An Essay Sample on Hermaphroditus and Mygale

Love and romance many times come hand in hand as far as effective, far-reaching and impactful relationships are concerned. The effects of the two on people can be perfectly haven of enjoyment or even result in extreme and devastating relationships. It is, therefore, imperative to establish the very extent to which love can be cited as a possible cause of various romantic acts, and whether actions such rape and sex masochism are acts of romance and love.

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The texts present in the tale Hermaphroditus and Thiery Jonquets Mygale, widely discuss both contrasting and mutually argued ideas on the topic of love and romance. In fact, a reader of both may be forgiven for marveling at how precisely both literary works of art are built around the themes of love and romance. The characters in both texts are wonderfully authenticated to show various levels of romance extremisms and the ensuing consequences.

On a positive note, love is perceived by both literary works to create mountain moving and breath taking effects, involving romantic notions. The main characters in the Hermaphroditus that is, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite; and the lustful Salmacis become the first victims of the great magic pool. Unique to the pool is the capability of its waters to soften and mold together the limbs they touch; a property whose cause is less known before and even less popular after this particular event.

Salmacis great desire, a romantic desire, for the fair young boy Hermaphroditus, leads her to pursue him even into the magic pool out of great love for him. Charmed by the lovely young man she sets her eye upon, she calls all who are associated with him lucky and expresses her desire to join the fortunate lot by becoming his bride. These sentiments expressed by Salmacis point out to the pure feeling of love that has provoked a desire for romance.

As expect such instances of love can only be quenched by the pursued and nothing else. Hermaphroditus eventually gives in to the inevitable calls of romance amidst a lot of struggles and embraces and kisses the supposed bride. The resulting effect is far reaching, oneness that leads to the discovery of the magic properties of the pool. Her very desire to embrace him, have a feel of his tender body and kiss him drives her to be molded with him together into an amazing oneness of the body. The author, seemingly delighted by the ensuing events, is trying to bring out the oneness and greatness that comes from romance out of genuine love.

Mygale, on the hand, exhibits some far-fetched shreds of positive effects of love. The great love Dr. Richard Lafargue shows toward his daughter Vivianne even unto the point of insanity can be best described as infallible. As the plot continues, the author vividly reveals that the kind of perpetrations that Lafargue subjects Eve to are down to the ladys involvement in the events leading up to Lafargues daughters insanity. He believes that she is paying up for her contribution in the molestation and rape of Vivianne. Even upon realizing that Alex was as well involved in the rape that made her daughter weak and insane, he kills him by his gunshots.

Even Alex himself got this feeling that by captivating Doctor Lafargues wife, Eve, the doctor would be deeply moved to the extent that he would trade his love for her in performing a face appearance-altering surgery. This illustrates the extent to which a great drive of love for a dear one can harbor far reaching effects and extreme reactions by the parties involved.

However, there is a greatly contrasting aspect of love and romance that stands out between the two texts. In Mygale, the author reveals the spider aspect and nature of his characters, which captivate their victims and subject them to various extreme torments. The male characters in the text are driven by lust rather than love to subject their female counterparts to romance like sexual relationships that are not real up to a task. Romance in this context is perceived and used as a powerful bargain tool for self satisfaction and selfish ambitions.

Doctor Lafargue locks up Eve in one of his rooms and takes her out in the evenings for prostitution business most probably against her will. This is underlined by the whipping involved during the sexual encounter. The men with whom she shares her romance and sexual pleasure, like Varneroy, are involved in this without any drive of love but mere lust and personal satisfaction. Eve by herself does it for the money she receives, and as a payback method for her involvement in Viviannes insanity as later revealed by the author. She remains there hoping that someday she would meet up with the man she loves. Alex in his part is involved in such acts such as rape and masturbation that clearly underline his distorted perception of romance.

Precisely it comes out that love and romance are acts of great and positive impact on the lives of the people involved. However a distortion of one's perception of the two results into extremisms that can cause devastating effects to the people involved. It is, therefore, better to have binding romance such as the Hermaphroditus case, rather than ever tormenting lustful romance bondage exhibited in the Tarantula case.