Original artwork, not a still
Great Expectations • 1861
“I’ll tell you,” said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, “what real love is. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter – as I did!”
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This speaker defines real love as complete surrender, even to someone who hurts you. It's a bleak picture: devotion and trust given against all evidence, with the heart handed over to the one doing the damage. She presents it as her own bitter experience.
Context reviewed
