The Definition of Love by Andrew Marvell

Love’s parentage
The opening ‘My Love’ refers to the state, not the person. Logically, we start at its beginning, its parentage. Here is the first surprise: they are abstractions! We are clearly going to be reading a highly abstract poem. ‘Despair’ and ‘Impossibility’ are definite negatives. Why? The only suggestion offered is that it is ‘for object strange and high’. Does this suggest the aristocratic origins of the beloved, as well as the quality of his love for her? Is his love elevated and outrageous, when he should be really thinking of someone of his own class and in his own league? Or is it the aristocracy of the mind? ‘Strange’ perhaps means ‘unique’ here.

Magnanimous despair
Stanza two has a wonderful oxymorons, ‘Magnanimous Despair’, leading to a wonderful paradox: how can despair ‘show him so divine a thing’, when hope could not? Here is the metaphysical wit, teasing us to get our heads round this conundrum. It could mean that because of the lady's nobility, he could never win her; but being a noble love, it is also great-hearted (the literal meaning of ‘magnanimous’), which was the highest virtue for the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. If the poet had merely ‘hoped’ for a suitable partner, he would never have allowed himself to fall in love with this lady. Despair is the price he has had to pay, but he was willing to pay it.

A philosophical interpretation
This is to imagine a definite context for the poem. A more general, more philosophical interpretation might be to suggest that only in despair lies the strength and integrity of emotion to break the lower sort of second-rate loving. Idealism both elevates and makes us aware of its unattainability.

Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman

Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is the story of Willy Loman. A sixty year old mediocre salesman living in Brooklyn, Willy Loman is a gregarious, mercurial man with powerful aspirations to success. However, after thirty-five years working as a traveling salesman throughout New England, Willy Loman feels defeated by his lack of success and difficult family life.

Willy is no doubt a loving and caring husband and father. He repeatedly calls Linda “darling”, “sweet heart”. He says to Linda,

“You’re the best there is, Linda, you’re a pal, you know that?”

Moreover, he proves his love to his sons by sacrificing his own life. However, his affair with a woman questions his love to his family.

But, Willy Loman seems a poor role model.  As a father, Willy Loman offers his sons terrible advice:

WILLY: Just wanna be careful with those girls, Biff, that's all. Don't make any promises. No promises of any kind. Because a girl, y'know, they always believe what you tell 'em.

This attitude is adopted all too well by his sons. During her son's teen years, Linda notes that Biff is "too rough with the girls." Happy grows up to become a womanizer who sleeps with women who are engaged to his managers.

Willy also condones Biff's thievery. Biff, who eventually develops a compulsion to steal things, swipes a football from his coach's locker room. Instead of disciplining his son about the theft, he laughs about the incident and says,

"Coach'll probably congratulate you on your initiative!"

Moreover, Willy Loman's Affair proves that his actions are worse than his words. Throughout the play, Willy mentions his lonely life on the road. To alleviate his loneliness, he has an affair with a woman that works at one of his client's offices. While Willy and the nameless woman rendezvous in a Boston hotel, Biff pays his father a surprise visit. Willy's son becomes ashamed and distant: His father is no longer his hero rather, he says,

"You fake! You phony little fake!"

After his role model falls from grace, Biff starts to drift from one job to the next, stealing petty things to rebel against authority figures.

         

However, Willy had a lot of potential. In his young age, he proved a strong and energetic and ‘popular’ salesman in Wagner Company under his friend, ___. But when the owner changed and Willy grows old, he is undervalued and ......... He got offered by Ben to go to Alaska where Ben became rich within  short span of time. But his inability to accept change led him not to go there. Now Willy repents for his decision,

WILLY: Sure, sure! If I’d gone with him to Alaska that time, everything would’ve been totally different.