of loving feeling.
