“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes (1906) recounts the tragic romance between a highwayman (robber on horseback) and a landlord’s daughter Bess. After soldiers ambush the inn and take Bess hostage, she kills herself to warn her lover. Upon hearing of her death, the highwayman tries to get revenge but is killed. However, the two reunite as ghosts.
The quote “true love is sacrifice- it is in giving, not in getting ; in losing, and in gaining; in realising, not in possessing, that we love” is underscored in Alfred Noyes poem “the highway man”.
The quote beautifully reflects the sacrificial nature of love demonstrated by Bess in Alfred Noyes’s poem, “The Highwayman”.
Her love for the Highwayman is an act of pure giving, not of getting. When she sees her lover riding into a deadly trap set by the soldiers, she makes the ultimate sacrifice. By taking her own life to fire a warning shot, she is “losing” her own life so he might “gain” his. Her love is not possessive; it is a deep realization of her devotion, underscored by this selfless act.
Buy the book The Highwayman (Oxford Children’s Classics) here
Bess is a character of profound inner strength and selfless devotion, whose love is an act of supreme sacrifice. The Highwayman’s love is a deep, passionate bond that drives him to tragedy.
The attitude towards love of the main characters here is in sharp contrast to the attitude of the female character in Leigh Hunt’s poem, “The Glove and the Lions”.
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