Investigating the Trope of Love at First Sight in 'Manon Lescaut' and 'Princess of Cleves'

The questions of "How much is physical, how much in the mind? How much accident and how much fate?” are asked to Wanderer during the novel and she answers it with “Love simply is where it is.” This answered all of my questions, Jared loves Melanie for her mind just as much as her body and Wanderer in the end of the book is inserted into a new body but Ian still loves her in this new body and Wanderer in this new body still loves Jaime, so “Love simply is where it is.” This makes me think about the idea of ‘true love’ or ‘love at first sight’ are either of these things truly possible, I believe that these things in a way can be possible for example, you could see someone for the first time and have your attraction to them but you could never know what the future holds you just know that you are attracted to them. This can be seen in game shows such as ‘Take Me Out’, in a part of this game show the competitor writes down their ‘love at first sight’, and the end of their game the female has the choice of finding out who the man’s ‘love at fight sight’ was, most of the time they aren’t the person the man wrote, but sometimes it is, this shows that love can be anywhere and its not

“Love is the life of the soul. It is the harmony of the universe” (William Ellery Channing, n.d.). For many, the simple, four lettered word becomes a mere state of obsession. Everybody wants to be in love but not everyone understands its true meaning. Too often infatuation takes over and consumes one’s desire to find real love. When one meets a special person, someone who makes their heart race and their knees weak, how does one know if they’ve found true love or pure infatuation?

It was really interesting that the author could pinpoint out these little feelings and describe what exactly happens in our body when we fall in love. Her reasoning she exhibited at certain places did that I was speechless and in other places it made me pensive and a bit skeptical of her reasoning. For many people who are not familiar with the scientific description of love is love a simple strong sensation when you meet the right person. Looking at it with a more scientific eye as Anastasia Toufexis does in The Right Chemistry, will tell you that love is a rather complex biological/chemical phenomenon something evolution has given us. Michael Millis gives the following explanation ''What seems on the surface to be irrational, intoxicated behavior is in fact part of natures's master strategy''1, which began in the African plains 4 years ago. This was according to me the key to human survival and it was here the romantic love started to blossom.Thanks to the fact that humans began walking on two legs and mad the entire body visible to one another developed this unique attraction forces, who developed the love into more than just a single reproductive act. Although assembly mates from behind was, and still is, the method favored by most animals, people began to enjoy face-to-face connections. Both appearance and personal attraction became a much bigger part of the equation.

In his article “Watching New Love as It Sears the Brain,” Benedict Carey expresses that love is not necessarily an emotion but rather a neurological and physical phenomenon. After comparing new love to mania and obsession, Carey offers evidence of romantic love as a neuropsychological event through the description of the caudate nucleus (a specific part of the brain which produces the neurotransmitter dopamine), explaining the cause of desire and passion in relation to love.

The human idea of love is quite possibly the most misunderstood in today’s society. Love can be between a man and woman, mother/father and their kids, or even really good friends. However, these relationships of love go through many interactions and stages to start and progress. Many psychological events must occur and be worked through in order to be successful. All relationships must endure the five perspectives of human behavior. These perspectives are biological, learning, social and cultural, cognitive, and psychodynamic influences.

According to the article, three factors are present when you fall in love: “Studies have found: You have to like the other person’s physical appearance; you have to find his or her personality desirable, and you have to feel the other person likes you” The teens had declared their love for each other within 3 hours of meeting. All they knew at the time was that they found each other attractive. This shows that they were infatuated with each other rather than in love because they knew nothing about each other except their

Although the classic Shakespearean tragedy Romeo and Juliet depicts love at first sight between the two titular protagonists, such is not truly attainable in its entirety. Mainly, this is due to the nature of true love, which requires more than what can be obtained upon first sight, or even over the course of a few days, as in the case of Romeo and Juliet, where it is illustrated that the protagonists are so deeply in love with each other that they consider their romance to be of a higher priority than their own lives; that they had been willing to sacrifice themselves for their lover. In addition, love often segues

William Shakespeare was the man who wrote the play Romeo and Juliet, meaning that the play is fiction. So by that account, love at first sight is fiction and is not a viable reality. The play of Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy. A young couple driven to suicide because they could not be together is a tragic thing. Shakespeare called attraction love because it made the play all the more tragic. In Act 2 scene 2 Juliet says “Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” In this part Juliet is contemplating what it is to be a Capulet and what a Montague is. She seems to be willing to forget her family in order to be with Romeo, who she has not even known for a night.

   The more accepted conception of love is usually found in Romeo & Juliet. Many people refer to it as love at first sight, in French, “le coup de foudre”, as if you had just been struck by a lightning bolt. This interpretation dates back to the courtly love tradition which manifested during the late Middle Ages, first through chivalry and then more openly among the nobility. In fact, many references to the courtly love tradition are found in the play, for example,

Her prince falls for her at first sight and seals the deal with a kiss. Love at first sight is a belief that is instilled into young girls by society. As it’s “once upon a dream” in princesses lives. If you are beautiful enough to catch your prince’s eye he will fall in love with you. Beauty is the main point in life not your personality, you might as well be sleeping.

When there are so many experiences yet to happen, an infinite amount, or if not infinite, at the very least high enough that no one should ever have to worry about nothing new happening in his or her life. We can declare instant love upon sight of another person, upon hearing a brand new song, upon seeing a new collection of pixels upon a computer screen.

People fall in love all the time and it always starts with a look. In my opinion this will never go away. The impacts of love at first sight depends on how far it goes. Is it just a passing glance between two people that leads to nothing? Is it the start of a romantic interlude? In the movie Casablanca Rick and Ilsa fall in love with each other; however, Ilsa was still in love with someone else and she had no closure. Rational people get to know each other first, this is part of the excitement of building a relationship with someone. The majority of marriages end in divorce, this movie feeds into that statistic, had Rick and Ilsa gotten married it more than likely would have ended in divorce based of a lack of knowing their partner.

The first stage of romantic love begins with attraction. Whether you have been best friends for a long time or you just met the person, you begin your romantic relationship when there is that feeling of

     Strangers meet, they break down social walls between one another, and they feel close, as one. They supposedly fell in love with one another, to Fromm, falling in love is not love, it’s more infatuation. Fromm describes

According to Joe Masters, a writer and blogger, "The initial stages of lust, physical attraction, eye contact, or anything that makes you intrigued about someone. In this stage, there is a lot that can happen but we might not feel an immediate attraction to someone, and eventually develop it over time. Or we might instantly feel a connection to someone, and develop it from there. What happens in this