sonnet 30 fire and ice

Love is a majestic relationship between humans. Are their conditions for a man and women in order to love one another? Does a woman have to have the same interest and beliefs as a man in order to love him and vice versa? That is not true because people tend to be attracted to other people that are complete opposites. In Sonnet 30 by Edmund Spencer the speaker describes himself as fire and the woman he is attracted to is ice. Fire and ice cannot coexist but the writer’s desire for ice does not fade away even though as fire he can melt what he desires most. It can be suggested then that humans are attracted to their own weaknesses, but in the poem ice makes fire burn even brighter and fire polishes ice.

            The speaker can be pursuing ice to obtain balance. Humans desire love because they lack something. This desire will push people to go against the odds and fight for what they want. Why fight for something that is so indifferent when compared to you? In science, oppositely charged particles attract each other just like a mere commoner can win the love of a princess. The reasoning supporting this can be found in lines nine to twelve, “What more miraculous thing may be told that fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:
and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,
should kindle fire by wonderful device?

 The commoner and princess represent fire and ice and are of completely different worlds, but that is what brings them together.

            Love is a method of filling in the weak spots in one’s life. Most people excel at one thing and improve at it, in doing so they allow another trait to decline. The trait that becomes dull can range from social skills to self happiness. In love, opposites attract so the trait that declines will improve because the void will be filled by the other person. There is an utter acceptance to learn and change in order to keep the revolving door of love spinning.   

            Love is not meant to be associated with pain but it is. The emotions someone encounters in love can be beautiful but they can also cause a pain that is like no other. In love there is death and with death comes pain and loss. The writer pursues love because he desires the ice but if the ice were to melt it would cause him devastating pain. Love can be a double edged sword in the way that it can be so grand and perfect at one point and then ugly and depressing at another.

            Love is a rare function in life that does not have conditions. Opposites like fire and ice will continue to attract each other to fulfill and improve each other’s flaws. In hindsight just like a mother would sacrifice herself for her child, ice would melt for fire.