LOVE THROUGH THE AGES

Leah Eggleton

Medieval Era1330-1400

Medieval Era

Women were men's property. They had no individual rights

Religion dominated texts

Courtly love

Divide in social status and wealth

Pilgrimages bought people together as a

community

Parodies of courtly love. Insulted the

poor and humoured the rich

The wealthy and successful married for affluence and opportunity. The poor married for

love.

The Canterbury Tales- ChaucerEpic Poem

Emily- Unattainably chaste. ‘Fairer than fair’. Comparisons to a ‘Lily’- white, purity and innocence. Beauty in a flower.

Palamon- ‘Sorrowful prisoner’. Courtly love means that he will die without Emily. He needs her, because without her he will suffer. Repetition of ‘Prisoner’.

Courtly Love is something that is romantic and beautiful in this section. Romantic love and true love are both elements of Courtly love.

Nicholas- ‘Caught her crotch’, ‘held her hard by the thight’. Sexual and lustful, the complete opposite of what courtly love is. A parody.

Alison- Swears an oath to god asking him to keep her adulterous ways secret. Humouring religion, highlighting her lack of intelligence. Not chase or unattainable. The opposite of what a courtly woman should be

Absolon- ‘I’ll pay you money’ suggesting prostitution of Alison, she is completely available to him.

This section is a parody of Courtly love. It humours the rich as it insults the poor.

The Knights Tale The Millers Tale

The Elizabethans1550-1600

The Elizabethans

Arranged marriage

Religion dominated society

Drama and poetry flourished

Sonnets woo’d the Elizabethan women

Queen Elizabeth 1 on the throne. Some women saw this as an opportunity to

gain respect. Failed

Divide in social class

Shakespeare- Sonnets

Love doesn’t always have to be shown for it to be there. ‘That love is merchandised’, merchandised love is over-rated, and means just as much as love that isn’t ‘merchandised’.

‘Not that a I love thee less’. Just because he doesn’t express his love publicly. It doesn’t mean that he loves her/ him less.

‘Therefore...I sometimes hold my tongue’ because thinking about love is more powerful than speaking about it.

He describes his mistress a plain and dull. Yet he loves her for who she is.

‘My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun’. She is dull and perhaps even un-exciting. There is no glint in her eye like other women.

‘Think my love rare’ shows that none of this matters to him. He knows that she is a beautiful woman on the inside and that the love they share is ‘rare’ and unique.

Sonnet 102 Sonnet 130

Shakespeare- Plays

Othello- ‘The green-eyed monster doth mock the meat if feeds on’. Jealous is the green eyed monster, and Othello is full of jealousy because he believes the woman he materialistically loves is cheating on him. ‘I love thee Desdemona’ he repeats this. Persuading the world that he does love her.

Desdemona- Headstrong and intervening. Yet ‘fair’ and ‘charming’. She and Othello share passion, and this passion is destructive. Their love is destructive and materialistic.

Romeo- ‘A snowy dove trooping with crows’- Juliet stands out to him. She is that one pure thing in a world of crime and hate. He gives up everything for Juliet

Juliet- Betrays her family and her values for Romeo. Even when he kills her cousin she calls him a ‘fiend angelic’ showing that she hates but loves him at the same time.

Othello Romeo and Juliet

The Jacobean Era1600-1625

Jacobean

Metaphysical Poetry- Using juxtaposed images to

express love.

Love is painful rather than

romantic and beautiful

Religion dominated literature

Women still inadequate.

Science, maths, astronomy and

philosophy were spoken about.

The Duchess Of MalfiJohn Webster

The Duchess- Manipulative and playful. She teases Antonio through sexual innuendos and seduces him into marrying her without him realising. ‘Between winding sheets’- Sexual innuendo. She is speaking about them making love. She is widowed and therefore not expected to marry again. Yet she does and furthermore into a lower social class, therefore putting her wealth and assets in danger.

Antonio- Respects the Duchess. He compliments her and has great affection for her. He is also sexually promiscuous. Calling her a ‘saucy Devil’. He teases her and plays along with her manipulation. He does not protest into marrying her.

The Broken Heart- John Donne

Metaphysical poem. Focuses on the pain and despair that

love can bring. Compares love to the ‘plague’

suggesting that it is a disease that will eventually kill you. Juxtaposed ideas.

Love is a ‘tyrant pike’ and our hearts a ‘fry’. Suggesting that love is predatory, out to consume our hearts and never return them.

Restoration 1650-1689

Restoration

Charles 1 enjoyed

comedy. Many comical dramas.

Flourishing of poetry and

drama.

Society full of contradictions

and this reflected in

writing.

Religion dominated literature

Turbulent time period-

reflective in the literature

The Lovers Watch- Aphra Behn

Iris. She is a controlling female who makes a watch for her husband who is going away for a long time. Every hour it tells him what he should be doing. This is usually ‘Think of me’. She is obviously an insecure woman, and finds the attitudes of society threatening to her relationship with her husband. It was normal for men to have affairs and therefore she is obviously conscious of this. She is over-protective and this makes it very comical. Woman in control was something new.

Paradise Lost- John Milton

‘ How can I live without thee’ Adam and Eve are so dependant on each other. Adam has a dutiul love towards eve and vice versa. This is why he eats the fruit.

‘Bone of my bone thou art’ They are bound together by the lord, and therefore they must love each other. Adam choses his love for Eve over his love for the lord.

Women are seen as manipulators and the bringer of bad.

Romanticism1789- 1830

Romanticism

Nature became a key feature in

literature

Ode’s and poetry were very popular

Science was becoming

benevolent.

Romantic writers used their

imagination to create alternative

opinions.

Fantastical and magical images.

Literature asked questions, much

like the time.

John Keats Ode to a Grecian Urn

‘Happy’ is repeated several times, the love on the urn is presented as happy, and it brings happiness to others.

The love on the urn is constant and ever-lasting, much like the remains kept inside an urn. Paradox. Something about life and love hold something concerning death.

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’- without one you cannot have the other. And the urn hold both, therefore it is, in Keats eyes, a perfect presentation of love.

Celebration and happiness on the urn.

Frankenstein Mary Shelley

Frankenstein. ‘Horror and disgust filled my heart’- he has just created life, love for this creature should fill his heart. Lack of parental love for something that he is the father of.

The Creature- Isolated by love. He wants a partner, yet his creature will not give him one. He is created to be miserable, unlike Adam, he has no Eve.

Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen

Elizabeth/Lizzie- Romantic love for Mr Darcey. She does not plan to fall in love with him, yet does. Status influences her choice as he is a good suitor and her family approve of him.

Mr Darcy. Wasn’t planning on falling in love, yet falls in love with Elizabeth. True love. He changed for her out of choice, because he loves her so passionately.

Victorian Era1840-1901

Victorians

Restricted era

Queen Vic believed women

belonged at home

Time of contrast and

contradictions

Satirical literature, due to

restrictions in comparison to the Romantic

era.

The Yellow WallpaperCharlotte Perkins Gillman

Postnatal depression. Not diagnosable at the time, caused.

Refers back to ‘roses’ constantly. Delicate flower. She is a rose. Her relationship is like a rose. Thorns prevent you from reaching the beauty. Mournful and romantic flower.

John- her husband. Is supportive of her in the way that he feels is right. He has control over her, suppressing her from writing. Men had control over women.

He shows a romantic love towards the persona and supports her throughout.

Modernist Era1918-1960

Modernism

Political disgruntlement.

Writers expressed their rebellion towards the

government through literature

Use of stream of consciousness and

internal monologues came from this

Structure became very free, people expressing deep

emotion in organic ways

Most personas were unhappy and isolated from

society, reflecting how people felt at

the time

The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald

‘Her voice is full of money’ Gatsby notices this because he has a materialistic view of love, he loves Daisy because he can the fulfil The American Dream, his real love affair.

‘The sidewalk was white with moonlight’- Romantic imagery, shows he has a romantic affection towards Daisy.

Daisy has no interest for Gatsby other than his wealth and the stability she can give him, she left him in her younger years because he couldn’t support her materialistic needs.

They hold onto the past, the romance that they had years ago.

ArabyJames Joyce

‘The lights went out’ – The light on personas view on society, the araby market and his true love have gone out also. He realises that there is nothing good in his life.

Obsessive love. He fantasises over a girl that he has never spoken to. Doesn’t feel powerful or confident enough to tell her how he feels.

Stream of consciousness throughout. Difficult structure to follow.

The Glass MenagerieTennesse Williams

Laura- ‘Blue roses’ her nickname given to her from her childhood sweetheart. ‘Unicorn’ her favourite piece of her menagerie, her escapism, both a fantastical and mythical because neither actually exist, suggesting that her views on love are mythical and her escapism is just a dream. Also suggests she is delicate with her ‘apologetic smile’

Tom- Sibling love. He is like a father to Laura and doesn’t leave home because of her. He takes all the pain and torture from his mother and the restraints of home because Laura is worth it all.

Conteporary1960-2011

Contemporary

Little restrictions

Variation in literature as no

rules of restrictions

Women have equal rights

The Fifth ChildDoris Lessing

Ben has ‘Dull yellow eyes’ ‘cold, hard eyes’- No love or warmth behind them. He has an innabhility to love, until he meets John. He finds love through friendship and idolises him.

Harriet takes parental love to an extreme, she sacrifices her family for one child. She loves all her children however. Could be suffering from Post-natal depression.

David loves his children. ‘Harriet wept, David wept’ when Luke was born, showing that they were overjoyed at the birth of their son. However this could suggest that they have a love for a dream, an idealism rather than their children.

What they stand for and prove is more important to them.

Enduring LoveIan McEwan

‘I feel love running through me like an electrical current’- he is obsessed with Joe and shows and obsessive love towards him, therefore he uses Joes interest, science, to help him understand the passion that he feels for him.

He never ceases to love him, it is everlasting and constant. He sends ‘1000nd’ letters to Joe. One everyday he is away from Joe.

Little Red CapCarol Ann Duffy

Sexual love. She feels that by having sex she can become a mature woman.

‘Red Wine’ connotes blood and brutality of sex. She is manipulated by the wolf into having sex.

‘White dove’ she was pure and virginal before the even but now she must fly away.

Love for maturity and growing up. Maturing before her age perhaps, she seems naive and is taken unscrupulously.