Love «defined»

Love «defined»

Love is the soul. Love is feeling. Love is a connection between people. This connection is raw and enchanting; the soul. Love feeds the soul. Love makes people feel with their heart and without their head. Love can make people foolish, infatuated or, like lovely don Quijote, insane.

Love is not always the romantic marriage or relationship. Love is life. Everything. Love is family, friends and passion. When someone is under the love spell, the strongest emotions reveal: insanity, obsession, passion, new discoveries, relationships, resolutions, truth, and happiness.

Love cannot be summarized, but broken into many aspects, lenses, complications and feelings. It is never ending. Eternal.

Eternal, unconditional and somewhat crazy he is, that don Quijote. His obsessive love for Dulcinea was something else, entirely; unique.

Don Quijote renamed Aldonza, a peasant woman, to Dulcinea, the woman he dreamt and imagined constantly. The woman he put on a pedestal. The woman he put his heart and soul into while on his expeditions. His love.

He chose the name Dulcinea because it is very beautiful. This name, translating from the Spanish word “dulce” to sweet, is a name worthy for a woman belonging to or in a relation with a knight. Don Quijote chooses this name “porque ella era natural de eso lugar. Este nombre le pareció a don Quijote músico, significativo y peregrino, como los otros nombres que él ya habia puesto,» (12). The beauty of this is don Quijote’s very serious manner about choosing the right name for this woman. This name represents everything he sees in her. It is very important to him. A name is a small part of life but don Quijote makes it more than just that. He makes it important and vital, lovely and romantic. His unconditional love for her burns bright and evident. He makes it known how much she means to him by simply naming her Dulcinea.

The love don Quijote has for Dulcinea is very strong and don Quijote devotes his life to always being there for her. “Se propuso entonces, en su corazón, no cometer alevosia contra su señora Dulcinea, aunque la reina de Ginebra con su dama Quintanona se le pusiera delante,» (75). Don Quijote makes many decisions with Dulcinea in the front of his mind. Some strive to be better for their loved one and to make them proud. Love had the power on Don Quijote to make him choose wisely for himself and Dulcinea. This is loves effect. Love is strong. When love is present, anything will be done to keep it safe and alive being as fragile as it is.

Don Quijote’s passion for Dulcinea is one of many lenses of love. Relationship love is a large lens to look through. More lenses will be seen later in the discussion of El Quijote but don Quijote and Dulcinea is the most important lens of love.

The lenses of love are infinite, keep an open mind and grab it no matter what during any circumstances. Love is the soul. Love is in the eye of the beholder; look.

Delaney Rhoades

Andrade, Marcel Charles., Gustave Doré, and Cervantes Saavedra Miguel De.Aventuras Del Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote De La Mancha. Lincolnwood, IL, USA: National Textbook, 1994. Print.