Love: The Theories Of Love In Literature

Tracing back through all of mankind 's history, it is evident that love sits among one of the basic hierarchies of needs. According to an American psychologist Abraham Maslow, love is third on the list of essentials. He states that “It is quite true that man lives by bread alone, But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge…” (Maslow, 1943, p. 375). In other words besides the Biological/ physiological needs such as air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, and sleep, love is still an essential to the attainment of complete human wholeness. It may not be good all the time but people tend to crave it. Within three different works of literature love is presented as an intense feeling of deep affection, a blinding phase that causes people to perform many unusual acts and a factor that draws a harsh lesson in the end. In the [N-W-L]Norton anthology world literature -- egyptian love poems, the author depicts a perfect example of the tragedies of love. A young couple who are still under the overprotect watch of their parents harbour great love towards each other. They want to express that love to each other but cannot because they are afraid of the consequences which may follow if their intentions were to become known by the public. Within the literature the author places several lines which indicate the strong urge of the secret couple wishing to engage in sexual intercourse