Comparing Candide, Cervantes Don Quixote, And

Three Works of Three Loves

Love is heavily intertwined with being human. Indeed, everyone doubtlessly experiences some form of love in their life, be it towards objects or people. This love is organized into three types; eros, philos, and agape. Eros, likely the most common kind of love in western culture, denotes sexual desire, or lust. Philos covers love among friends, or love for the purpose to gain something. Agape, the rarest of all, encapsulates selfless love, or the willingness to die for another. All forms are present within the three works, Voltaire’s Candide, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, albeit in differing levels.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight features all three types of love, the strongest among them being eros. From the beginning, there is a flash of agape between Gawain and his king, Arthur. When Arthur is prepared to take the Green Knight’s challenge in the opening, Gawain steps up in face of possibly deadly consequences (734). Also, Philos makes a quick appearance in the friendly relationship between Gawain and Lord Bertilak, although the latter is

revealed to be the Green Knight. However, eros takes the most prominent spot, between Gawain and Lady Bertilak. Laced ingeniously with scenes of actual hunting, Lady Bertilak feels tremendous lust for Gawain, hunting him in her own way. She even challenges his manhood, “Why, are you, whom all men honor, actually ignorant…?” (759). On the other hand, while Gawain feels great attraction for Lady Bertilak, he tries his hardest to thwart her attempts at seduction. This eros leads directly to Sir Gawain’s greatest failure, accepting the brooch but refusing to give it to Lord Bertilak, dishonoring their deal to give each other what they find during the daytime.
Just like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Don Quixote features all three forms of love, although philos and agape take the strongest point. Eros is prominent in the famous scene with the shepherdess Marcela, with several men feeling eros for her. Nonetheless, the relationship between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza takes the center of the novel. It begins with philos, as Sancho seeks to gain something from this relationship, namely an island. “Your Grace should not forget that island you promised me” (Cervantes 412). Sancho’s greed is further explored upon when he attempts attain loot multiple times in their adventures. Nevertheless, their philos evolves into agape as Sancho spends more time with Don Quixote. He starts to adopt Don Quixote’s form of speech, and is the first to jump to his friend’s aid when Don Quixote gets hurt. Granted, Sancho retains much of his cowardice, his love for Don Quixote becomes rather selfless. In fact, Sancho stays with his friend until Don Quixote sadly passes away.
As with the other works, Voltaire’s Candide displays every sort of love.

Eros is the most powerful in this work, overshadowing the others by a large margin. Of course, this eros does turn to philos in the end. Agape makes a slight appearance with the anabaptist, but this is most likely explained with Voltaire’s deep appreciation for anabaptists. However, the most explored relationship is between Cunegonde and Candide, which is strictly eros for massive portions of the novel. “He found Cunegonde exceedingly pretty” (Candide 101) basically sums up the extent of their relationship. Whenever Candide recalls Cunegonde, it is generally alongside him describing her beauty in some way. Yet, in the end, Candide no longer wants to marry Cunegonde when she loses her looks. Their relationship is segregated completely to philos, only marrying out of Candide’s promise to

her.
Interestingly enough, the three works only display agape, the deepest form of love, between men. Wherever women are involved, the love is generally eros, only once evolving into philos. Philos is the least prominent in the three books, making the largest appearance in Don Quixote. But, however how small or large the appearance, all three forms of love stand in all three of these works in multiple different combinations.