Chelsea Tang
Ms. Bertenshaw
ENG2D1-01
15/10/15
The Killer of Love Love is a powerful and wonderful thing to experience, even though this element has its pros and cons. Some people are too selfish for love. They do not value their significant other well enough and they do not show effort to pursue their future in romantic and familial terms. Everyone deserves love, but some people are too selfish and push love away for their wants. They also do not value it enough to find it necessary in their lives. In addition, they do not want to pursue their love because they think that gaining materialistic things, higher status or power is more important. Therefore, people take advantage of love to earn what they desire. In both myths and the real world, there are people who are too selfish for love because they value themselves and materialistic things, higher status or power too much, therefore they are blinded by selfishness. There are two myths that display selfish lovers, “The Archer and the Moon Goddess” and “Theseus and the Minotaur”. In “The Archer and the Moon Goddess”, the selfish lover is Chang O, because “she […] realize[s] the full consequence of her selfishness [after she empties the entire contents of the bottle into her mouth]” (Kong and Wong 38). She wanted to gain godly status again, but she did not think of how Yi would suffer in hell forever. The former goddess only thought it would be a benefit for both of them if she drank the whole potion, and Yi would find happiness on earth because he loves it so much. She only thought of the benefits, not the consequences of her selfishness. This argument does not only apply to love between lovers, but it also applies to the love between family members. One can be blinded by the love for their lover, so they sometimes tend to forget about their family’s love. To prove this argument, Theseus mourns for leaving Ariadne, but he forgets about his father whom is back in Athens, because “he forg[ets] to hoist the white sail that would give his father hope of his return” (O’Rahilly 5). The hero is too distracted by mourning for Ariadne, but he forgets about his father’s love and hope for him to return. He is selfish for only mourning for Ariadne, but he does not mourn for his father, and instead forgets about him. Selfishness might be love’s greatest enemy, because people cannot love if they either always put themselves before others, or they put their significant other before their family. Some people tend to think love is not as important as higher status, power or objects they own or want, so they do not value love as much as they value their wants or what they have. Therefore, people do not value love enough. Some characters in myths value some things more than love, or they do not value their loved ones enough. Like Theseus, “[when he] left Ariadne on the island of Naxos, where some say the god Dionysus claimed her as his bride” (O’Rahilly 5). As you can see, Ariadne’s love for Theseus is not valued enough by him. If Theseus loved and valued Ariadne more, he would have fought for her, whether it was against a god (in this case, Dionysus) or not, because love can overcome any obstacle if you try your best to fight for it. Characters do not value their loved ones enough, as they are blinded by their want for power or materialistic things. For example, Chang O reasons that Yi would find happiness without her because he loves earth so much, and because she thinks it would be a benefit for them both, “[…] she decide[s] she wants to return to her former godly self” (Kong and Wong 38). Due to her choice, this proves that Chang O does not value Yi enough. Yi displays strong effort to obtain the potion for both his wife and himself because he loves and values her, but either selfishness and lack of value was in Chang O’s way, or she does not value Yi enough to overcome her wanting for godly status. Everyone makes mistakes, but they sometimes make the mistake of thinking that objects, power or higher status possesses more value and matter more to them than sacrifice and love. People do not pursue love enough. They do not try hard enough to push further their love for their families or lovers. Some do not think love is more important than their wants or needs, so they pursue their own choices and wants, instead of sacrificing their wants. For instance, Chang O thinks that “[Yi] would be able to find happiness even without her” (Kong and Wong 38). She did not think of the consequences, and only thought of benefits. Chang O only pursued her want for godly status, instead of sacrificing her wants for Yi’s love and companionship. She thinks that the potion that makes her immortal as a goddess is more important than Yi, so she finds excuses (disguised as “benefits”) to drink the potion, like how Yi would be happy on earth even without her, because he seems to love earth so much. Therefore, love is not pursued enough to be thought there would be a future for them in either romantic or familial terms. In addition, Sedna from “Eskimo Mythology: The Creation of the World” has been abandoned by her parents because she is a monster. Parents should love their children no matter what they are or how they behave. Sedna “grew at such a fantastic rate that it soon became obvious to her parents that they had brought a monster into the world. […] The giants decided that they must destroy her” (The Creation of the World 1). If Sedna’s parents really loves her, then they would try to do everything in their power to heal her and pursue their love for Sedna, instead of abandoning her in the sea after cutting off her greedy fingers. Everyone should pursue love if they truly love their family or loved ones. Love may be a beautiful element, but people may be incompatible with it due to their selfishness, lack of value for love and their want to pursue higher status, power or materialistic things instead of sacrificing it all for love. It all sums up to one thing; some prefer to stay alone and have power over someone or something rather than to either self-sacrifice or sacrifice what they want for love. Selfishness is what prevents love, so next time you develop love for someone, consider your selfishness to test yourself whether you will choose to sacrifice everything for them or not, because you might be fated to be like one of the selfish characters.

Works Cited
Kong, Shiu L., and Elizabeth K. Wong. The Archer and the Moon Goddess. N.p. Print.
O’Rahilly, Gavin. Theseus and the Minotaur. N.p. Print.
Eskimo Mythology. The Creation of the World. N.p. Print.