ove may or may not grow after marriage.
Unlike these non-western societies, Americans learn much of their culture through cinema.
Romantic love has been portrayed in visual arts of western culture for centuries, such as operas,
plays, dramas, paintings and films. Although these arts directly influence culture, most view art as
an illusion as well as an escape from reality. Yet Americans still believe that romantic love is
tangible and serves as a solid base for marriage. While examining the psychology of romantic love
and how it became a cultural adaptive base for marriage in America, this essay argues that romantic
love needs to be questioned and learned rather than taken for granted, or this passion will continue to
fail American marriage. Similarly, as Raymond Powell explains how Shakespeare’s depiction of
romantic love is seen as a “fragile instability, the way its narrow intensities can so easily be diverted
into hysteria, derangement, and destructive monomania” (Powell 582). A famous example of the
destructive nature that can accompany romantic love is Shakespeare’s Othello. Throughout this
paper Othello will be used to show how overwhelming passion, when not fully understood, can cause
negative marital outcomes