The Concept Of Love In Philip Sidney's Astrophil And Stella

The concept of love is a common focus of literary works throughout history. Humanity has long pondered about the complexities of the subject, and thus various works depicting passion and betrayal, joy and sorrow in the name of love can be found throughout all parts of the world. A beautiful piece that depicts one of the many aspects of love is Philip Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella. The work, composed of various love sonnets, details the love held by Astophil towards his unobtainable love Stella. However, as romantic as the words passion and love sound, they do not always lead to happiness. The pursuit of desire and love can prove to be disastrous. One need only look at the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to see an example of the consequences of ill conceived action in the name of passion. Despite the obvious folly of acting solely on feeling without regard to the balance of reasoning, it would seem that humanity finds it difficult to keep their passions in check. Regardless of how foolish a heart can be; people are often compelled …show more content…
He deems them to be, “Nature’s chief work” and contemplates in various manners why and how did Nature make Stella’s black eyes so beautiful. He offers various answers to his pondering, including an intentional juxtaposition of light and darkness, a shield to others who would otherwise be overwhelmed by her eyes, or demonstration of skill in crafting the most beautiful eyes with the color black that is contradictory to the concept of beauty. Astrophil throughout the poem dotes on her eyes, yet this poem has a rather dark undertone. The final two lines state “Pla’d ever there, gave him this mourning weed, to honour all their deaths who for her bleed.” Those beautiful eyes praised by Astrophil are alluded to have the capacity to kill a man. There is something dangerous about this love, yet Astrophil insists on idolizing