The theme of love is omnipresent in literature; no matter what nook or cranny you're looking for in a library, it's there. However, this theme conveys much more than just kisses, heartbreak, and rampant sexual tension. It describes a culture through their passion, or lack thereof, and how they care about love; Do the characters cherish what they have, or are they careless and throw it away? Hamlet, Popol Vuh, and Candide all illustrate a story of imperfect love, but it is in the imperfections that we can understand the culture from which these stories come. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay From Europe to Guatemala, from the English to the Mayans, the love displayed in these texts gives the reader insight into how these people thought, and even show, that the modern view of love is not as different as one might think. In the 1500s, the world was constantly changing, expanding, changing, and shrinking. People, words and information traveled faster than ever between cities, countries and continents. Men explored and conquered “new worlds” that weren’t really new at all. Reforms were underway, people were increasingly concerned with moral guidance and creating a life well lived. Out of all this turmoil emerged a good old fairy tale about a prince, his love, a king and a queen and, not to mention murder. A lot. Forget a moral, well-lived life. Instead, take a castle and flood it with madness, betrayal, and death. Abandon the political logic and structure provided by Machiavelli's The Prince and replace it with anarchy. Amidst all this sadness, there is also love; which, if given enough time in this foul environment, is also reduced to death. Love in this play is multifaceted depending on each character who possesses it. The king, whose familial love – or better yet, lust for the crown and Gertrude – seemed to pass over his brother and straight into the loins of his sister-in-law. , is a dark symbol of what no love causes: evil. However, the characters who find love don't fare much better. King Hamlet's idea of ​​love is based on one's status, as his ghost illustrates by describing the love he and Gertrude shared as "that of dignity" (Simon Vol. 1, 1824). The queen is the incarnation of the naive, blonde and beautiful woman; she clings to love wherever she finds it, and once it is gone, she quickly looks for another; whether motivated by fear or loneliness, her portrayal of love is full of insincerity and, according to her son, "makes marriage vows/As false as Dicer's oaths" (1862). The ill fate of Gertrude and the king may be linked to their strong Christian views at the time. Gertrude's insincerity can be considered a lie and therefore a sin; likewise, the king's sins of murder, lying, lust, and theft can atone for the particularly terrible way in which he died: having to watch his friends, his nephew, his wife, and ultimately himself be killed. Hamlet's love for his father is probably the truest of all. For the sake of argument, adapt the theory that Hamlet only seemed mad. If this is so, his love for his father was so great that he abandoned his love for Ophelia, cut all ties with his friends (to the point of murdering them), and abandoned all concern for his public image, which as an heir, accession to the throne has a certain weight. Continuing the theoryof his fake mental illness, the letter he wrote to Ophelia could have been a desperate attempt to preserve their love through the emotional storm he knew was inevitable, seeking revenge on his father; he almost begs her to “never doubt my love” as if there were circumstances that would tempt her to do so (1834). The love that Hamlet and Ophelia share is difficult to dissect because it is surrounded by mental illness, whether on Hamlet's part or her own. Ophelia inevitably succumbs to the same madness in love that her father saw in Hamlet. However, her madness is provoked by the violence with which her loves were taken from her: her father murdered by the man she loved made their loss even more unbearable. His suicide in response to the loss of these loves shows the importance of the theme to the English: if one cannot have love, then life is not worth living. Hamlet's madness and efforts to avenge his father's death show the respect this culture has for the love and power it sees in itself. The Enlightenment brought unrest, war and anarchy. People were no longer inclined to blindly follow monarchs who claimed to rule by God's choice. For lack of a better word, people started thinking. They turned to the monarch mode of government. The unrest continued as the classes became more distinct and divided, with the wealthy aristocrats living quietly and governing the poor working masses. Religious and political differences led to rebellions and succession to thrones became the new battleground. Candide's characters seem to venture across many social classes – although they tend to linger among the less fortunate – in their mad dash across the world. Although they seem more apart than together and their situation keeps getting worse, they consider the love they have for each other as their last hope; after all, they live in “the best of all possible worlds” (Simon Vol. 2, 101). Through their journey, they see those who are much less fortunate than themselves, namely the old woman, and see that they are still capable of love and hope. This shows that in this era of English culture, the belief that although life is filled with conflict, love is the motivation to continue and love is the hope that humans need. After years of fighting against slavery, enduring brutality, and repeatedly losing each other, it was a little surprising that "deep down, Candide didn't really want to marry Cunégonde" (157). Had he seen all the evil the world had to offer and lost all hope of love? Or was he superficial and no longer physically attracted to her? Readers almost give up on true love themselves after seeing these two fight so hard for the love they had for each other, which then amounts to marrying them out of a sense of obligation; To be completely honest, what is it? This is almost a direct contradiction to the cultural belief found in the previous paragraph. Could it be that this culture is much more cynical than previously thought? They might actually believe that no matter how hard you fight for love, you will end up disappointed. In every culture, people's beliefs have many facets. There are those who have chosen to believe in love and to cherish it: the Cunégondes of the world; and there are those who abandon love and settle down: the Candids of the world. The not-so-new world that Christopher Columbus stumbled upon was about to experience a rude awakening. Their entire world is about to be ravaged by disease and.