Courtly Love Analysis

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A Conversation of Courtly and Romantic Love

Marie: Tell me, is yours a story of romantic love or courtly love?

Francesca: Mine is a story of romantic love; of passion and lustfulness.

Marie: Go on, please.

Francesca: I had been married to Gianciotto, an old and deformed man. As time went on, I began to fall for Gianciotto’s younger brother, Paolo. One day, Paolo and I sat reading from a book when we came across a rather intense romantic scene. We got caught up in the heat of the moment, and ended up kissing.

Marie: And then?

Francesca: We were swept away by the passion of the moment. It wasn’t long after that my husband learned of the affair. He quickly had us both killed for our lustful actions.

Marie: Ah, yes, such was the fate of the lover in “Yonec.” …show more content…

Marie: An older man locked his younger bride away for fear that she would not be faithful. After prayers to God, a bird flew into her tower, and transformed into the knight Muldumarec. He reveals to her that he had long loved her from afar. At long last, the two become lovers. When the older man finds out, her kills Muldumarec.

Francesca: Is this love courtly or romantic?

Marie: The love that the woman shared with Muldumarec was courtly. He was a knight that loved her from afar,

Francesca: Romantic love is lustful, but I feel death is too harsh a crime.

Marie: There must be consequences to romantic love, for it has such disastrous effect on marriage.

Francesca: But the young woman and her lovers love was proper it seemed? So then does courtly love not also has a disastrous affect?

Marie: This is true, they are a man and woman, and she had been deprived of love previous to meeting her lover. It is also true that marriage is no real excuse for not loving.

Francesca: If their love was proper, then the death of the lover was

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