Courtly Love in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explains how Renaissance writers William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne and Ben Jonson illustrated the emerging traditions of a new form of writing with traditional notions of courtly love. The paper shows us how Shakespeare depicts Juliet and Rosalind as two assertive women that act in their own interests, while Christopher Marlowe's writing presents us with more traditional aspects of courtly love and Jon Donne and Ben Johnson's writings presented different ideas about women in love altogether, causing us to think differently about the idea of women in love.

From the Paper:

"The Renaissance was an interesting time in literature because many of the writers of this time were experimenting with new techniques based upon medieval ideas. While writers of the Renaissance were concerned with conventional notions, they were also heavily influenced by Humanism. M. H. Abrams notes that "Renaissance writers were in their own way profoundly original, but they did not think of originality as involving opposition to or revolt against literary traditions or artistic conventions" (Abrams 424). Abrams notes that writers were challenged "something fresh and new" from medieval traditions. Medieval ideas concerning love often viewed love as something spiritual rather than physical. Renaissance writers took a more humanistic approach to love. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, and Ben Jonson are writers that incorporate new ideas with the traditional notion of courtly love."

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