La Belle Dame sans Merci | Themes
Unrequited Love
With its forlorn, heartbroken narrator suffering the pangs of embarrassment, “La Belle Dame sans Merci” appears to tell readers about the universal situation known as unrequited love. While love felt equally by two parties is a celebrated event in stories and song, unrequited love occurs when the love felt by one person is much stronger than that felt by the person who is loved. The root “requite” comes from “to repay,” which indicates a balance that one expects in a love relationship and the sense of unfairness when one person “pays” love out...
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