Post 07: Romantic Love - History and Relations to Wife of Bath

Romantic love is characterized by "a strong affection preoccupation with love, an unrealistic and idealistic attitude toward a partner, and the feeling that love is forever, never ends, and is always there" (Karandashev 4). When we think of or hear about romance, or romantic love, we often think of sexual attraction to a partner, or just sex in general. Sexual attraction is closely related to romantic love, however it is a combination of both sexual attraction to our partners and also the emotional state and attachment that make up the romantic love and relationship with your significant other. Romantic love has existed for centuries all over the world, but it originally evolved in the aristocratic courts of Europe, China, India and Japan, where it has continued to grow and expand. All of these areas of the world practice different styles of religion, which makes the way they view romantic love differ from one another in unique ways.

In India, a Hindu philosopher wrote the Kama Sutra, which advised men and women to marry for love, and if anything were to happen differently than such, then this would be condemned. In China, the attitudes toward love and sexual desire were deemed positive. Sex was considered to be "a natural and powerful body function" (Karandashev 6) and since spouses during that time period were not chosen by each other, then they were not expected to be sexually attracted to one another, however they were expected to procreate. Most of the time, women were treated as servants but had to fulfill her husband's sexual needs, and public affection was not tolerated. In Europe, Christianity was the main influence on romantic love and was understood as "self-sacrificing, and unselfish, implying s harmonious, compassionate, affectionate, and benevolent relationship between people rather than a romantic sentiment" (Karandashev 7). This love could include sexual attractions, and it could also not. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, English literature changed its focus from religion to more of the ideas of courtly love. Since romantic love was being discussed more, the attitude towards love changed and has done so gradually.

Wife of Bath viewed love much differently than others around her did, much less how the other areas and religions of her time period did. Wife of Bath in my opinion was more "free spirited" and did what she wanted, and did not care what her religion expected or what the norms of her society were at that point in time. I think her attractions to her many husbands were not through romantic love because she married them with no emotion, just through her attraction to sex. Sex was all she wanted, so her marriages were bound to end, especially comparing her love life to the expectations of the different religions listed above.

http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1135&context=orpc