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Love In Joseph Campbell's The Power Of Myth

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Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, two teenagers fall in love. In the end, they kill themselves over one another. Between these two teenagers, only physical attraction was present. The “star-crossed” lovers faced many trials, and ultimately lost. The lack of Amor doomed Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. In Joseph Campbell’s novel, The Power of Myth, he elaborates on the idea that there are two parts necessary to love, and one part that is not necessary, but typically occurs at the same time (232). Eros and Amor are necessary, while Agape is subsequent. Eros, or the biological urge, is the sexual desire and lust (Campbell 233). The next part of the triangle is Agape, which is “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Campbell 233).

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