Literary Analysis of Courtly Love and Romantic Love Term Paper

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Courtly Love in Contrast to Romantic Love

There is much controversy with regard to the idea of love and perhaps one of the best ways to address the concept would be to consider the wide range of romance texts written throughout the years. While generally used in similar contexts, the idea of love can be seen differently by individuals depending on their perspectives and the environments they are present in. Courtly love, for example, can be very different from romantic love when considering the elements present in each of the two genres. The former concentrates on the idea of a beloved woman being carefully addressed by her male suitor who will stop at nothing from impressing her with his love. In contrast, romantic love involves much more logic and both the suitor and the woman he is attempting to court have a complex understanding of their position and their limitations.

Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll House provides a glimpse into the lives of people who love each-other but are fueled by their tendency to act in agreement with social norms. The central characters in the play, Nora and Torvald, seem to have deep feelings for each-other and demonstrate this through various sacrifices they make in order for their relationship to stay strong. Nora emphasizes her love for Torvald at the time when she decides to take a loan without providing too many details regarding how she received help. Similarly, Torvald is unhesitant about supporting his wife's choices and expresses little to no objections regarding her purchases in spite of the fact that he is obviously thinking about the financial effect they would have on their home.

Ibsen take on love is certainly intriguing when considering the fact that the play was written in the late nineteenth century when it was still very common for women to be discriminated. The playwright provided the world with the opportunity to observe an intelligent woman leaving her husband as a consequence of observing how she could live a better life on her own. The idea of better in this situation does not necessarily relate to financial security, as it mainly focuses on a lifestyle where an individual is not seen by his or her counterpart as inferior. This is exactly the case with Nora, as Torvald constantly reminded her that he had a very limited understanding of how the world functioned and considered that it was perfectly normal for her to treat her as a child who solely depended on him. It would be safe to say that Ibsen was the first person to write a feminist play, as it is very likely that Nora's character influenced a great deal of women through time to reconsider their lives and to attempt to improve them.

William Shakespeare's 1603 play Othello similarly shows women in a position where they are considered little more than objects. The play describes an episode involving Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army as he becomes lovers with Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian Senator. The relationship is problematic from the very start, as Desdemona's father, Brabantio is against it on grounds that he cannot accept his daughter marrying a Moorish individual, in spite of the fact that he is a general in his state's army. A good example of how her father perceives her is his attitude when he realizes there's no way that he can interfere with the relationship:

"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see.

She has deceived her father, and may thee." (Othello: Act 1, Scene 3, Page 12)

Brabantio's attitude demonstrates the degree to which Desdemona has a say in the overall state of affairs. When comparing the two plays, one is likely to observe that the idea of love is (albeit seemingly more boring) more serious in Ibsen's play. The characters in A Doll House seem to have a complex understanding of their roles. Even with the fact that Torvald is convinced that it is only because of his authority that Nora is able to live well, Ibsen does not refrain from emphasizing the series of elements empowering each of his characters. Ibsen's play is certainly dramatic, but this does not mean that characters are unable to understand the complexity of their lives.

Shakespeare's portrayal of courtly love is, to a certain degree, one-dimensional, as he appears to introduce a lot more drama into his play. While both plays have a great deal of suspense, Othello is designed to have audiences better acquainted with the passion in characters rather than the logic in their thinking.

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All characters in the play seem to be fuelled by their passion instead of trying to think through situations they come across. This is one of the reasons why most of them fail in their attempts to achieve happiness. Their love takes control of their minds and they are influenced to do everything in their power in order to achieve their goals, even if this means they have to resort to immoral behaviors.

Nora is also guilty of engaging in immoral behaviors, but in her case things are different because she does so for the greater good. She is well aware of the consequences of her actions and considers the time it would take her to raise the money she loaned. In a way, her action can be considered a white lie -- hence the absurdity in Torvald's thinking when he learns about her forging a signature. To a certain degree, it would seem that Torvald's persona is characteristic to one of Shakespeare's plays: he cannot possibly accept an illegality regardless of circumstances, he feels that women are dependent on men, and he is overwhelmed with emotions when he realizes the critical condition he is in as Nora leaves him.

Some might be inclined to believe that the seriousness in Ibsen's play takes away much of the romance. Furthermore, Nora's journey of self-discovery contributes to this idea as audiences might be inclined to focus on her character than on the love in the play. Even with this, upon an in-depth analysis of the play, one is probable to realize that Nora's love for Torvald is greater than the love shown in many plays dominated by the concept of courtly love. Nora was determined to help Torvald recover and she risked greatly in order to do so. Also, she attempted to take his attention away from his disease by having him focus on things that he identified with his life -- she influences him to believe that the journey to Italy is mainly due to her interest in travelling rather than because of his condition. "I told him how much I should love to travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and entreaties with him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition I was in, and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even hinted that he might raise a loan." (Ibsen) The only reason why Nora resorted to forging a signature was the fact that Torvald could not accept having to be put in a vulnerable position (from a social point-of-view). Instead of agreeing to make a loan, he indirectly forced Nora to perform an illegality as a consequence of her love for him.

Courtly love promotes the idea of chivalry with the purpose of emphasizing man's determination to act in agreement with what he considers to be noble. By introducing courtly love in their texts, playwrights managed to provide audiences with the ability to see the efforts that some people would be willing to go through in order to be loved by their courtesans.

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" shows knights Palamon and Arcite falling in love with Princess Emily from the very first moment they see her. Chaucer adds to this feeling by having readers take on a first-person view into the amazement that the two knights feel when they see Emily:

"Emilie, that fairer was to see

Than is the lily upon his stalk green,

And fresher than the May with flowers new,

(For with the rose colour strove her hue,

I know not which is finer of them two.)" (Chaucer)

It is actually intriguing to observe how Chaucer goes beyond describing Emily as a beautiful woman, as he goes at showing her as having an almost unnatural beauty. To a certain degree it seems that the two knights fall in love with her as a result of a spell rather than because they feel she is attractive.

The way that Chaucer shows Emily once again contributes to the idea of courtly love by introducing elements of love at first sight. The tale addresses love as a concept that happens instantly and it seems there is little thinking behind it. The two knights are unhesitant about doing everything in their power to get Emily's love in spite of the fact that it is obvious that there are serious risks associated with the act. The….....

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