Role of Love in A Letter from an Unknown Woman

Answer

Role of Love in A Letter from an Unknown Woman

            Love plays an important role in everyday life. Love, although common, is a complex emotion which has baffled many. While it seems so simple and easy, it has proven, time and again, that it is anything but simple. In the novella by Stefain Zweig, Letter from an Unknown Woman, the role of love is critically examined. The novella attempts to answer the important role love plays in a society in different contexts. Love plays a fundamental role in our lives as it brings about freedom and happiness. This essay attempts to assess the role of love in A Letter from an Unknown Woman.

The opening chapter of A Letter from an Unknown Woman starts with a mysterious woman lamenting how her son whom she cared for a lot is dead. The mother describes how she tended to the sick child for three days and three nights as he battles fever evidenced by the quote, “My child died yesterday — for three days and three nights I wrestled with death for that tender little life.... hot body with fever (Zweig S. 4).” This quote encompasses the nature of a mother’s love for her child. She at first refused to believe her little boy was no more and immersed herself in denial. This shows that love brings hope where there is none. The author expertly details the lengths mothers will go in taking care of their children. A mother’s love is one of nature’s strongest weapons, and the author leads us to believe that the woman did everything in her powers to make sure her son get well.    

            Another instance of love that Stefan Zweig manipulates in both A Letter from an Unknown Woman and “The Debt Paid Late” is that of infatuation. Infatuation plays a major role in both female and male characters and their feelings towards those they adore and love. In A Letter from an Unknown Woman, the female character was hopelessly in love with the charming and successful male character, only referred to as R, ever since she laid her eyes on him. The then thirteen-year-old is drawn to the irresistible, charming young man living across the hall. The girl is drawn by his lifestyle; after all, he is a successful author who lives alone. Ironically, the fact that he usually comes home with different elegant ladies seems to increase his appeal to her even more. The girl is naive and would occasionally lurk around her ‘beloved,’ but did not seem to notice her existence. This hopeless infatuation and naive feelings of love lead her to throw herself on him, consequently leading them to spend three nights of passion together where during this time is when their son was conceived.

Moreover, the fact that the lady knew that her lover would not recognize him is a testament that infatuation plays a huge role in love in that it masked the flaws that R possessed as the love was one-sided since R, the writer, meant the world to her while simultaneously R had no idea she even existed. The quote, “I speak only to you; for the first time... a life that has always been yours although you never knew it” (Zweig S. 5) shows that without infatuation the love she had for R would have never existed. “The Debt Paid late” follows a similar path as the young woman was hopelessly infatuated by the actor she met when she was a young lady. She was in love with him during her childhood and was shocked to find him as a joke and out of her love even in her adulthood she vowed to change him. This is evidence that infatuation helps in masking one’s obvious flaws.

Lastly, lust plays a huge role in A letter from an Unknown Woman. It can be argued that most one-sided relationships are fuelled by lust one side and infatuation on the other (Zheng, A. 183). R, the writer who the lady fell in love with, was a philanderer and womanizer. Furthermore, the lady who wrote the letter was frequently courted by rich and powerful men who wished to marry her because of her beauty. In the novella lust played a role in contributing to the sadness and dysfunctional lifestyle of the female character. This shows that theirs was a physical desire devoid of any emotion or love (Leonti et al., 567). Moreover, R only used the lady for sexual favors as he was too self-conceited even to notice her and she was his neighbor. In addition, R never recognized when they spent the night together the second time yet he had earlier spent three passionate nights with her. All these are evidence that R was purely driven by lust as he struggled to fulfill his physical urges by sleeping with different women. The salutations on the letter, “To you, who never knew me, which was both a salutation and a challenge (Zweig S. 3),” shows that R had no inkling on the identity of the woman. It is safe to conclude that R had sired a lot of children he had no idea of as he never realized he had a son until after receiving the letter.

In conclusion, Stefan Zweig showcases different contexts of love in society. In my opinion, infatuation plays a huge role as it makes sane people act abnormally in the name of love. Love may take on different roles in one’s life depending on the situation. Love may take the role of being a freedom giver as we can never truly be free without first loving ourselves. Moreover, lust also plays a part in infatuation and love life of individuals. The author shows that physical desires can be used to take advantage of one’s emotion and feelings as shown by the fact R spent three nights with the lady and after that, did not even remember her while the lady thought of R as the love of her life.