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Geraldine A Refareal
Prof MAM Chua
CL 30
14 November 2014

Life Makes Love Too Hard

This paper will tackle the different difficulties of love in: the poems of Sappho,
Symposium, by Plato, selections from Metamorphoses by Ovid, Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri,
selections from Decameron by Boccaccio, and The Playboy of Seville by Tirso de Molina, rooted
in the problems of life such as social conflict and the base and superstructure model of Karl
Marx. In all of the texts, I have noticed that a lot of things get in the way of love but each one has
its roots in economic bases of power that rules the cultural and political aspect of choosing
someone to love; this results in forbidden love, or taboo love.
Let us first define some terms that I am going to use to illustrate this point firmly. Firstly,
the base or economic base as Marx puts it is the forces and relations of productionor
basically the entirety of the production of goodsand is the economic structure of society
(Eagleton 5). From this arises the superstructure or certain forms of law and politics, a certain
kind of state, as well as art (Eagleton 5). This also includes definite forms of social
consciousness which affects the way we perceives social norms and standards (Eagleton 5).
Classes then come from these superstructures, groups of people having the same interests and
economic powers. Social conflict or class struggle is defined by the conflict between classes that
rise from inequality of private property, rights etc (Rummel).

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Now lets look at what all of these has got to do with the texts and love, starting with the
most ancient: Sappho. Although men arent a class all to their own in ancient Greecethere are
still the elite, the warriors and the peasantsit seems that they may as well be with regards to
their less privileged women. We see Sappho, a womanand a lesbian, giving her a seemingly
double discrimination. Not only was her love forbidden, it was still taboo for here we are talking
about loving the same sexand younger people at thatwhile you are a woman in ancient
Greece, two times the ordeal in love.
Then we move on to evidences within the male division. It seems that in those times,
from Symposium and even up to Metamorphoses where Latin Ovid had spun his tales, men were
more involved in figuring out the moral boundaries of love. This was due, again, to the
superstructures of politics, social norms, and ideology; who made it so that an action was moral?
It was because of the ruling philosophies or modes of thinking that they had chosen to talk about
the consequences of a moral and an immoral loveincluding loving the same sex, incest, etc
(which by the way, excludes men in all respects). The social conflict here is that which has been
resolved through a painstaking fight for womens liberation and continuing recognition of the
queer community (unfortunately, still being fought for today).
With that first binary opposition aside, we now see in the further texts how the conflicts
of love arise now regardless of gender but continue with regards to class. In Dantes Vita Nuova
and Gottfrieds Tristan we see how the more distinct rise of new classesin the formers case,
aristocracy, and feudal lordships in the latterbecomes an ordeal of love between two people. In
Vita Nuova, our poet is insecure about his bearings as a person because his beloved is such a
respected woman of society. He therefore resorts to the arts as a means of relieving himself of his
woes, even using this kind of trick on women a lot of times. In Tristan we see how important it

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was to be loyal to a king in the medieval-feudal society that Tristan and Isoldes lives depended
on whether or not they can keep their love secret for she was already the wife of the King and
Tristan was just a knight. We also see this in some of the stories in Decameron where young
maidens are not allowed to marry just men because they are not wealthy enough to support
dowries or familieswe see this between Giuscardo and Ghismonda as she chooses to die rather
than part with her unworthy lover.
In the case of El Burlador, our protagonist Don Juan becomes the oppressive force that
drives the other couples in different classes mad with his debaucheries. From the ruling class of
the nobility, Don Juan uses this power to come between a lot of couples apart from seduce young
maidens who arent worthy enough in the end to be compensated for his treacheries just because
of social standing. There is Arminta and Batricio from the working or farmers class; the Marquis
de la Mota with Doa Ana; and even up to his own class of the dukes, Octavio and Isabela.
Whats left is poorliterally and figurativelyTisbea who is not married off (and I say it here
not as a good thing even if it is compensation) because she is too little to be noticed by the
oppressing class.
Therefore, throughout the texts, we see the base and superstructure theory at work not
only with the conflicts of life but also with love. Superstructures like norms and standards, which
shape politics and culture (or in some instance, culture re-shapes), affect life directly where love
may or may not be involved.

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Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Vita Nuova of Dante.
Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Decameron.
Con Davis, Robert and Ronald Schleifer. Raymond Williams. Contemporary Literary
Criticism and Cultural Studies. 3rd Ed. New York and London: Longman, 1994. Print.
(453-466).
Eagleton, Terry. Literature and History. Marxism and Literary Criticism. London: Methuen
and Co. Ltd, 1976. Print. (1-19).
de Molina, Tirso. The Playboy of Seville.
Ovid. Metamorphoses.
Plato. Symposium.
Powell, Jim. The Poetry of Sappho. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Rummel, R.J. Chapter 5: Marxism, Class Conflict, and the Conflict Helix. Understanding
Conflict and War: Vol. 3:Conflict In Perspective. Beverly Hills CA: Sage Publications,
1977. n.pag. 25 November 2002. Web. 12 November 2014.
von Strassburg, Gottfried. Tristan and Isolde.