International Journal of English and Literature (IJEL) ISSN 2249-6912 Vol. 2 Issue 4 Dec - 2012 97-100 TJPRC Pvt.

. Ltd.,

VIRGINAL LOVE IN LITERATURE

UTTHAM KUMAR.N& PRIYA PHILIP Assistant Professor,Department of English, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering,Hosur

ABSTRACT
Writers have been portraying the theme of love in almost all types of literary creations. The main reason for depicting love as the foremost concept is that they have well conceived the minds of the readers. Love is an omnipresent feeling and for me Love is not a passion of blood or a mere allure of sex but an affinity of two souls. The greatest writers of all times have proven that the real success of love lies not in the union of lovers but in their poignant separation. The most remarkable love story, Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet proves this point to the hilt. In this creation both the protagonists suffer an unfortunate mishap which results in their double suicide. The conflict in love, the pangs of separations, the sighs of unrequited passion and the agony of loss seem to be more arousing and mesmerizing than the successful perfection of love. The conflict creates the rise, the climax of any story-line, whether it is a play, a body of music, a written work or visual art. If there is no resolution to this conflict, it remains of great interest to its audience. However, the appreciator is left with a jarring sense of incompleteness and the art piece is regarded as diminishing in returns. This paper deals with the stated idea evidenced by legendary tales of love in literature. Centuries of readership and agelessness have been attributed to stories of love like.

KEYWORDS: Arousing and Mesmerizing, Legendary Tales INTRODUTION

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a teardrop. The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost by G. K. Chesterton Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation by Kahlil Gibran

The quotes above show the depth and greatness of Love caused by separation. It has been said that love is that great sensation you will know the instant you have it; that when you fall in love you will know it. It has been said that love is the solution to the problem of man's alienation from himself, from others, and from the world. That love is aim-inhibited sex. That love is the result of an act of will. That love is the spirit that draws man's soul to the heights of truth, beauty, and goodness, and makes him be like the gods. That God is love. That love is holding hands. That love is the power that illumines men's actions, but so often also plunges them into darkest despair. Your Dictionary defines love as a strong affection for a person or thing. The definition of love encompasses dozens of expressions of affection with varying degrees of intensity. Love includes feelings ranging from mild affection to intense sexual desire. Because love encompasses such a broad range of emotion, and may be related to so many people, places and things, the definition of love is unusually broad.The world "love" comes to us from the Middle English word luf, derived from the Old English word "lufu." This is akin to Old High German, "luba," and another Old English word, lof, which means dear. Yet another word related to love, "lubere" or "libere," comes to us from the Romans. This Latin

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word means 'to please'. In all words related to the word love, roots relating to dear, pleasing, and cherished may be found, hinting at the deeper transcendent meaning of the modern word. Most people think of the definition of love as a strong romantic attachment between two people, often intermingled with sexual desire and attraction. Throughout history, people defined love more broadly, encompassing many relationships. These forms of love and affection hold true today, although may not be the first definition that comes to mind when one hears the word. For example: Love among family members; familial love, or love based on kinship ties A mothers love for her offspring Love of neighbor, based on the Christian teaching of expressing concern and charity for all people Love of country, or patriotism Love of God, or expressive love for a deity or deities

Nearly all religions and cultures use precise language to define love. Most languages use various words to express levels of emotion, kinship, or affection. Ancient Greek, for example, uses many words to define precise levels of emotion. Agape means love in modern day Greek, but in ancient times referred to a pure love without sexual connotations. Eros includes passionate love full of desire and longing. Philia, mentioned by Aristotle, meant a dispassionate, virtuous and unselfish love. Xenia includes hospitality, and refers to a type of love most would consider charity or giving. Our modern language uses the word love almost too frequently. We say I love you to our spouses, but say I love chocolate ice cream! to a friend to express a much less intense feeling. Some people define love not by a feeling, but by actions. In this definition, love isnt what you say its what you do. Love would then be a verb, expressed in unselfish actions and deeds. The fragrance of the theme of love has been a spontaneous one in the history of literature. Its role is more important because love, the universal theme, always offers different twists and turns to make the plot more interesting and enthusiastic. Starting from the early history of literature, love has been considered as a major contributor to many poems, plays, stories, and novels. It is well known to everyone that Love is a particularly interesting subject because it sounds simpler than it actually is. Virginal Love is used to enhance the story or create conflict. It is the very reflection of the writer's Passion of writing. The reflection cannot be denied, because a reflection only shows what is already there. One cannot rid the Love in the reflection without ridding the Passion from reality. Love is not meant for the reader, Love is there for the writer. Love is everlasting and never resting. It's behavior impossible to grasp, yet impossible to ignore, it provides the writer with an unreachable goal to attempt to attain, that motivates him to search for it. The act of writing becomes not the goal, but a path in finding and recognizing this Love.

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The perfect love between a man and a woman, however fantastical it may be, is terminally dull. Like an endless shimmering road, such flawless love seems enchanting at first, but the unchanging, uneventful, unspectacular spectacle soon turns monotonous. In his work of literary analysis, Aspects Of The Novel, E.M. Forster described love as "Some years after a human being is born, certain changes occur in it, as in other animals, which changes often lead to union with another human being, and to the production of more human beings. And our race goes on." A tedious tale, to be sure. A good story, then, will introduce conflict or a separation or a few sharp bends into that shimmering highway, in order to draw the interest of the reader. Innumerable evidences can be given to this aspect. For example Titanic which is considered as the most romantic film of all time explored sacrifice and separation at the end. In each of these, the path of true love not only does not run true, but seems to jump off the rails. In Titanic, the male lead dies. This sacrifice and separation could be considered as the main reason for the success of the film apart from the techniques used in it. Further we can also give an example from a Tamil movie Sethu which explored a great love story ended with the separation of the lovers. This particular movie led to the immense popularity of the lead actor in the Tamil film industry who was unpopular once. If there was a union the film would not have become a successful one. Next it is very important to masticate the literary creations of Shakespeare which explored great love in which he portrayed sacrifice and separation. The true love story of Antony and Cleopatra is one of the most memorable, intriguing and moving of all times. The story of these two historical characters had later been dramatized by William Shakespeare and is still staged all over the world. In this he has used the technique separation and sacrifice in order to make it to be there in the minds and hearts of the readers forever. Perhaps the greatest love story of all time, Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet, ends with the antithesis of a "happily ever after", with both characters suffering an unfortunate mishap which results in their double suicide. The conflict of love, it seems, is much more interesting than the successful perfection of love. The technique of sacrifice and separation has been applied here too. They are probably the most quoted lovers ever. This couple has become a synonym for love itself. To take your own life for your husband or wife is definitely a sign of true love. Their untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. Besides these the same concept is well described even in Tristan and Isolde which has become a universal success. The tragic love story of Tristan and Isolde has been told and retold through various stories and manuscripts. So I would like to say that the idea of sacrifice and separation adds more strength to love. All the above discussed ideas show how virginally the love has been adopted and portrayed to show a good path to readers life. So whatever it is the pure and divine love which is called as virginal love has been given much importance by the writers. Hence the premise of love will prolong to play an imperative role in literature. Fresh thoughts and small amendments to older traditions will make love an alluring premise in the years to draw closer. However, we can previously easily acknowledge the credence of love in the times gone by of our literature.

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