Love as harmful or love as enhancer. As I read these literary pieces, such as Proust's Swann In Love and Marquez's Love In The Time Of Cholera, I couldn't help but continually see love implicitly portrayed as harmful. I was able to find a great example of love as an enhancer in Loves Knowledge by Nussbaum. Love alters our judgments and makes us do ridiculous things that we only do when we are in love. The compromised nature of our mind can be beautifully displayed in the most innocent way or completely strange and misleading. But when it is strengthened, a beautiful cognition of one's self occurs. A jolt of something so real and omniscient happens, a cataleptic impression. In Nussbaum's Loves Knowledge, love is shown as an enhancer. In this particular case it was about love as an enhancer of knowledge of one's own state of mind. Marcel, when he learns of Albertine's departure, says: «I had believed I would leave nothing out, like a rigorous analyst; I had thought I knew the state of my heart” (Nussbaum, 162). Marcel believes he is not in love with Albertine, but requires “this kind of examination…for the necessary self-knowledge” (Nussbaum, 162) in order for him to come to terms with the truth of his heart. The scrutiny described is a form of self-deception, Nussbaum says. Marcel had to go through a cataleptic experience; an anguish, a new, immense jolt, a physical blow... to the heart, like a bolt of lightning, to make himself responsible for what he really felt for Albertine and her departure. All of this comes as a “recognition of his love” (Nussbaum 268). Nussbaum explains that there are elements of both discovery and creation here as Marcel has this experience...... middle of paper ...... The duty to demonstrate loyalty or its opposite floods Swann's mind with thoughts about who, what and why Odette is doing this. The constant search for evidence exhausts Swann and drives him crazy. Just another example of how sometimes your duty while in love can backfire and cause cognitive dissonance in your thoughts resulting in 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. Head beyond heels by Timothy Reckart. Columbus, Ohio. 2014. Essay.Garcia, Márquez. Love in the time of cholera. New York: Vintage International 2003. Print.Nussbaum, Martha. Love Knowledge. Print.Proust, Marcel. Swann's way. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, INC, 2002. Print.