King Lear by William Shakespeare

King Lear by William Shakespeare is an iconic piece of English literature, as are many of Shakespeare's plays. King Lear is a tragedy, in which King Lear, the king of Britain, divides his kingdom among his daughters. The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, appeal to their father's ego by complimenting him with extravagant professions of their love for him. His third daughter, Cordelia, though her father's favorite, refuses to appease him and tells him honestly that she loves him, but not as extravagantly as her sisters. Lear banishes his daughter to France as a result. As the story continues, Regan and Goneril continue to fight for maximum poer, against each other and their father. The play essentially depicts the downfall of Lear, culminating with his death and the death of Cordelia. Despite the various examples of dysfunctional familial relationships, King Lear largely supports the idea that love is intellectual.

Big Question: Is love a matter of the intellect or a matter of the heart (emotions)?
The initial and untruthful professions of love by Goneril and Regan suggest that love is often falsely "advertised" for some type of gain. Furthermore, the abrupt shift in Lear's feelings towards Cordelia indicates that, by process of thought, he was able to decide that his love for her was LESS important than her love for him, allowing him to banish her from his kingdom. If love were emotional, it is possible that King Lear's sentiments towards Cordelia (his favorite daughter) might have made it significantly more difficult for him to do so. Similarly, because Regan and Goneril's love for their father was based upon an opportunity for personal gain, this love was conditional and therefore logic-based. Arguably, if their love had not been logic based by emotionally based, they would have handled their Father's demands similarly to Cordelia. Overall, King Lear seems to suggest that love is based moreso upon the intellect than the emotion or "the heart."

Playboy of the Western World by John Synge

Playboy of the Western World by John Synge depicts a rural Irish community whose social norms are challeneged and changed by the arrival of a young man named Christy. At the same time, Playboy tells the story of Christy's own transformation from coward to hero, through the lies he tells about his past to the community he stumbles into. He tells them that he killed his father in order to free himself from the alleged abuse. However, his father is not really dead nor was Christy's violent act a result of the heroic spirit he attempts to portray in himself. Because of his false identity, he wins the affections of many young women, specifically Pegeen who is supposed to be marrying another man. However, when Pegeen eventually finds out the truth about Christy when his father shows up looking for him, she abandons her love for him. In fact, she is the one to hang the noose around his neck when it is determined that he is to be hung for murder when he ACTUALLY kills his father. This indicates that she may have had control over her feelings based on the logical consequences that would perhaps befall her if she were to continue trusting Christy. By contrast, she still retains a certain degree of longing for his "bad boy"-ish actions, indicating that perhaps love is actually emotional rather than intellectual.

Big Question: Is love a matter of the intellect or a matter of the heart (emotions)?
Because Pegeen seems so capable of flipping a switch to turn her love for Christy off and on, Playboy of the Western World indicates that love is intellectual--based upon logic and costs vs. benefits scenarios--rather than the emotions and the lack of control that would necessarily accompany them.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

The Almost Moon by Alic Sebold tells the story of a middle-aged woman named Helen who murders her very elderly mother. For the rest of the novel, Helen tells stories she remembers from her childhood regarding her mother. Throughout the entire book the nature of the relationship between mother and daughter is questioned, and even more, the nature of love between family members. Logically, Helen has no reason to love her negligent, often selfish mother. Though later it becomes clear that Helen's mother suffers from mental illness, any rational thought process would leave Helen with no connection (in this case love) to her mother. You could argue that Helen murdered her mother, indicating that her love did, in fact, rest on this connection, but as I continueto read it became clear that Helen had a great deal of love for her mother. Helen saw the murder as a mercy killing to release her mother from the prison of mental illness and suburban expectation she had been living in alone. In Helen's inner psyche, this "mercy killing" was an act of love.

Big question: Is love a matter of the intellect or a matter of the heart (emotions)?
Answer: Based on The Almost Moon, love is a matter of emotional connection rather than intellect. Further, logic has little bearing on your love for your family members.

My Big Question

Throughout the next year of APLit, my big question is:

Is love a matter of the intellect or of the heart (emotions)? Both?