Time as metaphor in writings about love desire and death

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: 20 University of Nottingham course: Early Modern Love language: English abstract: 1. IntroductionThe Renaissance was an exciting age. It was a time of exploration and discovery. People were eager for knowledge and keen on unravelling fundamental mysteries that make up their existence: What is Man? Which position does he take in the universe? What is he there for at all? Why is life so short? What is love?Without generations being so inquisitive and inquiring human progress would have come to a standstill. Luckily people increasingly became aware of the fact that they are an integral part of nature's changing course and controlled by an external force which is far beyond their power: time.In this essay the concept of time is of utmost interest. It shall serve as a microscope to examine literary and theoretical writings that deal with such fundamental issues like love desire and death. Their readings are presented from a fascinating angle where time functions as a metaphor. To this end three core texts will be explored: William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet and his narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece and Sigmund Freud's Mourning and Melancholia. Before we embark upon a 'metaphorical reading' I present an interesting framework that will come in useful when we investigate the texts. First we study the relationship between time and metaphor.2. Metaphorizing timeLet us imagine an elderly long-bearded man dressed in a robe. He is bald but he has a forelock of hair. With him he carries a scythe and an hourglass. Sometimes he is depicted cradling a baby in his arms ... This mythical figure is commonly known as Father Time.This example vividly shows how abstract ideas like that of time lose their obscurity and become more apprehensible by means of personification. However ungraspable the notion of time may be personifying facilit