Courtly Love vs. Romantic Love in Classic Literature

Introduction: Defining Courtly and Romantic Love

There is much controversy surrounding the idea of love, and perhaps one of the best ways to address the concept is to consider the wide range of romance texts written throughout the years. While generally used in similar contexts, the idea of love can be understood differently depending on an individual's perspective and environment. Courtly love, for example, can be very different from romantic love when considering the elements present in each genre. The former concentrates on the idea of a beloved woman being carefully addressed by her male suitor, who will stop at nothing to impress her. In contrast, romantic love involves much more logic: both the suitor and the woman he courts share a complex understanding of their positions and their limitations.

Romantic Love and Social Norms in Ibsen's A Doll's House

Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House provides a glimpse into the lives of people who love each other but are driven by their tendency to act in accordance with social norms. The central characters, Nora and Torvald, seem to have deep feelings for each other and demonstrate this through various sacrifices made to keep their relationship strong. Nora emphasizes her love for Torvald when she decides to take out a loan without revealing the full details of how she obtained help. Similarly, Torvald supports his wife's choices without raising significant objections to her purchases, even though he is clearly mindful of the financial effect they would have on their household.

Ibsen's treatment of love is particularly intriguing given that the play was written in the late nineteenth century, when discrimination against women was still commonplace. The playwright gave audiences the opportunity to observe an intelligent woman leaving her husband after recognizing that she could live a better life on her own. "Better" in this context does not necessarily refer to financial security; it refers chiefly to a life in which one is not regarded by one's partner as inferior. This is precisely Nora's situation: Torvald constantly reminded her that she had a very limited understanding of how the world functioned, and he considered it perfectly natural to treat her like a child entirely dependent on him. It would be fair to say that Ibsen wrote one of the earliest feminist plays, and it is very likely that Nora's character has influenced many women over the years to reconsider and seek to improve their lives.

Some might be inclined to believe that the seriousness in Ibsen's play diminishes its romance. Nora's journey of self-discovery may cause audiences to focus on her character rather than on the love story itself. Even so, a close reading of the play reveals that Nora's love for Torvald is greater than the love depicted in many works dominated by courtly love conventions. Nora was determined to help Torvald recover from his illness and risked greatly to do so. She also tried to divert his attention from his condition by encouraging him to focus on things he valued — she led him to believe that the trip to Italy was motivated by her own desire to travel rather than by his health. As she explains: "I told him how much I should love to travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and entreaties with him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition I was in, and that he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even hinted that he might raise a loan." (Ibsen) The only reason Nora resorted to forging a signature was that Torvald could not bear to be placed in a socially vulnerable position. By refusing to take out a loan himself, he indirectly compelled Nora to commit an illegality — an act born entirely of her love for him.

Women as Objects and the Passion of Love in Shakespeare's Othello

William Shakespeare's 1603 play Othello similarly portrays women as little more than objects. The play follows Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, as he falls in love with Desdemona, the daughter of a Venetian senator. The relationship is troubled from the outset: Desdemona's father, Brabantio, opposes the match on the grounds that he cannot accept his daughter marrying a Moorish man, despite the fact that Othello holds a generalship in his state's army. Brabantio's attitude toward his daughter's autonomy is encapsulated in his parting words to Othello:

"Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see.
She has deceived her father, and may thee." (Othello, Act 1, Scene 3)

Brabantio's warning reveals the degree to which Desdemona has any real say in her own affairs. When comparing the two plays, one is likely to observe that the idea of love is — albeit seemingly less theatrical — more considered in Ibsen's work. The characters in A Doll's House possess a complex understanding of their roles. Even though Torvald believes it is solely due to his authority that Nora lives well, Ibsen does not hesitate to highlight the forces that empower each of his characters. The play is certainly dramatic, but its characters are not prevented from grasping the complexity of their own lives.

Shakespeare's portrayal of love is, to a certain degree, one-dimensional: he introduces far more raw drama into his play. While both works contain a great deal of suspense, Othello is designed to acquaint audiences with the characters' passion rather than with the logic of their thinking. All the major characters appear to be driven by emotion rather than careful deliberation, which is one reason why most of them fail to achieve happiness. Love takes control of their minds and compels them to pursue their goals by any means necessary, even when those means are immoral. When compared to Torvald, it is notable that Torvald's personality shares certain traits with a Shakespearean character: he cannot accept an illegality regardless of circumstances, he believes women are dependent on men, and he is overwhelmed by emotion when he realizes the gravity of Nora's departure.

Conclusion: Passion Versus Reason in the Two Traditions

When considering courtly love in contrast to romantic love, it becomes clear that the former addresses a far more dramatic form of passion. It focuses on individuals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, even when they are fully aware that their actions may prove fatal. While Werther might appear, at first glance, to belong to the same category as the courtly lovers examined here, closer analysis reveals an important difference. He had time to reflect on his situation and arrived at a complex understanding of its limitations. His decision to take his own life is an extreme gesture, but it was not an unconsidered one.

By contrast, the individuals driven by courtly love make decisions hastily and with no regard for consequences. Had they approached their circumstances with Werther's measured deliberation, they might well have fared better — though the urgency of their situations admittedly left little room for pause. All things considered, courtly love promotes the concept of passion seizing hold of individuals and rendering logic all but impossible in the pursuit of love.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. The Sorrows of Werter. Kessinger Publishing, 2006.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Knight's Tale. BiblioBazaar, 2009.

Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Sheba Blake Publishing, 2015.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Nam, 1971.