Brandon Ganjineh
Professor Augustine
English 102
April 11, 2014 My Chemical Romance
Love is a topic that inspires many writers. It can bring about a plethora of feelings, ranging from intense joy to severe sadness. Depending on the emotion love brings upon the author, works often share disparate opinions on relationships and intimacy. However, true love does not exist. These emotions are simply spur of the moment reactions brought upon by chemical reactions in the brain (Zeki). While love itself may not be real, the false emotions it brings certainly do make an impact on lovers and writers alike. The main three reactions of love are anger, sadness, and joy. In the works “Sonnet 130,” by William Shakespeare, “My Last Duchess,” by Robert Browning, and “In the Orchard,” by Muriel Stuart, feelings of love trigger temporary states of anger, sadness, and joy, but these emotions are counterfeit because the concept of true love is nothing more than an ideal fairy tail. Most girls dream of falling in love and finding their prince charming. Unfortunately, more than half of these girls will grow up to be unmarried women, according to a NY Times statistic (Roberts). In “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare draws upon the fantasy aspect of love that brings people so much joy, representing the ideal outcome of love. As a man of many lovers, Shakespeare is well versed in the subject of love and he has written many poems on the topic. In the poem, the speaker is completely captivated by his mistress, and while he is unfaithful to his wife, he finds pleasure in this unlikely encounter. The speaker notes all of the mistress’s flaws, from her head to her toes. He starts by ridiculing her eyes, which are not bright like the sun. He continues by stating that her lips are neither rosy nor red. He goes on to say that her hair resembles wires and are black rather than golden. Her cheeks are not rosy, and sometimes she smells rather bad. Her breath smells horrid and her voice is not pleasing to his ears. Despite all of her flaws, the speaker says that his love is rare and real. The mistress goes against all of the ideal views of “beautiful” in the 16th century. Back then, blonde with blue eyes and pale skin was considered the standard of beauty. The “false compare” the speaker refers to is the ridiculous view of women. The speaker uses a tone of irony while ridiculing his mistress’s features because, based on the standards set by his century, his mistress would be considered vile and ugly. However, the speaker finds his love true and tells heaven that he loves this “unattractive” woman more than he could love any “attractive” woman. His love brings him joy, even in the form of an affair, which is the most positive reaction love has to offer. Marriage counselor M. Gary Neuman conducted a research and found that 92% of unfaithful husbands cheat because of an emotional disconnection or a sense of being underappreciated by their wives rather than for that of sexual pleasure or gratification (Neuman). The speaker in the sonnet represents Shakespeare, who was clearly unhappy with his marriage. Even though he was happy with his mistress, the simple fact that he was unhappy with his marriage further reinforces the idea that true love does not exist. Shakespeare left his wife his “second-best bed” in his will, while he proclaimed his devotion for his mistress in his poetry. His infidelity brought him happiness, but it can also bring others great distress. Love can cause people to do ridiculous things. Jealousy drives people to the brink of insanity and back. People can be so madly in love with another person that they would even kill for him. In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, the speaker, arrogant, self absorbed, and pompous, is quite skilled at killing for love. He represents the anger that love brings, through jealousy. He is a wealthy duke who tries to convince a nobleman to let him marry his daughter, mainly by showing off his collection of arts,