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Seminar paper from the year 2023 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Augsburg (Literaturwissenschaft), course: Shakespeare's poetry, language: English, abstract: The analysis explores the concept of love in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 144. It covers various aspects of love, including its representation, temporal and emotional dimensions, and the contrast between bodily and spiritual love. Sonnet 18 idealizes love and beauty, while Sonnet 144 portrays a more complex, morally ambiguous love. A comparison between the two sonnets highlights Shakespeare's nuanced understanding of love¿s multifaceted nature.
Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, has already been concerned with the understanding of love. According to this, he understood love in the sense that a human being basically consists of two people, who, however, were separated due to the anger of Zeus. Accordingly, his quote says that love is the phenomenon that drives us to seek and find our other half to become a whole, complete creature again. But not only Plato, but many other philosophers have spoken about love and its importance in life. According to this, Kant expresses only little about love and it can be interpreted that it represents an inclination which is neither morally nor rationally justifiable. Socrates, however, attested that love can lead to wisdom which is the ultimate goal of human existence.
