"against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness..."

1 October 2022: "According to my experience, the conventional notion of a lover cannot be always true. The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I loved her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection." --Pip, in Great Expectations

Reading this with my Victorian Lit class and find myself struck--as always--by Dickens' insight and understanding here.