Siddhartha Love

In Siddhartha, love plays a changing role. Siddhartha, the main character, is on a quest to find enlightenment. Throughout the story, he learns to reject the love of his father and the Buddha, experience physical love with Kamala, and learn what real love is, through his son. Siddhartha began his journey to find freedom from the things of the world. Later in the story, however, he comes to the understanding that love is a part of the world he lives in. Everyone is a part of the world, and if one hopes to attain Nirvana they must learn to accept love.

In the beginning of Siddhartha, Siddhartha was going through life under the guidance of Brahmans including his father. His father was happy with the speed with which his son learned, and foresaw him becoming a great Brahman. Siddhartha, however, was not happy. "Siddhartha knew many venerable Brahmans, chiefly his father, … but even he, who knew so much, did he have peace, was he not also just a searching man" (Hesse 8)? To him, it seemed as if the Brahmans had given him all of their wisdom. This wisdom was not enough to make him happy. As a result, Siddhartha decided that he wanted to become a Samana, searching for himself through self-denial. Siddhartha's father loved him dearly, but this

Here he met Kamala whom he made love with. As time went on, he became a rich merchant, learning about human problems such as gambling and drinking. As his relationship with Kamala continued, Kamala asked why Siddhartha loves nobody, not even her. Siddhartha responds by saying, "I am like you. You also do not love - how else could you practice love as a craft? Perhaps, people of our kind can not love. The childlike people can, that is their secret" (Hesse 62). Siddhartha was incapable of giving or receiving genuine love because he removed himself from the world. He decides that he must move on if he wants to achieve enlightenment. This is the third time Siddhartha rejects