The theme of love is omnipresent in literature; no matter what nook or cranny you look in a library, it's there. However, this theme conveys much more than just kisses, heartbreak, and rampant sexual tension. It describes a culture through their passion, or lack thereof, and how they care for love; the characters appreciate what they have, or they are careless and throw it away. Hamlet, Popol Vuh, and Candide all exemplify a story with imperfect love, but it is in the imperfections that we gain understanding of the culture from which these stories emerged. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay From Europe to Guatemala, from the English to the Mayans, the love shown in these texts gives the reader an inside look into these people's way of thinking and even shows that the modern view of love is not as different as you might think. In 1500 the world was constantly evolving, expanding, metamorphosing and shrinking at the same time. People, words and information were traveling faster than ever between cities, countries and continents. Men explored and conquered “new worlds” that weren't actually new at all. Reforms were occurring, people were increasingly interested in moral guidance and creating a life well lived. In all this commotion emerged a good old-fashioned tale about a prince, his love, a king and queen, and not to mention murder. Very much. Forget about a moral, well-lived life. Instead, take a castle and flood it with madness, betrayal, and death. Discard the logic and political structure introduced by Machiavelli's The Prince and replace it with anarchy. In the midst of all this sadness, there is also love; who, given enough time in this contested environment, is also beaten to death. Love in this play is multi-faceted with each character possessing it. The king, whose familial love – or better yet, lust for the crown and Gertrude – seemed to leap past his brother and straight into his sister-in-law's loins. , is a dark symbol of what no love entails: evil. However, those characters who find love don't fare much better. King Hamlet's idea of ​​love depends on one's status, as his ghost exemplifies by describing the love he and Gertrude shared as “that of dignity” (Simon Vol. 1,1824). The queen is the epitome of the naive, blonde and beautiful woman; clings to love, wherever he finds it, and once it's gone, quickly searches for another; whether driven by fear or loneliness, her portrayal of love is insincere and, according to her son, "makes marriage vows / As false as the oaths of a dice" (1862). The unfortunate fate of Gertrude and the King can be linked to the strong Christian opinions of those at the time. Gertrude's insincerity can be considered a lie and therefore a sin; similarly, the king's sins of murder, lying, greed, and theft may atone for the particularly terrible way in which he died, having to watch his friends, nephew, wife, and ultimately himself be killed. Hamlet's love for his father is probably the truest of all. For the sake of argument, adapt the theory that Hamlet only appeared to be mad on the surface. If so, his love for his father was so great that he threw away his love for Ophelia, cut off all ties with his friends (to the point of killing them) and gave up all care about his public image, which as heir to the throne he quite a bit of weight. Continuing with the theory of his false mental illness, the letter he wrote to Ophelia could have been a desperate attempt to preserve their love through the emotional storm he knew was inevitableseeking revenge for his father; he is almost begging her to "never doubt that I love" as if there were circumstances tempting her to do so (1834). The love that Hamlet and Ophelia share is difficult to analyze because it is shrouded in mental illness, both on Hamlet's part and his. Ophelia inevitably succumbs to the same love madness that her father saw in Hamlet. But her madness is determined by the violence with which her loves were taken from her: the murder of her father at the hands of the man she loved made their loss even more unbearable. His suicide in response to the loss of these loves shows the importance of the theme to the English: if you cannot have love, then life is not worth living. Hamlet's madness and efforts to avenge his father's death show the respect this culture has for love and the power they see it possesses. The Enlightenment brought unrest, war and anarchy. People were no longer inclined to blindly follow monarchs who claimed to rule by God's choice. For lack of a better word, people began to think. They opted for the monarch mode of government. The turmoil continued as classes became more distinct and divided with wealthy aristocrats living in leisure and ruling over the poor working masses. Religious and political differences caused rebellions and the succession to the throne became the new battlefield. The characters in Candide seem to venture across many social classes – even if they tend to linger in the less fortunate ones – in their mad dash around the world. Even though they seem to be more separated than together and their situation continually worsens, they keep the love they feel for each other as their last hope; after all, they live in the “best of all possible worlds” (Simon Vol. 2, 101). During their journey they see those who are much less fortunate than them, that is, the old woman, and they see that they are still capable of loving and hoping. This shows that in this era in English culture, the belief that although life is full of conflict, love is the motivation to continue and love is the hope that human beings need was prevalent. After years of fighting slavery, enduring brutality, and losing each other a few times, it was a bit of a surprise that "deep down, Candide had no real desire to marry Cunégund" (157). Had he seen all the evil the world had to offer and lost hope in love? Or was he superficial and no longer physically attracted to her? Readers almost give up on true love themselves after seeing these two fight so hard for the love they had for each other and then tantamount to getting married out of a feeling of obligation; to be honest, what the hell? This is almost a direct contradiction to the cultural belief found in the previous paragraph. Could it be that this culture is much more cynical than previously thought? In fact, they may believe that no matter how much you fight for love, you will end up disappointed. In every culture, there are many aspects of what people believe. There are those who have chosen to believe in love and love it: the Cunégondes of the world; and there are those who give up on love and are satisfied: the Candids of the world. The not-so-new world that Christopher Columbus stumbled upon was about to have a rude awakening. Their entire world was about to be ravaged by diseases and weapons they had never seen before. In the 1500s, European countries began their descent into Central and South America. Despite the violence and death they brought with them, an appreciation of culture and literature has preserved texts such as the Popol Vuh. Popol Vuh is different from Candide and Hamlet in that there is almost no love. At first the gods want to be worshiped, so they try to.