Love at first sight

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Love at first sight is a common trope in Western literature, in which a person, character, or speaker feels romantic attraction for a stranger on the first sight of them. Elaborated upon by poets and critics from the Greek world on, it has become one of the most powerful tropes in Western fiction.

Contents 1 Greco-Roman conceptions 2 Medieval and Renaissance conceptions 3 Modern use of the trope 3.1 In literature 3.2 In songs 3.3 In movies and television 4 References and notes

[edit] Greco-Roman conceptions

In the classical world, the phenomenon of "love at first sight" was understood within the context of a more general conception of passionate love, a kind of madness or, as the Greeks put it, theia mania ("madness from the gods").^[1] This love passion was described through an elaborate metaphoric and mythological psychological schema involving "love's arrows" or "love darts," the source of which was often given as the mythological Eros or Cupid,^[2], sometimes by other mythological deities (such as Rumor^[3]). At times, the source of the arrows was said to be the image of the beautiful love object itself. If these arrows arrived at the lover's eyes, they would then travel to and 'pierce' his or her heart, overwhelming them with desire and longing (love sickness). The image of the "arrow's wound" was sometimes used to create oxymorons and rhetorical antithesis concerning its pleasure and pain.

"Love at first sight" was explained as a sudden and immediate beguiling of the lover through the action of these processes. "Love at first sight" occurs in numerous Greek and Roman works. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Narcissus becomes immediately spellbound and charmed by his own (unbeknownst to him) image. In Achilles Tatius's Leucippe and Clitophon, the lover Clitophon thus describes his own experience of the phenomenon: "As soon as I had seen her, I was lost. For Beauty's wound is sharper than any weapon's, and it runs through the eyes down to the soul. It is through the eye that love's wound passes, and I now became a prey to a host of emotions..."^[4] "Love at first sight" was not, however, the only mode of entering into passionate love in classical texts; at times the passion could occur after the initial meeting or could precede the first glimpse.

Another classical interpretation of the phenomenon of "love at first sight" is found in Plato's Symposium in Aristophanes' description of the separation of primitive double-creatures into modern men and women and their subsequent search for their missing half: "... when [a lover] ... is fortunate enough to meet his other half, they are both so intoxicated with affection, with friendship, and with love, that they cannot bear to let each other out of sight for a single instant." ^[5]

[edit] Medieval and Renaissance conceptions

The classical conception of love's arrows were elaborated upon by the Provençal troubadour poets of southern France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and became part of the European courtly love tradition. In particular, a glimpse of the woman's eyes was said to be the source of the love dart:

This doctrine of the immediate visual perception of one's lady as a prerequisite to the birth of love originated among the "beaux esprits" de Provence. [...] According to this description, love originates upon the eyes of the lady when encountered by those of her future lover. The love thus generated is conveyed on bright beams of light from her eyes to his, through which it passes to take up its abode in his heart.^[6]

In some medieval texts, the gaze of a beautiful woman is compared to the sight of a basilisk.^{[citation needed]}

Boccaccio provides one of the most memorable examples in his Il Filostrato, where he mixes the tradition of love at first sight, the eye's darts, and the metaphor of Cupid's arrow^[7]: "Nor did he (Troilus) who was so wise shortly before... perceive that Love with his darts dwelt within the rays of those lovely eyes... nor notice the arrow that sped to his heart."^[8]

[edit] Modern use of the trope

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These images of the lover's eyes, the arrows, and the ravages of "love at first sight" continued to be circulated and elaborated upon in the Renaissance and Baroque literature, and play an important role in Western fiction and especially the novel, according to Jean Rousset.^[9]

[edit] In literature

Other works of fiction which use these tropes include:

• The first sight of the beautiful princess Angelica (character) in Ariosto's Orlando furioso and the witch Armida in Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered enchant the knights that perceive them; Giovanni Boccaccio's Elegy of Lady Fiammetta describes the ravages of love at first sight on a woman.
• Love at first sight occurs in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.
• In the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, the characters Marius Pontmercy and Cosette fall in love after glancing into each others' eyes.

[edit] In songs

• The song "With a Little Help From My Friends" has the lyric: "Would you believe in a love at first sight? Yes, I'm certain it happens all the time."
• The popular song "Love at First Sight" by Kylie Minogue describes this phenomenon.
• The aria "Di rigori armato il seno", in the opera Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, is sung by a lovestruck tenor.

[edit] In movies and television

• In The Simpsons, Homer Simpson falls in love with Marge Simpson at his first sighting of her.
• In The Notebook, Noah falls in love with Allie at a carnival upon seeing her for the first time.
• In Big Fish, Edward Bloom falls in love with Sandra Templeton the first time he sees her, although she doesn't reciprocate his love until he's hunted her down three years later.

[edit] References and notes

Look up love at first sight in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.