The three kinds of love shown in the stories include: Eros love (erotic love), Philos love (friendship love), and Agape love (unconditional love). In comparing the stories, it is easy to see that all forms occur in each.
In the beginning of “I do not love you except because I love you” the narrator has an Eros love and Agape love. His Eros love comes from his love that the couple shows with their actions. His Agape love comes from his tone that he does not love her once the physical attraction wears off, but because he refuses to end the relationship he shows his unconditional love. The irony of the narrator’s unconditional love is that in a way he does have conditions to his love. If it weren’t for his Eros love, the relationship would have no basis for support and would ultimately fail. With his Eros he falsely justifies his infatuation as love. The author uses many different metaphors to show his Eros and Agape love. In his poem he states “Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you Is that I do not see you but love you blindly” (41). The author shows that his Eros love for her is not guided by anything and he takes his relationship as it comes. His metaphoric meaning for his Agape love comes from the passage “and I will die of love because I love you, Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood” (41). This statement means that no matter what happens, the narrator will always have love for his significant other.
In Julianne Homokay’s “A Wedding Story” the author conveys love in a similar fashion. The author uses irony to describe that nothing is as it might initially seem. The storyteller begins with a short tale that sounds too good to be true, and turns out to be that way. The scene that the storyteller lays out is a perfect sunny summer day in Vermont, “where the grass is always green, and the fences are always white picket.”(21) In reality, the wedding took place at a drive-in wedding chapel in Las Vegas. The story teller goes on to tell of a perfect marriage of a perfect couple. In reality, the couple just recently met and had an Eros love relationship and the woman felt as if she needed to marry to make her appear more responsible. The author also uses similes and alliteration to describe the purity of his fantasy stating “Once upon a time there was a young woman, pretty as a day in June” (21), and “A young man stood by her side, smart as a whip and handsome as a polo horse”(21). The alliteration that the author uses describes the fantasy land that he dreams of when “They met in high school and fell in love on a merry day in May.” (21) This could be a inner satiric tone of what the author really wants out of life. The satiric tone that the author demonstrates comes from the modern philosophy of living vicariously. This mentality is one of the reasons why so many people today have more Eros love than any other kind. The author may be trying to have a hidden message within the text that is trying to evoke a more conservative approach towards living. That is where the storyteller becomes the quinnessential messenger by his story of a “perfect” life, love and marriage.
In Jack London’s “A wicked woman”, every type of love is shown in the story. The author uses irony to make the reader believe that the story is about a typical Eros and Agape love when realistically, the story shows that the love was only an Eros love, this is shown when Loretta quickly got over Billy and found new love that was supposed to be based on a Philos love to begin with. The author also uses satire to show that love and marriage isn’t what it used to be. Loretta is burdened by the thought that she is out of line for not getting married because she had an Eros love with Billy. Billy’s case is the basis for the author’s argument by him being the only person who thinks she should marry him due to their physical relationship. Billy is discouraged in his attempt by the Philos love that Loretta and Bashford shared. With the Philos love that started rather than Eros, the couple ultimately realized that they were meant to be and they became Agape lovers. In the end of the story, the character begins to see that her actions proved to be unethical and would be the reason why she felt like a wicked woman thus, proving the satirical use in the story. However because Loretta had found someone that had a strong foundation for love, she decided not to follow through with getting married on the account of Eros love. The author also shows that love doesn’t necessarily end up in marriage. By the kind actions of Captain Kitt and his pathos love for Loretta, he knew that if she left his house and went to visit Mrs. Hemmingway that she would more easily get over Billy and start on her way towards a new relationship.
Throughout the stories, the never ending pursuit for true love turns out to be a trivial task to understand. This is why there are so many different types of love. The authors show many different instances by using literary devices to help the reader understand their ideas of life, love and marriage. With the myriad of similes, metaphors, alliterations, and ironic situations that the authors write about, it is easy to see why love is so mysterious.
Works Cited
London, Jack. A Wicked Woman. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.
Neruda, Pablo. I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. (41)
Homokay, Julianne. A Wedding Story. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. (21)
