Why Is It That...
.... people in love stories are always telling each other to back out before it's too late? How many times have I read of/heard/seen the hero tell the heroine (or, still more often, vice versa) "No, really, you're better off without me. This isn't smart."
Does the other person listen? No! Never. Why is that? Or rather, not "why is that," but rather "Why do we, as viewers, cheer them on in their arrant foolishness?"
I'm just shooting in the dark here, but I think it's because love has nothing to do with worth. I remember Elizabeth Bennet's statement (paraphrasing here; I can't look it up right now): "There are few people in the world whom I esteem, and even fewer who I really love." It is possible to esteem without loving, and it is possible to love without esteeming.
Then why are lovers endlessly praising the worth of their beloveds? Is it because they put so high a value on them that their worth rises de facto?
I dunno. It's a mystery I've just begun to probe. I ran into it by accident while working on Absolute Beauty, and now I'm not sure what to do with it.
Thoughts?
Does the other person listen? No! Never. Why is that? Or rather, not "why is that," but rather "Why do we, as viewers, cheer them on in their arrant foolishness?"
I'm just shooting in the dark here, but I think it's because love has nothing to do with worth. I remember Elizabeth Bennet's statement (paraphrasing here; I can't look it up right now): "There are few people in the world whom I esteem, and even fewer who I really love." It is possible to esteem without loving, and it is possible to love without esteeming.
Then why are lovers endlessly praising the worth of their beloveds? Is it because they put so high a value on them that their worth rises de facto?
I dunno. It's a mystery I've just begun to probe. I ran into it by accident while working on Absolute Beauty, and now I'm not sure what to do with it.
Thoughts?
posted by Praelucor at 4:29 PM
2 Comments:
I may not be on the same wavelength, but couldn't the "worth" of the beloved be dependent on any of a myriad of things- even something as common as mere affection-growing-into-eros? Various people have various applications of the word "worth." Maybe the girl is worth something to him simply because of sentimental, circumstantial associations?
God loved us in spite of our worth. Only God Himself is worthy yet we are loved perhaps so that we might praise God's worthiness and the plethora of His other attributes. This blurb may or may not be valid to your train of thought.
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