Love and Motivation

The word “love” may be one of the most difficult words in the English language to define. Perhaps this is because there are so many different variations and feelings associated with love. In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Eudora Welty’s story “A Worn Path,” and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, there is a distinct contrast between the love, or lack thereof, felt by the main characters and what these feelings motivate them to do.

The title character in “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” is a wealthy yet cowardly man. His wife Margot clearly wears the pants in the family and is in complete control of the relationship. When the couple goes on an African safari, Francis’s cowardice becomes more apparent than ever. While on a hunting trip with their guide, Robert Wilson, Macomber wounds a lion and runs away in fear. Wilson is appalled by Macomber’s sportsmanship, and his wife derides him for being a coward. Margot seduces Wilson and even goes as far to sneak out of the tent with her husband to be with him. She makes sure that Francis is aware of her in

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There are many variations of love. In the play, two “star-crossed lovers” end their lives because of their family’s hatred for each other. Another example of the theme of love can be found in William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Francis is in now control and Margot is afraid of her husband’s newfound confidence and bravery. Margot has been watching this entire scene from the car. Love is not just a feeling; it is something that a person is willing to do something for. It can cause people to do things they never thought possible, whether it be killing someone as Margot Macomber did, overcoming a physical challenge as in “A Worn Path,”

or ending your life for love as in Romeo and Juliet. They include crossing a creek on a log, facing memory loss, going through a barbed-wire fence, confronting a scarecrow, running from a dog, and falling into a ditch.

These two stories express two extreme variations of love and what love can motivate a person to do. The trip is physically difficult for her and she must use all of her strength to reach her destination. This causes him to achieve a feeling of happiness that he has never known before. An elderly African American lady leaves her country home for a long and treacherous journey to town to obtain medicine for her ill stricken grandson. Most importantly, love lasts through

hardships. Margot needed the financial security that Francis could provide her with.

Approximate Word count = 749
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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