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became nothing more than an object of wistful song. Surprisingly, marriage and courtly love are
both means to the same end. The end goal of both is to find happiness and peace in a world that
seems to give and take without rhyme or reason. At a time when one’s future was decided based
on alliances and dowries, it comes as no surprise that people clung to the one thing that gave
them a choice, a hope for assurance and happiness. Perhaps, in the end, the people of today are
no different. Love is what individuals make of it, and no man or woman is accountable to any
other for the decisions of his or her heart. Perhaps passion does still exist, but it is wrapped in a
veneer of popular music and young life culture. Perhaps the people of today are not so different.
Perhaps we are all still bringing the beast of love to heel.

Works Cited
Dodd, William George. Courtly Love in Chaucer and Gower. Gloucester: Harvard UP, 1959.

Print.
Fowler, Earle B. Spenser and the System of Courtly Love. New York: Phaeton, 1934. Print.
France, Marie de. “Lanval.” Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Ed. Joseph Black.

Peterborough: Broadview, 2011. 112-126. Print.
O’Donoghue, Bernard. The Courtly Love Tradition. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1982. Print.
Rougemont, Denis de. Love in the Western World. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1983. Print.