Since the existence of human beings, people have always experienced different emotions, sensations and pleasures. Most people would agree with the idea that emotions sometimes cannot be explained and that most of the times, emotions are somekind of force that go beyond the physical sensation. Love is therefore something that has not yet being explored enough to state what it reallly means . Some people would say that is merely an emotion and some others would say that is something that cannot be explained but you just feel it. So, there isn't a single definition or conception of love, because everyone experiences it differently. However, we can see that through the art of literature, different writers have ackowledged the so conflicted and undefined word "love".
Jane Austen, a novelist from the eigtheenth century proposed a very special concept of love in her books, especially in her most famous work called "Pride and Prejudice". In her novel, she exposes different types of love-relationships, for instance, the relationship between Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley as well as Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. And, she does include sometimes very explicitly and sometimes indireclty, her own perspective on love.
Moreover, the concept of love that she proposed has nothing to do with conceptions, ideas and thoughts about love that already most people share. She goes beyond the constraints that society has set out to us. Albeit Jane's book follows a common pattern of love stories, where the lovers must elude and overcome a series of stumbling blocks and concurrently deal with their own tension, she does maintain a constant attitude through all the book. She sees love as something independent of the social forces that existed in the Victorian age, as well as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape from the warping effects of hierichical society. Through the main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane suggests that real love is a kind of force apart from society and one that can be conquered even the most difficult of circumstances. Besides, Jane also manifests that love starts to be real when it is composed of mutual respect, self sacrifice, steem, shared interests and when one is able to leave behind the fake mental representation that we have from the outside perspective.
Hence, in Pride and Prejudice and in most of her books, Jane Austen demonstrates that her notion of love is a very rational one-not the emotionally enraptured "love" of a dime-store novel, she perceives emotions as completely enties unfit to be the foundation on which true love is built.
Moreover, the concept of love that she proposed has nothing to do with conceptions, ideas and thoughts about love that already most people share. She goes beyond the constraints that society has set out to us. Albeit Jane's book follows a common pattern of love stories, where the lovers must elude and overcome a series of stumbling blocks and concurrently deal with their own tension, she does maintain a constant attitude through all the book. She sees love as something independent of the social forces that existed in the Victorian age, as well as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape from the warping effects of hierichical society. Through the main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane suggests that real love is a kind of force apart from society and one that can be conquered even the most difficult of circumstances. Besides, Jane also manifests that love starts to be real when it is composed of mutual respect, self sacrifice, steem, shared interests and when one is able to leave behind the fake mental representation that we have from the outside perspective.
Hence, in Pride and Prejudice and in most of her books, Jane Austen demonstrates that her notion of love is a very rational one-not the emotionally enraptured "love" of a dime-store novel, she perceives emotions as completely enties unfit to be the foundation on which true love is built.
Sources
Austen, J. (1813). Pride and
Prejudice.
https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/32595/1/gupea_2077_32595_1.pdf
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=30&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CGwQFjAJOBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.hil.unb.ca%2Findex.php%2FIFR%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F13839%2F14921&ei=hvFOVNe9AsTesASDrIHIBQ&usg=AFQjCNH6CPB_nVIVBi8WG0sHcNRdr-qc9w
It is very interesting to understand how love works in different ages. What really caught my attention while reading the novel was the fact that back in those times, people used to fall in love and immediately got engaged. They barely spend time together to get to know each other a little bit more, or to get to know each other’s real behaviours and likes before they get married. I reckon that might be due to the sort of rules of society, since the fact that two people spend too much time together without getting married would have been unaccepted.
ResponderEliminarIf we compare love in the 19th century and how love is now, we can notice it has changed. First of all people do not get engaged too often, and second, those who do get engaged wait a lot more in order to decide to spend the rest of their lives with their beloveds.
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ResponderEliminarWhen I was reading Pride and Prejudice, I wondered the same that Ignacio has just pointed out. How on earth someone could make such an important decision of choosing someone for the rest of her/his life just by talking like four times?
ResponderEliminarI will recall what Francisca said about how difficult is to define "love" as it is a very abstract concept and extremely hard to define as it changes according to every person and time. Time. We have been born in an era in which there is not hhonor or respect of keeping a promise, a world in which there is the chance of starting all over again just by signing a paper which will legaly separate you from the person you married. I think that is the reason why people used to get married almost with eyes closed, as the perspective of marriage was remarkable different from what is today. Nowadays, that point of view will be considered as "enchapado a la antigua" when people dare to say they want something forever.
However, despite the fact of different perspectives of love throughout time, it is suprising that people tend to easily fall in love and get engaged. The only explanation of this situation is that maybe love was seen as an idealization of the beloved one, and marriage was seen almost as choosing brand new barbie on a shelf