"El Libro de Buen Amor"

Analytical Essay # 45595

English > Analysis
Literature > Spanish

An analysis of the theme of love in "El Libro de Buen Amor" by Juan Ruiz.

1,742 words () | 0 sources | 2003 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper analyses the Spanish novel "El Libro de Buen Amor" by Juan Ruiz with an emphasis on the meanings of the term "buen amor" ot true love. It looks at how the term "buen amor" was used in medieval Spain, in order to narrow down what in fact Juan Ruiz might have been implying every time he used it and how the term can have different meanings, courtly love, the love of God and honorable human love or divine love.

From the Paper:

"Although the word in the title is "amor" this does not simply translate as "love" because at the time love and sex were not clearly distinguished from one another and it was sometimes a synonym for sex. The book primarily instructs on how to seduce women and how to determine the most desirable woman. The question is, why is he providing sex education? And how does this stand alongside his attitude to religion and the Virgin Mary, whom he refers to as "comien'o e ra'z'de todo bien" It is clear that the work is not an attack on clerical celibacy as there is evidence that Juan Ruiz is in fact opposed to it. Juan Ruiz writes of the love of nuns, "tienen a sus amigos en viciosos" and it could be said that he fears the consequences of clerical celibacy."