The Four Types Of Love By C. S. Lewis

Improved Essays
Love is something that most, if not all, people around the globe have given or received at some point of their lives. It is something we crave to experience and some spend their entire lives in search of someone to love or who will love them. But what is love? Many debate on whether love is a feeling or a decision. Is love something you can say about the things we like, such as foods and colors, or should it be used only for the people we truly love? Should you constantly remind the people you love that you love them or can the word be over used and lose its meaning? There are so many questions about love and what it is. C. S. Lewis dedicated a whole book just to love and what it is. In his book he theorized that there are four different types …show more content…
People have affectionate feelings towards their animals, possessions, nature, or anything else. Lewis says, “Affection almost slinks or seeps through our lives. It lives with humble, un-dress, private things; soft slippers, old clothes, old jokes, the thump of a sleepy dog 's tail on the kitchen floor, the sound of a sewing-machine, a gollywog left on the lawn.” (The Four Loves 32). People are affectionate towards things that are familiar and comfortable and sometimes things that may not be necessarily comfortable in the beginning but become an essence of someone or …show more content…
It is not interest in something that holds the attention but it is love for the familiar and comfortable. That is why it is possible to still like our old things that we don 't use anymore but just like to have them in a corner where we can see it every once in a while. Not only that, but according to Lewis Affection can grow for something that originally may have been irritating. It can grow because instead of the need to keep looking for something to hold our attention we learn to love the specific things about a person. We learn to find the good in a person despite all of their flaws and then we learn to overlook their flaws. Affection Lewis ' definition is a lasting type of love.
Affection is the love behind the other loves that allows us to overlook the things we dislike to focus on the things we like. It is the one thing that even after something is no longer new or “interesting” allows us to keep loving it and hold on to it whether that be a person or just a material

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Hamlet's Love For Ophelia

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Love is an ambiguous feeling; it is often questionable to even those experiencing it whether it does or does not exist, and yet more difficult to analyze from a third perspective. The very definition of love is subjective but at its core it is a strong attraction towards someone that you care for deeply. Shakespeare explored some themes of love in the play Hamlet, such as the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet originally did have a genuine love for Ophelia but it was lost in the midst of selfishness and revenge.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For this reason Lewis emphasis that we must not be obedience to the Eros love when he speaks most like a god (Lewis, 92). Affection love is the most animal of the loves and it’s jealously can be fierce. Its ability of fierce devotion when provoked makes this kind of love terrible when it goes unchecked in case of high devotion. In case of gift love one can give in to the affection loves demands so as to be needed rather than being the proper gift love that works to end the need. Affection love should seek to make the other person independent so that they are no longer in need.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Horney before amended her list of defense against basic anxiety, she has identified four general ways describing how people protect themselves against the feeling of being alone in a hostile world. They are affection, submissiveness, power (prestige or possession), and withdrawal. Affection: It is the search for love, but it’s not always a pure and authentic love. Sometimes people try to buy love with self-effacing compliance, material things, or sexual favors.…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Four Loves Analysis

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When I think of affection, I think of this warm feeling that you get deep down when you are with someone you care about. Affection is ingrained in us from the moment we are born, when we are put in our mothers arms. However, this changes and affection in our lives go through cycles. For example, we first depend on our parents, then go through a rebellious stage of self-sufficiency, and then our parents end up depending on us. Things like technology has made it difficult for families to communicate.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Above all, love is the absolute and liberating occurrence of the rill of adoration in a person while attachment is the trepidation of detachment and enslavement of an individual. Life would be full of confusion, hatred and havoc if love hadn't existed. Love is kind, patient, long lasting, selfless and knows no merit and can be manifested through many form. Attachment attempts to describe the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans and without questioning supports and fortifies love. However, attachment can also create a pathway for possession, paranoia and anxiety amongst individuals.…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adolf Hitler Outline

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We all get attached because of the brain activity going on in our brain,’’We have developed a whole industry that has grown up around , finding it,expressing it and maintaining it’’, (What is love?) Love is very complexed and it can different stages and responses. It can cause someone have a negative response or negative thought\ideas with love like if someone got left by someone they loved or losted a loved one it might be harder to say that they love someone else. But if someone has good experiences with love it may not be as hard like if they just had a kid or if they are getting married. (What Is Love?)…

    • 871 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Romeo and Juliet is the story of two star-crossed lovers who end up both tragically commiting suicide for each other's love. Each one of their families don’t approve of the forbidden love. Romeo gets banished from seeing Juliet and Juliet ends up faking her own death for Romeo. Eventually they both end up dying for each other. Love is an undeniable force of nature.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is love? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, love is “A feeling of strong or constant affection for a person; attraction that includes sexual desire; a person you love in a romantic way” (2015). Love can be shown in various ways, the love between a parent and a child, the love between a person and animal, or the love someone has for a particular object or sport, romantic love and the love that is shared between you and your partner. Love is something that is displayed everyday through gestures of kindness, caring and attention. Romantic love is a process that is grown over time whereas lust constitutes instant gratification that is fleeting and most times destructive.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reflection On Attachment

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Attachment is defined as the “strong affectionate tie we have with special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love Definition Essay

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Love is defined in many ways. Love is used to express emotions, feelings and affections. Romantic novels and movies romanticize what love is, and many people tend to be confused or create made up reality about what love really means. When people feel loved, many give value and recognize love as something that is great and true. In order to understand what love really is, there are three different words to describe the types of love: Eros, Phileo and Agape.…

    • 732 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love Concept Essay

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One may choose to look back at the words used by the Greeks in their definition of what love is, such as eros, philia, agape. Love does not only lie in one 's self but with others as well. That is to say that our love is directed towards others, whether it be through and through the notion of self love We can break love into three components, Passion underlining physical desire, sexual behavior, and arousal. This…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love in a way can be described as something that has to be felt from the deep roots of our soul. It is something that we all need and desire whether it is sexual,common or consensual. You see, everybody shows their love and affection different from each other, nobody is the same. However the question that keeps getting brought up is, what exactly is this thing we call love? At the start of the symposium each of the philosophers and poets start to explain what the concept of love is to each one of them.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is love in your eyes? In my view there is three different types of love. There is the love of family and friends, love of a pet, and love for your significant other. In my first essay concept essay I explained the three different definitions of love. The two most important ones are the love of your family and the love for your boyfriend or girlfriend.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Love is such a strong word used in our society today. By definition it means a feeling of deep intense affection. This definition is actual seen as a noun which is what most people see love as. Love can be used to describe either a person or an object, but is the noun version of love the best way to describe it? I believe love as a verb would serve as a stronger and more desirable meaning.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Definition Of Love Essay

    • 2074 Words
    • 8 Pages

    According to the Webster dictionary, love is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person. To myself, love cannot be defined in a straightforward sentence. Love goes beyond being a sensation, instead it is a lifestyle change. When one loves someone or something their actions will modify and one considers this love in every decision they choose. Love is a persistent entity that runs through your…

    • 2074 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays

Related Topics