Ever wondered how love can bring you happiness and pain and make you sane and crazy at the same time. How this emotion can change you and make you accept things you are not used to. How this emotion can overpower you in many ways in which you did not know existed. In Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes, the power of love is a commanding driving force that can dominate a person’s mind, body, and soul and one who is courageous enough to love sometimes undergoes serious consequences. Consequences that are driven from the power of love that harm and cause hardship to the one who is determined to seek love.
This is depicted by Lancelot “the knight of the carts,” underlying love of King Arthur’s Queen Guinevere. His love start as Queen Guinevere is taken captive by Meleagant, and knights are challenged to rescue her. The first indication of his love for Guinevere is when he requests to leave because she would no longer be near, and he wants King Arthur to entrust her to him in order for him to stay. On foot and without his lance, Lancelot sought after a cart that was made for criminals to continue on his quest for Guinevere. As stated on pg. 17, “he would regret this moment of hesitation and be accused and shame for it,” but he puts his pride aside so he can continue. Although his honor is at stake, no reason could sway his love for Guinevere. Also, page 19 states, “but love, which held sway within his heart, urged and commanded him to climb into the cart at once. Love wished it, and he jumped in, the shame mattered not to him since love rules his action.” That shows his love for Guinevere is real, and nothing would prevent him from getting to her even if it shames him and makes him look bad. For the love, he has for Guinevere; Lancelot was ...
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...lf by continuing to live. She exemplifies the power of love in her own way. In lines 4285-4292, it shows Lancelot’s attempt to end his life because of the news that his love has passed. His love for Guinevere is so powerful that he gives no thought to continuing his life in pain and agony because he knows he would be able to bear the thought of living when his love herself is gone. Lancelot and Guinevere both have different intentions on showing their love for one another. Love is one of the utmost spoken and written words of all times, one of the most unexplained mysteries of the human feelings. Therefore, the power of love is mind boggling, and even though it brings happiness and joy at the same time it can bring pain and sorrow and should never be underestimated.
Works Cited
Kibler, William W. Chrétien de Troyes: Lancelot. New York [u.a.: Garland, 1981. Print.
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
Numerous sources, such as Layamon's "Arthur's Dream", Marie de France's "Lanval" and Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, portray Guinevere as a unfaithful wife and the primary cause of the fall of King Arthur and The Round Table. In all of the three works, Guinevere is seen approaching various men such as Lanval and Sir Lancelot, knights of her husband. And, yet, she remains virtuous and appealing in the eyes of King Arthur, who loves her dearly. Such blindness or possibly Arthur's unconditional love of Guinevere and Lancelot, Arthur's best knight, lead to the fall of Arthur's Britain and of the Round Table.
To begin, Guenever manipulates Lancelot’s feelings. She is the majority of his problems and dilemmas. Lancelot tries not to betray Arthur’s trust and save his virtue, but his love for Guenever is making his decisions that much harder. She would tell him to “’Come back soon’” (340) and leave as she pleased. It affects Lancelot’s ability to maintain his integrity, because Guenever is confusing him, by giving him mixed signals. She makes him think about going against Christianity and the idea of chivalry, two things that he lives by. “You have won him, and you have broken him. What will you do with him next?” said Elaine (396). Lancelot is confused and he can’t focus on anything other than Guenever, no matter where he is. She is breaking him down emotionally, to the extent where he starts hating himself for loving her. Then, when Guenever finds out about Lancelot and Elaine sleeping together in her castle, she goes ballistic. “’Get out of my castle,’ screamed the queen at the top of her voice. ‘Never show your face in it again, your evil, ugly, beastlike face,’” (395). Having his beloved say this to him causes him to lose it, leading him to jump out of the window. No one knew what happened to him. A couple of years later when Lancelot was living with Elaine, the mother of his child...
The Lais of Marie de France is a compilation of short stories that delineate situations where love is just. Love is presented as a complex emotion and is portrayed as positive, while at other times, it is portrayed as negative. The author varies on whether or not love is favorable as is expressed by the outcomes of the characters in the story, such as lovers dying or being banished from the city. To demonstrate, the author weaves stories that exhibit binaries of love. Two distinct types of love are described: selfish and selfless. Love is selfish when a person leaves their current partner for another due to covetous reasons. Contrarily, selfless love occurs when a lover leaves to be in a superior relationship. The stark contrast between the types of love can be analyzed to derive a universal truth about love.
In this romance, there is a battle between reason and love. Both try to thwart the paths of the other. When love is taking control, there is always a sense of reason that prevents Lancelot from doing what he wants, and when reason has the better of him, love makes him go in a different direction. Reason is the logical explanation behind each action taken or decision made by Lancelot. Love is the attraction that Lancelot feels for Gweneviere and it has a way of pushing aside reason, when he tries to make a judgment. These two elements are almost the devil and angel inside of Lancelot. Neither one can be described as good or bad, but can be considered opposites of each other. Also, most times, love is a stronger trait in Lancelot than the process of thought and reason.
Love is often misconstrued as an overwhelming force that characters have very little control over, but only because it is often mistaken for the sum of infatuation and greed. Love and greed tread a blurred line, with grey areas such as lust. In simplest terms, love is selfless and greed is selfish. From the agglomeration of mythological tales, people deduce that love overpowers characters, even that it drives them mad. However, they would be wrong as they would not have analyzed the instances in depth to discern whether or not the said instance revolves around true love. Alone, true love help characters to act with sound reasoning and logic, as shown by the tales of Zeus with his lovers Io and Europa in Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.
A life changing journey is taken as Jean Valjean, Cosette and Marius feel the emotion of love and learn to cope with its effects. Each character soon realizes that the effects of love are very powerful. Happiness, self-confidence, and depression are all found during the enduring journey. Studies have proven that, “...without love we die...” (B). Jean Valjean, Cosette, and Marius realize that they can not survive without experiencing the profound effects of love.
Lanval, a handsome knight, falls desperately in love with a beautiful maiden, who grants the knight her love on the condition that he keep their bliss in full secrecy. Upon returning home, Lanval is confronted by Guinevere, who attempts to seduce him . After her initial advances are rejected, the Queen tries a new tactic, attacking Lanval 's masculinity: "I have been told often enough that you have no desire for women. Base coward, wicked recreant, my lord is extremely unfortunate to have suffered you near him. " By questioning Lanval 's worthiness to serve by Arthur, Guinevere is questioning Lanval 's very status as a knight, and once again we see a knightly protagonist put into a hopeless situation as many of his chivalric duties--- courteousness to the Queen, faithfulness to his King, honesty and loyalty to his lover, and defense of his own honor--- are forced into an unresolvable conflict. Lanval defends his honor and honors his King 's trust, but breaks his promise to his lover and grievously insults the Queen: "I love and am loved by a lady who should be prized above all others... you can be sure that one of her servants, even the very poorest girl, is worth more than you, my lady the Queen, in body, face and beauty, wisdom and goodness. " Lanval 's inability to simultaneously commit to all of his knightly responsibilities is comically underscored by his polite hesitation ("my lady the Queen") even
Despite the fact that this lady was supposedly untouchable due to her status as “taken” this man or rather knight made it his mission to win her over or it was his mission to please her. This Knight would go to great lengths sometimes setting into long journeys, battling other knights and going into chivalric adventures in what is known as the other world. This knight or the courtly lover is like a slave to this passionate, romantic love for example in the tale “Le Chevalier de la charrette”, a courtly romance whose hero obeys every imperious and unreasonable demand of the heroine. A slave willing to put his own life at risk in order to show his love and passion for this one woman. For example, In “Lancelot, the Knight of Cart” Lancelot first part is a physical quest though driven by love, the knight tries to rescue Guinevere. However, once he finds her, he does not stop, he continued to quest in order to deserve her love. Even after they consummate their relationship in the tower, he must continue to do her bidding, suggesting that the quest for love never ceases. We see this untouchable love through his love and adulterous feelings for the queen, Lady Guinevere, this lady made untouchable through her marriage to King
In The Lais of Marie de France, the theme of love is conceivably of the utmost importance. Particularly in the story of Guigemar, the love between a knight and a queen brings them seemingly true happiness. The lovers commit to each other an endless devotion and timeless affection. They are tested by distance and are in turn utterly depressed set apart from their better halves. Prior to their coupling the knight established a belief to never have interest in romantic love while the queen was set in a marriage that left her trapped and unhappy. Guigemar is cursed to have a wound only cured by a woman’s love; he is then sent by an apparent fate to the queen of a city across the shores. The attraction between them sparks quickly and is purely based on desire, but desire within romantic love is the selfishness of it. True love rests on a foundation that is above mere desire for another person. In truth, the selfishness of desire is the
Ultimately`, William Shakespeare shows in many different ways throughout the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, that love is the more powerful force than hate. The readers see how the characters continuously forgive one another, even when the conditions are tough. The friendships between specific characters display a loving bond that cannot be broken with hate. Shakespeare demonstrates that Romeo and Juliet’s love can overpower the hate of many events in the play. He shows that their love can even overpower the death of one of their own family members. Romeo and Juliet’s love brings friendship between their feuding families. This story is a true example of how love can conquer all.
In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare shows that love has power to control one’s actions, feelings, and the relationship itself through the bond between a destined couple. The passion between the pair grew strong enough to have the capability to do these mighty things. The predestined newlyweds are brought down a rocky road of obstacles learning love’s strength and the meaning of love. The power of love controlled Romeo and Juliet's actions.
Simone de Beauvoir, the author of the novel The Second Sex, was a writer and a philosopher as well as a political activist and feminist. She was born in 1908 in Paris, France to an upper-middle class family. Although as a child Beauvoir was extremely religious, mostly due to training from her mother as well as from her education, at the age of fourteen she decided that there was no God, and remained an atheist until she died. While attending her postgraduate school she met Jean Paul Sartre who encouraged her to write a book. In 1949 she wrote her most popular book, The Second Sex. This book would become a powerful guide for modern feminism. Before writing this book de Beauvoir did not believe herself to be a feminist. Originally she believed that “women were largely responsible for much of their own situation”. Eventually her views changed and she began to believe that people were in fact products of their upbringing. Simone de Beauvoir died in Paris in 1986 at the age of 78.
Queen Guinevere does not find pleasure in the male company. Love, the only benefit she could reap from men is given no room. Guinevere’s preference for Sir Lancelot creates animosity amongst the Knights of the Round Table. Her illegitimate affair is resented by Sir Modred as betrayal. The latter’s concealed jealousy towards Sir Lancelot turns into an open demonstration of loyalty to the King Arthur and eventually to unprecedented war.
Love has been expressed since the beginning of time; since Adam and Eve. Each culture expresses its love in its own special way. Though out history, though, it’s aspect has always been the same. Love has been a major characteristic of literature also. One of the most famous works in literary history is, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This story deals with the love of a man and a woman who’s families have been sworn enemies. There love surpassed the hatred in which the families endured for generations. In the end they both ended up killing their selves, for one could not live without the other. This story is a perfect example of true love.