Courtly Love

1354 Words3 Pages

Courtly Love

“‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” (Miriam-Webster 253). This quote has been used for centuries as both persuasion in favor of loving and also as comfort in times of heartbreak and loss. However, is this statement completely true, or does it offer false hope to anguishing lovers? In fact, are the rules and costs of loving and being loved so great that in fact it is actually better to never have loved at all? When pondering these questions, one must first consider the rules of loving and being loved to determine the physical, emotional, and psychological costs they entail. In order to do so, one could use Andreas Capellanus’ The Art of Courtly Love as a guideline for the rules of love. During the Medieval time period, Andreas Capellanus compiled a list of thirty-one rules/characteristics of courtly love. By definition, courtly love is “a highly conventionalized code of conduct for lovers” (American Heritage Dictionary). Capellanus constructed his list in order to provide a guide for those seeking love and those who already find themselves in love to determine if what they are looking for or already have found is indeed true love. The ideas/rules laid out in Capellanu’s list cannot only be found in the literature of the Medieval times, but in many cases are the driving theme behind these works. The same holds true for modern pieces of literature based on the medieval time period, however none more prominently than Sigrid Undset’s Noble Prize winning Kristin Lavransdatter. The story re-creates the historical setting vividly in order to enlighten readers as to the lifestyles, social configuration, and political operations of the medieval times by chronicling the life and c...

... middle of paper ...

... action of the characters within the story, the requirements of love are nothing excessive or even difficult. The characters carry on normal everyday lives and it is these normal actions that constitute love. Consequently, “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” (Miriam-Webster 253).

Works Cited

- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

- Medieval Sourcebook. Andreas Capellanus: The Art of Courtly Love. Online Available.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/capellanus.html. 28 May 2003.

- The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations. “Love”. Merriam-Webster, Inc:

Springfield, Massachusetts. 1992.

- Undset, Sirgrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. Penguin Books: New York, New York. 1997.

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