Oh, romantic love. Is it the warm glow of a steady, well-protected flame? Is it the all-consuming blaze of passion? Is it what happens when two people decide to belong to each other for the rest of their lives, 'til death do them part, or is it a fever that drives its sufferers past the limits of social conventions and norms?
In Possession, romantic love takes all of these forms. Some of the novel's characters are warmed and nurtured by love, while others are singed and burned. Through it all, the novelseems to be saying that there's something fundamental and totally human about romantic love, and there's no telling when or how or why it will erupt.
Questions About Love
- Possession's narrator isn't an entirely objective observer or storyteller. How would you characterize the narrator's perspective on romantic love?
- What is it about Roland Mitchell that makes him particularly well suited to Maud Bailey?
- Apart from Roland and Maud, what other twentieth-century couples pair up in Possession, and why are they significant?
Chew on This
Leonard Cohen once sang that there ain't no cure for love, and according to Possession's narrator, there doesn't have to be. The novel implies that being swept away by love is a primal human experience: it may not always pleasant, but it's a reflection of our humanity.
Possession seems to get a pretty big kick out of thwarting its characters' plans for their own lives. Although both Roland Mitchell and Maud Bailey dream of a life that doesn't include the emotional and physical demands of romantic love, the novel draws the two of them together irresistibly.