Example Of Essay On Love And Happiness

There are many ways or methods of how love and happiness were depicted in artworks. One aspect that is very associated with love and happiness is the analysis of pleasure (Fiala np). The artwork’s perception of love and happiness could be determined by the evaluation or analysis of how pleasure is depicted in the artwork. In the artwork ‘Sonnet 116’by William Shakespeare, Love is depicted as unchanging and comes from the unknown. It could be observed in the lines “Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove” (Goodreads np). It could be observed that pleasure has no significant relation on love. The theme of the piece is in stoic orientation which means pleasure is not a factor in love but virtue. According to stoicism, virtue is enough in order to pursue happiness (Amir 6).
The notion of love and happiness is very complex. There are numerous perceptions about love and happiness which is associated with pleasure. When the philosophical theme is hedonism or Epicureanism, then pleasure could become a factor to pursue happiness and love (Long & Sedley 4). Pleasure is a product of virtues of life and it could be associated with the perception of love and happiness. In the ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare, love and happiness is depicted as something that could not be changed. It is a concept in which it could not be altered or removed by conditions or situations of life. It has no significant relation to pleasure but it could be achieved by accepting happiness and love to pursue pleasure. This perception of love and happiness is relatively associated with the perception of Aristotle and Plato. They believed that love and happiness depends on the individual itself (Naugle 1).

Works Cited:

Amir, L. Plato’s Theory of Love: Rationality as Passion. Practical Philosophy. 2001. Print.
Fiala, Andrew. Peace Love and Happiness. Philosophy Now. 2014. Web. https://philosophynow.org/issues/105/Peace_Love_and_Happiness.
Goodreads. Shakespeare’s Sonnet Quotes. Nd. Web. http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1118349-sonnets.
Long A., & Sedley, D. The Hellenistic Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1987. Print.
Naugle, D. The Platonic Concept of Love: The Symposium. 2010. Web. http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/platonic_love.pdf.