Symbolism is used by many authors and poets to describe the underlying themes of their works. A literary symbol is something that serves to represent something else. The use of symbolism can help the reader infer a much deeper message that is not visible to the naked eye. This literary process is used by Marie de France in “Laustic” and by Shakespeare in “Othello”. These two works both have true love between two characters, as well as a constant battle to experience that love due to the extenuating circumstances present. In Laustic and Othello, Mary of France and Shakespeare use symbolism to depict the underlying themes of true love and the struggle for love. True love exists in both “Othello” and “Laustic.” However, in both works this love is constantly in conflict with external forces. In “Laustic”, a knight highly appreciated for his correction shares adjoining houses with another knight known for his courage and heroism. The wife of the most thoughtful knight shares undying love with the other knight. Their love cannot be shared with each other because of the marriage between the knight and the woman and because of the proximity of the two houses. The two can only see each other from their bedroom windows when the husband falls asleep at night. Here they sometimes exchanged gifts and looked at each other dreaming of their love. She uses the excuse that she is standing by the window so she can listen to the nightingale singing. Without the nightingale's song, she would have no reason to stand near the window and therefore would not be able to see her true beloved. The symbolism of Mary of France from the song of the nightingale can be seen as symbolizing the great...... middle of paper ......sense to realize what cannot be seen with the naked eye. Both Shakespeare and Mary of France use the literary device known as symbolism to depict the underlying themes of the struggle for love and true love that are present in their literary works. Works Cited Ross, Lawerence J. "The Meaning of Strawberries in Shakespeare". Renaissance Studies 7 (1960): 225-40. JSTOR. Internet. December 11, 2010. Andrews, Michael C. “The Handkerchief Once More.” Studies in English Literature 2nd ser. 13 (1973): 273-84. JSTOR. Internet. December 10, 2010. Sutton, Brian. “Another sort of the same thing”: Marie de France’s Laustic and Glaspell’s Bagatelles. Explainer 66.3 (2008): 170-174. Premier Academic Research. EBSC. Internet. 4. Nov. Lawall, Sarah N. and Maynard Mack. “Lanval.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3:00 p.m.-4:50 p.m. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.