THE 8 TYPES OF LOVE IN LITERATURE (WITH EXAMPLES) - LITERATURE - 2025

Among the main types of love that develop in literature, tragic, impossible, idealized, courteous, reciprocal, sensual love, among others, stand out. His presence has given meaning to existence itself, being cataloged by many as the engine of the physical and spiritual world.

Long before the invention of writing, man's life revolved around love and the passions that it implies. Hundreds of stories related to the different cosmogony were transmitted from generation to generation talking about the love nexus between a woman and a man -or a goddess and a god- that gave way to other gods and, to a certain extent, to humanity.

Romeo and Juliet

As soon as writing appeared in Mesopotamia, 5,000 years ago, one of the first themes to be captured on clay tablets was the love between the god Apsu and the goddess Tiamat, and how the other gods were born from their union. This is repeated in the rest of the cosmogony of the peoples that bordered the Mediterranean.

With the development of civilizations and the need to explain where we come from, the next thing was to talk about the common loves that knocked on the doors of men.

Thousands of books have been written about it, with hundreds of plots and stories that demonstrate how strong the love bond between two human beings can be.

Types of love in literature and their characteristics

Tragic love

It is one of the most used types of love in literary creations. The writers describe fateful relationships marked by pain and suffering, and usually ending in death and desolation.

Perhaps the most unfortunate thing about this type of love is the fact that the protagonists cannot escape these, because there is a kind of divine design or destiny that ties them to meet and end up destroyed.

In many cases, the fatality not only corresponds to the lovers, but also to their families and relatives. You do not get out of one suffering when you are entering another.

Example

Under the same star, by Jonh Green, is a contemporary literary work that deals with two young people who suffer from cancer and fall in love, and who do not see their condition as an impediment to daring to live with intensity.

Despite their spirits and the forces with which they fight, doom appears doing its own thing.

Idealized love

These types of works are about love in its most perfect state. The being who is in love almost never achieves his dream of being with the person he loves; in fact, he doesn't feel worthy of having it. The recipient of love is seen as something unattainable, resembling the divine.

Although it seems strange, it is more common than it seems in real life, as it shows what happens in the minds of human beings when falling in love begins.

A need arises to deify the person you love, attributing characteristics that you do not possess but are a reflection of what you want that person to be.

Example

In Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, the love that Florentino Ariza professes for Fermina Daza is heavenly. He is rejected several times and still persists, having her as the most perfect of creation.

Although in the end Florentino manages to be with his love, this happens in old age and having lost practically all his life in waiting.

Impossible love

Of all, this is perhaps the most painful kind of love in literature. The protagonists know of the existence of the person they consider their other half but, no matter how hard they try, they will never be able to specify their feelings due to circumstances beyond their control.

Example

In Johann Wolfang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, the plot of a man madly in love with a woman who is engaged is presented.

Events get complicated because the woman's fiancé is a friend of the protagonist. Young Werther walks away to appease his pain, but when he returns and sees the consummate love, he cannot bear it and decides to end his life.

Sensual love

This type of love concerns the erotic and the sexual, the irremediable physical attraction. Lovers are unable to resist each other.

They are narratives with high explicit and carnal content. Although love is consumed, the endings are not necessarily happy.

Example

The erotic novel The Memories of a Woman of Pleasure, by John Cleland, was published in 1748. The author captured the plot in such a torrid way that it is considered the first pornographic work written in prose.

Despite having been banned and trying to be eliminated for being considered grossly rude, with the passing of time it became a benchmark of contemporary sensual literature.

Polite love

This type of literary love is taken from the feudal era, and it is in that historical moment where it is usually contextualized.

The woman is perceived as a superior being to whom she is worshiped. She can be bloody and ruthless at the time of being courted, but when she gives in to love she becomes docile, becoming an excellent lover.

Love is not necessarily reciprocated in these plots, as well as it does not respond to parameters of respect for laws and social customs, the presence of lovers, hidden and forbidden loves being very common. It also tends to present the impossible loves between opposing social classes.

Example

In Cárcel de amor, by Diego San Pedro, the author is one more character; it is considered an autobiographical fiction. Diego is an intercessor for the protagonist, who is unfairly judged for claiming the love of the king's daughter.

A well marked allegorical language is used, the dualities in the behavior of the female protagonist are clearly denoted in her role as a ruthless figure and then as a receptive woman.

Reciprocal love

In this type of love there is correspondence between the lovers and they manage to consummate their love, but this does not imply that the end is the ideal one. Normally the plot tends to complicate things to make it more striking and to catch the reader.

Example

You could say that William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is the most iconic novel in the Anglo-Saxon language and one of the most important pieces of literature in the world.

The love of the young protagonists can be framed in several of the categories that are presented here; However, it also fits perfectly in this line since the lovers corresponded entirely, although the plot made things impossible for them.

Tyrant love

This type of love is presented in literary works with a great despotic denotation. It could be considered a "pseudo-love" and enter what is known as an obsession.

Characters who have this kind of love are ruthless and selfish. His "I" is above all to satisfy his whims and desires even above the needs of the loved one.

Example

The novel Misery, by Stephen King, shows the story of a famous writer who suffers an accident, leaving his legs temporarily disabled. Then he is rescued, causally, by his number one fan.

The woman is a nurse who is obsessed with the writer, and noticing that the latest literary work of her icon does not fit what she expected, she leaves him prisoner at home and tortures him continuously.

Filial love

This type of love is presented in literature to capture the feeling that exists between the members of a family, either between siblings, between parents and children or vice versa.

It does not have any sense of a sexual nature; it simply represents the strong ties that unite people through blood.

Example

Philip Roth's autobiographical novel Heritage, starkly depicts a son's love for his aging father when life brings him to the brink of death.

The father the protagonist is diagnosed with brain cancer, so the son does not hesitate to settle in the retirement home where his father is staying to give him the well-deserved care during his last days.

It is a novel that shows the strong ties between a father and a son, the fragility of life and the importance of the family.

Importance of love in literature

Love is an inexhaustible literary resource. It should be clear that in a large literary production, such as a novel, not all types of love that appear are the same.

In the case of this article, the aforementioned novels feature the aforementioned type of love, but inevitably, the rest of the types of love are presented on a lesser scale and intensity.

It should be understood that the feeling of two lyrical characters or subjects can present traits of different types of literary love.

For example: in Romeo and Juliet we find tragedy, but at the same time with mutual love that, in the long run, becomes impossible. Not all types of love will be presented in one, but there will be coincidences.

References

1. Émar, V. (2016). Types of love in literature. (n / a): Valeriam Émar. Recovered from: valeriamemar.wordpress.com
2. Ahumadam, L. (2009) Types of love in literature. Chile: Literaturamor. Recovered from: literaturemor.blogspot.com
3. Monterey, R. (2013). Types of love in literature. Mexico: The reader's hour. Recovered from: lahoradelector.blogspot.com
4. Manrique Sabogal, W. (2017) Love and literature: The history of the different kinds of love in great books. Spain: Medium. Recovered from: medium.com
5. Aguilera, F. (2012). Types of love in literature. Chile: Language and communication. Recovered from: falonaguileraa.blogspot.com