In calling love “a serious mental disease,” Plato inspired centuries of authors, doctors, and philosophers. Unlike romantic comedy movies and the Top 40 pop songs chart, which idolize love, literature frequently portrays it as a sickness. Both love and mental illness affect brain chemistry, mood, and behavior. In pieces such as Euripides’ Medea, symptoms of love range from mental illness-like ailments to physical manifestations such as a vanishing appetite, concentration, and apparent sanity. In Longus’ work, love is described as having similar traits. Throughout the story of Daphnis and Chloe’s pastoral romance, love drives both of them mad with longing. Love amplifies their innocent feelings for each other, resulting in a disorienting combination of depression and mania. The affliction goes deeper; their total devotion to each other and pastoral …show more content…
Heart on fire, Daphnis “suddenly looked almost indignant and shivered several times and tried to control his pounding heart; he wanted to look at Chloe, but when he did so he blushed all over” after Chloe kisses him for the first time (Longus 30). On a diagnosis chart, Daphnis’ symptoms are worrisome; he is hot and inflamed, yet shivers as if frozen in fear. Love is being used as a disease and Daphnis’ case is only special in that he does not understand what is happening to him. He even ponders whether Chloe poisoned him with her kiss, so odd is his behavior and feeling. After speaking with Philetas, Daphnis and Chloe reason the pain they feel is the pain of love, and they fervently and amateurishly grab at each other to try Philetas’ “remedies (Longus 49).” By calling their embraces “remedies,” Longus keeps up the pastoral appearance of the relationship, since Daphnis and Chloe are innocent of lust and cuddle solely to temporarily quell the discomfort caused by love, while continuing to refer to love as a
Love has an intoxicating effect on humans. It has the ability to cripple the mind of an individual as they become fixated with undying passion of another individual. Although love can bring pleasure, it can also be a cruel mistress that has the ability to crush one’s soul at a moment’s notice. The negative impacts of love are clearly seen in Virgil’s Aeneid, where we see the love between Aeneas, a Trojan war hero, and Dido, Queen of Carthage, ultimately resulting in the death of Dido after Aeneas is forced to leave Carthage to fulfill his duty. This story and Virgil’s negative interpretation of love are reflected in poet Louise Gluck’s poem “The Queen of Carthage.” In her poem, she attempts to portray to her audience the suffering Dido felt after Aeneas left Carthage. She warns her audience of the dangerous and double-edged nature of love using Dido as an example. Gluck’s use of repetition of key words, parallel structure, syntax and frequent allusions of to convey the risky nature of love.
Love is a supernatural force that unites two beings, whether they are the two most unlikely candidates or childhood friends, and it inspires hope in all. Homer’s The Odyssey is the tale of the epic hero Odysseus on his quest back from the Trojan War, and all the hardships he faces as a result of his decisions. Throughout the course of the book, love plays a large role, and is his fuel to return to Ithaka, his home. There are three types of love are presented in the epic; lust, which is purely sexual and lacks a deeper meaning, family love, such as that displayed between Odysseus and his men, colleagues and Telemakhos, and lastly there is true love, which is shown between Odysseus and Penelope, true love holding the most value and power over all other forms of love.
Love is one of the most indescribable concepts that exist in one’s life experiences. Some argue that love is one of the most important things to have in life, which can shape and mold one’s interpretation of the world. Others may claim that love is an illusion, which serves as a distraction preventing individuals from being enlightened. The interpretation of love could be ambiguous, but the important thing is that love is very powerful and can severely affect an individual’s behavior, expectations in life, and sole responsibilities. Many writers have written about the power of love. Some of these works include, “The Love Suicides at Amijima”, “Death Constant Beyond Love”, and “Gilgamesh”. The most distinctive and comprehensive story involving
Love is a term used daily in one’s life. Many categorize love in many forms. These forms differ from one-another such as the difference between love for food and love for one’s spouse. However, in the play; “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, love takes different forms than the ones experienced in reality. One can classify the different types of love used in this play into three different categories; true love, love produced by cupid’s flower, and the state of lust.
This contrasts both Phaedrus’ and Aristophanes’ descriptions of love. She broadly states that “a lover does not seek the half or whole” unless it is “good” because people will even amputate, or separate, part of their own body if diseased (Sym. 205E). Aristophanes argues “love is the name for our pursuit of wholeness” but Diotima explains this cannot be true if the other half is bad, even if it seems to bring wholeness, such as bodies with a temporary veneer of beauty (Sym. 192E). So, love must be explained by separating it to an upwards trajectory, rising towards the concept of good. Otherwise love is only an impermanent “promise” (Sym. 193D). Therefore, Aristophanes’ lack of separation from the concrete cause love to come from incompleteness and a fallen condition (Dutton Lecture). Likewise, Phaedrus’ speech lacks a removal from the present and therefore fails to explain love’s effects, as seen in his Achilles and Patroclus example. To Phaedrus, Achilles still dying after Patroclus passes is love, for “no one will die for you but a lover” (Sym. 179B). But, Diotima claims this love is unhealthy as it fails to represent the abstract notion of beauty. Since beauty is something to be indirectly experienced, it is unmeasurable and instead “preserves”
The opinion and image that most people have of Eros, the god of love in Greek mythology, often reflect the view and representation that people have for love itself. Since love is such a puzzling matter, people quickly form an ambivalent opinion toward Eros. Robert Bridges and Anne Stevenson reveal these uncertain feelings toward Eros in their poems directed to the Greek god of love through their diction, allowing readers to notice similarities and differences in their works. Although Bridges and Stevenson expose a level of uncertainty and sympathy toward Eros in their poems, both poets different inquisitive interpretations of Eros divulge their true and differing feelings toward
Phaedrus’s regards love as the most virtuous trait, for both the man and the beloved. According to Phaedrus, these relationships can affect the social status of both involved parties. Given how virtuous Love (desire) is to Phaedrus, feeling love towards another will result in behavior that will be regarded as noble. Similarly, this feeling of love can be imparted onto the young beloved, “Love of his own nature infuses into the lover” (Plato, 179a). This view of Love is reinforces the social constructs of this time, as it demonstrates how male-male relations contributed to the perception of both men and boys.
The love story is one of the oldest and most cherished traditions in any world culture. The prevalence of romantic works throughout history, whether Greek myths, Jane Austen’s dramatic narratives, or today’s dime-a-dozen romantic novels, ultimately encourages us to believe in the power of true love. We identify with the archetypal star-crossed lovers, who combat established convention in order to assert their romance, because we too yearn for our own “happily-ever-afters.” When used in conjunction with reason, love is the highest form of compassion – without it, we could not possibly interact productively with one another or develop as individuals. But when we take a new perspective and examine love as an independent,
Shakespeare’s dramas deal with timeless themes such as e.g. love and hate, life and death, in a fairytale-y way, with a pinch of intricate entanglements, in such a way that makes the classical Greek love triangle seem trite. The language in the 400-year-old text is at once lyrical and hard-hitting, providing with a liveliness that still affects the present day reader. Shakespeare’s significance in the history of literature is invaluable, and his style has influenced authors since the 1600s. Not only has his works been a source of inspiration
Psappo’s poetry was the model from which ancient cultures defined love. Her views on love have influenced many works of literature, including The Aeneid of Virgil. Love is an uncontrollable force that strikes an individual from the outside and can occur suddenly as well as unexpectedly. Love is often depicted as a positive emotion that causes people to feel blissful, but this can easily turn into furor; furor is the aspect of love associated with violence and insanity. Dido’s love for Aeneas exemplifies the internal turmoil that afflicts individuals when they are deprived of the love that they crave so ardently. Virgil accomplishes this through the incorporation of the symbol of fire and through the platonic metaphor of the war between
In modern society, love is a buzzing topic. Whether it be true-love or the mushy Valentine’s Day cards, love is all around. Love is something the human mind thrives on, for it creates a sense of calm and peace, thus making it human nature to yearn for love. In literature, there are many “love stories”. William Shakespeare, often called a true expert on love (based on his many plays, sonnets, etc.), has written many of these “love stories”. One of the most well-known stories is Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet, often remarked as one of Shakespeare’s greatest works, is a perfect example of false love. Throughout the course of the play, it is revealed in many ways this is a story of artificial devotion in which Juliet is in love, and Romeo is
Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered as a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies or music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being.
Plato was a philosopher from Classical Greece and an innovator of dialogue and dialect forms which provide some of the earliest existing analysis ' of political questions from a philosophical perspective. Among some of Plato 's most prevalent works is his dialogue the Symposium, which records the conversation of a dinner party at which Socrates (amongst others) is a guest. Those who talk before Socrates share a tendency to celebrate the instinct of sex and regard love (eros) as a god whose goodness and beauty they compete. However, Socrates sets himself apart from this belief in the fundamental value of sexual love and instead recollects Diotima 's theory of love, suggesting that love is neither beautiful nor good because it is the desire to possess what is beautiful, and that one cannot desire that of which is already possessed. The ultimate/primary objective of love as being related to an absolute form of beauty that is held to be identical to what is good is debated throughout the dialogue, and Diotima expands on this description of love as being a pursuit of beauty (by which one can attain the goal of love) that culminates in an understanding of the form of beauty. The purpose of this paper is to consider the speeches presented (i.e. those of Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, and Agathon) in Plato 's Symposium as separate parts that assist in an accounting of the definition and purpose of platonic love.
“The course of true love never did run smooth,” comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love.
The term “Eros,” referring to passionate love in English, has long been the mainstream of themes in drama, literature, arts, and cinematic media. The fascinating power of love has been exhaustively publicized, and the pursuit of love is diffused in streets and lanes. Conversely, in ancient times, many poets, especially Virgil, Ovid and Apuleius, described eros as such an evil spirit that it will destroy the female soul thoroughly, except for the one in Apuleius’ story of Cupid and Psyche. Even if taking into account the historical background of a patriarchal community and therefore the esteemed male dominance, the particular case of Psyche’s surviving and even thriving her encounter with eros