Being Reminded of Courtly Love

[spaczek_27]

After lecture this week I could not help but be reminded of a course I took during the summer. It was about the roles women and men play in society. One of the topics that we covered was Courtly Love. This concept continually pushed its way into my mind. Courtly Love is about chasing the women you love who is actually already spoken for. It is

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Courtly Love

[pitchgreen]

"Theirs is of pure emotion free from the filler or fluff."

The problem I have with the Courtly love tradition is that the emotion is also something purely made up. The women are always idealized to the point where they are no longer human. Most of these beloved women don't have any personalities at all, or their personalities are so idealized that we as readers cannot believe their validity. The women become not people, but rather objects to be obtained and preserved like expensive pieces of property. To be perfectly honest, I prefer John Donne's representations of women as pithy dishonest, cheating partners to the doll like image of the women of the courtly love tradition.

It's easy to idealize that which you do not know.

[nareesas]

The thing about wanting a woman one can't have is that it allows one certain freedoms. The man can write about her any way he wishes to suit his needs (emotionally and poetically, I suppose). He's not eternally bound to her by marriage so does he really KNOW HER? Would he still pine for her once he saw her on her worst day? He's free to imagine this woman in any light he chooses. He entertains the thought of her cheating on him or of her being 'loose' only because he'll never have the opportunity to be hurt that way by her. Somehow, I think it's easier for the poet to deal with a woman that he can summon to his mind whenever he wants and send her away just as easily. After all, I doubt the men were walking the streets as depressed and distraught as their poetry claims they are.