On the other side of the coin, the reader is able to understand something about the other characters in the novels. Pelagia may be probably quite young and inexperienced, in matters of love, as she cannot tell the difference between “a temporary madness” and true love. The voiceless dental plosive sound of the “That” in the ultimate line of the first paragraph, attracts the readers' attention and makes them stop on the word ‘love’ closed in brackets, but this time it is different from the first, as it is anticipated by the preposition ‘in’. This technique strengthens even more the power concealed in the word and by inserting the preposition, it sounds as if it loses its purity.
Dr. Iannis’s perception of love ‘Your mother and I..had roots...’ is very similar to that described in Wordsworth’s ‘Preface to the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads’ “the manners of rural life germinate from those elementary feelings…in that condition the passions of men are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature….(purified indeed) from what appear to be its real defects,…”. His true love for his wife may justify Pelagia’s romanticed view of love, having as a reference point her joyful and unite family. Her father’s (Dr Iannis) intention is to disenchant her, in his speech he uses the adverb ‘not’ in front of positive nouns that are linked with feelings of ‘puppy love’ “breathlessness”. This technique increases Pelagia’s understanding, as he addresses the feelings that she has already experienced in her adolescence, his words become meaningful. Moreover, the firmness in tone evoked by the use short and simple sentences and strong words such as “earthquake”, lack of authority, showing that he is truly concerned for her happiness, therefore his speech sounds convincing and not just words used to talk her out of her feelings.
Extract B represents the nature of love as an emotion based on obsession and idealisation, Clarissa’s love is perceived as a “passionately abstract” emotion and Joe’s sounds obsessive as he depicts her as ‘miraculous’ compared to himself being a “large, clumsy, balding fellow”. The piece is written in the first person narrative of Joe, his use of language clearly shows that he is well educated through his long descriptive sentences, even if they result ‘clumsy’ and reflect the words of a complex mind. The latter is conveyed by his jumping from a past to a further past ‘knew’ ‘’d had’ and on to another thought ‘In the months after we met’. The division of the text highlights the difference of their speeches, in fact hers evokes calmness and peace of mind, by the use of simple nominal clauses “He knew...” and past tenses. Therefore, McEwan in a very short piece has been able to write a lot about the two characters and their relationship. On a hand they are very different and on the other the fact that what keeps them together is her ‘idealized’ sense of love.
The comparison between Keats and his words stating “his hopeless situation he would not have wanted to write precisely because he loved her so much”, is very effective. In a few lines the reader is able to understand a lot about Joe, as being very insecure, in fact he “could hardly believe his luck” in being in a relationship with Clarissa. The reader becomes aware that Joe feels slightly lower in status than her, “I had tried to match hers”. It is obvious to the reader that he feels she is too good for him and is honoured by her love for him. Joe has completely opposite views to Clarissa, whose passions lie in literature and the arts, as he is a very rational thinker, implicit in the use of the conditional tenses “would not have wanted to write”, hence highlighting his tendency to guesswork, also in the choice of language such as “hypothetical”. He also dismisses the notion of the soul as he bases all his conclusions and private thoughts on “the facts”.
The opening chapter to ‘Enduring Love’ is designed to draw us into the book and keep us reading on for more information. In the third line, “But he never stopped thinking about her”, this visual imagery is made very clear, and the use of a connective “But” and plosive consonant sound, connotes a negative perception. Therefore, the nature of love is presented as an obsession that brings out the character’s insecurities in face of the perfection of the beloved one “I’d had the idea that...not perfect”. This point recalls to mind the kind of perception that courtiers had towards their ‘once first sight” beautiful maids. For instance, a solitary knight, carried out deeds of chivalry for the sake of a lady. The ‘knight errant’, in the 14th century poem , where Sir Gawain arrives at the castle of Sir Bercilak de Haudesert after long journeys, and Sir Bercilak goes to welcome the "knygt erraunt."
‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’is one of the better-known Arthurian stories, which date back to the 12th century. Significantly, the greatest knights were also tragic lovers – consumed with adulterous passion for the wife of someone of higher rank, such as Lancelot’s love for Queen Guinevere. He is divided from his lord and master, Arthur, and leads to the dissolution of the Round Table. The latter idea, may recall tragic consequences, thus foreshadowing destructive effects on the character’s relationship with Clarissa. Perhaps it will be their differences such as her more “abstract” way of “exploring...love” or due to his ‘hopeless situation”. The latter demonstrates McEwan’s artistry in writing, by posing Joe’s and Keats’s speeches against each other, he seems to be implying that the character is able to understand Keats as if he shared his same state of mind. He might be foreshadowing Joe’s doomed life, as John Keats led a short but brilliant life and fell in love with Fanny Brawne, but tragically he died for tuberculosis, so their marriage became an impossibility.
McEwan’s choice to highlight Clarissa’s interest in Keats, may allude to her own perception of love being idealistic. The latter can be explained by the fact that only after ‘a few months’ she was already writing about their ‘unique’ love. Her love for him may be based on his lack of ‘manly’ behaviour conveyed by the adjective “clumsy”. Their relationship was centred on her “conviction” that he would love her and be devoted to her even if she would not, implicit in the last sentence “woman loved and wanted to be loved by...”. The sentence spreads to four lines and the aforementioned quote is anticipated by a colon. The passive form highlights the woman’s predominating figure over a “large” man, thus the reader is brought to believe that her perfection leads him to treasure her, she is a “miraculous” entity, but will her love be ‘Enduring’? This point is highlighted in line four, which anticipates that perception may be illusionary as these may confuse real intensions.
Joe’s obsession over her brings to mind Charlotte Bronte’s novel ‘Jane Eyre’ wherein we read about Rochester’s obsession over Jane. This is shown when Jane attempts to leave after she has found out he tried to commit bigamy “Your mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still”, suggesting that, his love for Jane is so strong that if Jane went mad, he would still love her. However, the desperate undertones in Rochester’s voice, ‘Every atom of your flesh’ included, makes the reader question as to whether Rochester’s love of Jane is real, or if he is just caught up in the moment and the possibility of losing Jane. In comparison, in ‘Enduring Love’ Clarissa wrote about their love being ‘unique’ only after a few months they started going out together. As this happens so early on, the reader is forced to question if she does actually love Joe, or if she is merely obsessed by living in an idealised world as depicted in literature on love. The monosyllabic sentence McEwan uses suggests that Clarissa says it so simply that Joe completely believes it to be true. Rochester also believes his love of Jane to be real, but from the outside, it is easy to question it.
Austen, J., “Pride and Prejudice” (London: Penguin , 1996)
Beeton, I., “Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management (London: Chancellor Press , 1982)
Brontë, C., ‘Jane Eyre” (Oxford New York: Oxford University Press , 2000)
Moore, H., “Coelebs in search of a wife (For her own good: A series of conduct books) (Theommes press, 1995)
Website
Accessed between 11th Sept 2005 and 3rd Jan 2006
