Friday 5 August 2011

The Beauty of Romantic love

What makes romantic love beautiful? It is certainly not the emotion itself. No, romantic love is only considered beautiful if it arises in fortuitous circumstances. If the emotion of romantic love arises between two young people, both single, who then go on to get married, raise a family, and spend the rest of their lives together, then love is considered by all as a beautiful thing. But if two people fall in love in a situation which society deems "wrong" then the very same emotion is seen as anything but beautiful. Consider if the love of Romeo and Juliet would still be held up as one of the most beautiful ever told if Juliet was married with a child, or if Romeo had been ten years older than the fourteen year old Juliet? What then, do we find beautiful about love? Not the emotion of romantic love itself, but that vital and fortuitous combination of  romantic love, and favourable coincidence. The very same emotion  of love, then, can become either the pinacle of human beauty and happiness, or the depth of human despair and shame, depending entirely upon the circumstances under which it arises.