The Dark Side of Love Essay - 1479 Words

The Dark Side of Love In Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Faust (Part One) as well as in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, love plays a vital role. Love is the reason that an individual strays from the path to enlightenment and begins to act in strange, unpredictable ways. It decreases an individual’s ability to reason and takes away any incentive he might have to seek enlightenment. Since love is based on faith, it goes against the ideals of enlightenment which stress individual thinking. Love brings about a sense of fulfillment, which also works against the ideals of enlightenment which advocate a constant struggle within the individual to find truth or reach a higher plain of thought. In the Age of Enlightenment, love is a†¦show more content†¦Using the obvious social gap between the two, Faust coerces Gretchen into falling in love with him. Love has a certain attraction to it that few people can resist. Gretchen saw a painless solution to all her problems in Faust. She did not realize how harmful love could be when she was being seduced by Faust and so jumped willingly into the relationship. Another aspect to consider is how Faust falls in love with Gretchen to begin with. Mephistopheles clearly maneuvers him into drinking the potion and thus falling in love with Gretchen. This is another case where we can see the power dynamics working. Mephistopheles, who is powerful and wicked, makes Faust, who is merely human, fall in love. Faust cannot be enlightened if he is made to fall in love. He is not thinking as an individual. This demonstrates how love is an obstacle put before an individual that blocks the path to enlightenment. On page 125, Faust contemplates whether or not he should go ahead with seducing Gretchen. He is obviously affected by her innocence and purity and starts questioning his actions when he says, â€Å"Shall I, or not?† This point can be seen as a fork in the road to enlightenment. Just as Faust is moving toward the right path, the devil quickly pushes Faust onto the other path by placing the casket in the coffer himself and then rebuking Faust f or being too overwhelmed to take action. In this scene, love can be viewed asShow MoreRelated The Role of the Individual: A look inside the Galactic World of Star Wars (1977)1290 Words   |  6 Pagesthrough two different lenses. In Star Wars (1977) there was both a good and evil side. The good side, known as the light side, and the evil side known as the dark side. Both the light side and dark side have a role within the society. Without one, the other can not exist. The role of the individual within society is very important to how the balance exists. The individual aligns him or herself to either the dark or light side and their purpose or role in society is based upon their moral compass or emotionsRead MorePositive Strengths And Weaknesses1739 Words   |  7 Pages1. 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