Symbolism and Love

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Symbolism is used by many authors and poets to portray the underlying themes of their works. A literary symbol is something that is used to represent something else. The use of symbolism can help the reader infer a much deeper message that is not seen by the naked eye. This literary device is used by Marie de France in “Laustic” and by Shakespeare in “Othello”. These two pieces of work both have true love between two characters, as well as a constant battle to live out this love because of extenuating circumstances that are present. In Laustic and Othello Marie de France and Shakespeare use symbolism to help portray the underlying themes of true love and the struggle for love.

True love exists in both “Othello” and “Laustic”. In both of these pieces of work, however, this love is constantly under conflict by outside forces. In “Laustic”, a knight who is very well thought of for his correctness shares adjoining houses with another knight who is known for his bravery and heroism. The wife of the more thought of knight shares an undying love with the other knight. Their love can’t be shared with each other because of the marriage that the knight and woman have and because of the closeness of the two houses. The two can only see each other from their bedroom windows when the husband falls asleep at night. Here, they would occasionally exchange gifts and stare at each other dreaming of their love. She uses the excuse that she stands by the window so that can she listen to the nightingale sing. Without the singing of the nightingale, she would have no reason to be standing by the window and thus would not be able to see her true beloved. Marie de France symbolism of the singing of the nightingale can be seen as symbolizing the grea...

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...eanings to achieve what cannot be seen by the naked eye. Shakespeare and Marie de France use the literary device known as symbolism to portray the underlying themes of the struggle for love and true love that is present in their pieces of literature.

Works Cited

Ross, Lawerence J. "The Meaning of Strawberries in Shakespeare." Studies in the Renaissance 7 (1960): 225-40. JSTOR. Web. 11 Dec. 2010.

Andrews, Michael C. "The Handkerchief Once More." Studies in English Literature 2nd ser. 13 (1973): 273-84. JSTOR. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.

Sutton, Brian. “A Different Kind of the Same Thing”: Marie de France’s Laustic and Glaspell’s Trifles.” Explicator 66.3(2008): 170-174. Acadaemic Search Premier. EBSC. Web. 4. Nov.

Lawall, Sarah N., and Maynard Mack. "Lanval." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 1500-1650. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.

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