The game of love essay

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Love is defined as the feel of tender affection for somebody (Encarta Dictionary). In the olden days, love had always been bounded by many rules set by the court of love in France. These rules are both approved and disapproved by different characters of the era. The wife of Bath both approves and disapproves the 4 laws through her 5 lovers; Sir Gawain both approves and disapproves the laws through his Knight’s honor code. However, in our globalized world, people consider love as liberal and not dictated by laws.
I believe that the four rules of Courtly love from the middle ages are concepts that can still be applied in the modern society. Originally, these rules were made for a successful marriage that was perceived as one that brought financial advantages to the participant and their families. During that era, love was unrelated as many marriages are arranged marriages. Despite the origin of the courtly love, it provides us good concepts about love and romance. The first rule stated that “No one can be bound by a double love”. This law tells us about the belief that humans shall only have one love and not do polygamy. Unfortunately, this phrase disagreed with the Islamic laws as they permitted one man to marry four women. In contrast, Christians believed that there can only be one love for humans as love is brought together by God and that it is inseparable by humans. Even though there are different views regarding this issue, I agree with having only one life companion. Having one life companion allows us to have less financial and moral burden of supporting the family and therefore, making our lives better. Another law stated that “the easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of love makes it prized”. This ...

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...ight would not want to dishonor his knight’s code as to marrying the lady. Therefore, the belief and hope that the lady will love her husband again leads to a conclusion that love is always reviving despite the barriers faced. Overall, the Knight agrees on most of the Courtly laws rule and has contradictory views about love with the Wife of Bath. Courtly love is a moral test for the Knight which he must endure.
In conclusion, the idea of courtly love has its Christian centrality. Even though it is not widely used today, the law presents good ideas about the topic of love and romance. The Wife of Bath both approves and disapproves the laws through her 5 lovers while Sir Gawain both approves and disproves the laws through his Knight’s honor code. We can have different opinions about courtly love and we can choose whether to agree with the Wife of Bath or the Knight.

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