Considering sacrificing the personal wishes for the sake of love the ultimate manifestation of true love is typical for the majority of writers, poets, and painters exploring the romantic themes. However, Paulo Coelho has managed to amaze the readers with a wholly new approach to exploring the nature of love and describing its role in the person’s life in his famous novel The Alchemist. Coelho demonstrates that while the love demanding the sacrifice of one’s dream is not true, the genuine love serves as a stimulus for living out the Personal Legend and achieving the happiness
The first lesson the reader learns about love while reading The Alchemist is that the wrong understanding of this feeling often becomes an obstacle on the way to the person’s pursuit of self-realization. The author shows that untrue love can stop the person from living the life full of meaning, which is essential for discovering the purpose of one’s. This step is crucial for the person’s ability to move to the next level of self-development. However, the author shows that the problem is related to people’s perception of love, not the feeling itself.
Coelho demonstrates that true love cannot prevent the person from realizing his/her dreams through the words of the alchemist: “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it’s because it wasn’t true love… the love that speaks the Language of the World” (Coelho 67). The main protagonist feels the temptation to leave his Personal Legend because of the feeling of affection towards a woman two times: after meeting the merchant’s daughter and after he falls in love with Fatima.
Though Santiago is not bounded with the merchant’s daughter by serious feelings, after meeting her he feels the desire to lead a purposeless life: “He recognized that he was feeling something he had never experienced before: the desire to live in one place forever” (Coelho 3). After meeting Fatima, the described desire appears to dominate Santiago’s plans one more time with even bigger power. Falling in love with Fatima motivates him to stay in the oasis and refuse from living his dream.
The Alchemist tells the boy that such decision will lead to the unhappiness of both Santiago and Fatima as he will regret refusing from a dream, and Fatima will feel the guilt for forcing him to do it. In such way, Coelho teaches the reader that refusing from a dream for the sake of love is the severely wrongful act. Though Santiago manages to overcome the temptation to leave his dream because of the affection and love towards a woman, the reader gets a clear impression that sacrificing one’s dream for love can be an obstacle on the way to one’s happiness and purposeful life.
Such position is unique in regard to world literature, as most writers describe the sacrifice of one’s dreams and wishes for the sake of love as the highest manifestation of true love. Coelho, on the contrary, reveals that such sacrifice serves as a proof of the untrue love, which can ruin the person’s happiness. Fatima also demonstrates the untraditional understanding of love.
While most female protagonists described in the literature strive for making their beloved ones stay with them, Fatima encourages Santiago to leave her and continue his trip: “That’s why I want you to continue toward your goal. If you have to wait until the war is over, then wait. But if you have to go before then, go on in pursuit of your dream” (Coelho 53). Such approach to true love opposes the traditional beliefs and changes the explanation of its nature.
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