Love as a weakener or love as a stimulant. As I read these literary works, such as Proust's Swann in Love and Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, I could not help but continually see love being implicitly portrayed as a weakener. I managed to find a great example of love as a stimulant in Nussbaum's Loves Knowledge. Love impairs our judgment and makes us do ridiculous things that we only do in love. The altered nature of our minds can be both beautifully displayed in the most innocent way or completely strange and wrong. But when it is improved, beautiful self-knowledge occurs. A jolt of something so real and all-knowing occurs, a cataleptic feeling. In Nussbaum's Loves Knowledge, love shows itself as an activator. In this particular case, it was about love as a means of improving knowledge of one's state of mind. Marcel, when he learned of Albertine's departure, said: “I thought I would leave nothing behind, like a rigorous analyst; I thought I knew the state of my own heart” (Nussbaum, 162). Marcel believes he is not in love with Albertine, but it requires "that kind of scrutiny...for the self-knowledge required" (Nussbaum, 162) for him to accept the truth of her heart. The scrutiny described is a form of self-deception, Nussbaum says. Marcel must have had a cataleptic experience; anguish, a new immense start, a physical blow... to the heart, like a thunderbolt, to make himself responsible for what he really felt towards Albertine and her departure. All this comes as a “recognition of his love” (Nussbaum 268). Nussbaum explains that there are elements of both discovery and creation here when Marcel has this experience...... middle of paper ...... The duty to prove loyalty or its countercurrent floods Swann's mind with thoughts of who, what and why Odette is doing this. The constant search for evidence exhausts Swann and drives him crazy. Just another example of how your duty in love can sometimes backfire and cause cognitive dissonance in your thoughts, leading to resentment or overthinking. Works Cited Garcia, Marquez. Love in the time of cholera. New York: Vintage International 2003. Print. Proust, Marcel. Swann in love. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, INC, 2002. Print. Krishnan, Rahul. Timothy Reckart is madly in love. Columbus, Ohio. 2014. Essay. Garcia, Marquez. Love in the time of cholera. New York: Vintage International 2003. Print. Nussbaum, Martha. Love knowledge. Print.Proust, Marcel. Swann's path. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, INC, 2002. Print.