ACCURSED. o h m an oh mAN u asked this, of all the things WELL LISTEN UP BLUE, u have opened a VERY big u kno can of whatever shit on adam’s part, because this is mESSY.
let’s start with the whole thing about greeks & love : the greeks recongnised different types of love & i will address this in sections pertaining to adam & each type of love.
agápe ( ἀγάπη agápē ) means “love: esp. charity ; the love of GOD for man & of man for GOD.“ agape is used in ancient texts to denote feelings for one’s children & the feelings for a spouse, & it was also used to refer to a love feast. agape is used by christians to express the unconditional love of GOD for his children. this type of love was further explained by thomas aquinas as “to will the good of another.“
in a previous headcanon, i made note of adam’s beliefs as a catholic ; a terrible one, as he was prone to sin, but he was & remains catholic nonetheless. adam in this regard does display this love for god, he loves god deeply & believes god must love him, as he had been given many gifts ; beauty, intelligence, & divine right to rule, as he is the dauphin & will eventually be king. all of this form of love initially is found exclusively in adam’s religious views, although after belle arrives, the spousal association comes into play.
eros ( ἔρως érōs ) means “love, mostly of the sexual passion.“ the modern greek word ”erotas“ means “intimate love.” plato refined his own definition : although eros is initially felt for a person, with contemplation it becomes an appreciation of the beauty within that person, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. plato does not talk of physical attraction as a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, “without physical attraction.” in the symposium, the most famous ancient work on the subject, plato has socrates argue that eros helps the soul recall knowledge of beauty, & contributes to an understanding of spiritual truth, the ideal “form” of youthful beauty that leads us humans to feel erotic desire – thus suggesting that even that sensually based love aspires to the non-corporeal, spiritual plane of existence ; that is, finding its truth, just like finding any truth, leads to transcendence. lovers & philosophers are all inspired to seek truth through the means of eros.
well, here we are, the main issue & part of adam’s love. eros is beauty, & that is what adam values most. even after the curse, he is still vain, but he has someone to guide him, unlike before. adam is all about eros ; it’s basically what fuels him. before the curse, adam often bedded guests from his lavish parties ( he was careful to avoid disease, because that was a thing that he knew would tarnish his looks in the future jfc ). adam is a passionate lover, pre-curse adam was out for his own pleasure & would never let his partners stay through the night ; he would never bed the same person twice, as he honestly really was afraid of letting anyone in to see how hurt he really was. adam is a lot of trauma & he determined once was enough & to prevent himself from succumbing to lust, he would not invite a partner to a party for a period of anywhere from three months to half a year, giving himself what he thought was enough time for that partner to forget about him. note, adam practically had some sort of extravagant thing every fucking week. eros is also the appreciation of the beauty within a person, until belle, adam had never cared to look beyond the surface of any person ; this is exactly what gets him cursed. after the curse, his eros becomes less selfish & more to the ‘ideal’ ; it becomes a sort of awakening & as post-curse adam has only one partner ( belle ), sex is no longer for his pleasure alone. it becomes a form of healing, a way to connect with her beyond what can be done in body, a meeting of two souls. considering that belle is a constant in his life & adam is attracted to the very essence of who she is, he’s pretty much always filled with some level of erotic desire for her.
philia ( φιλία philía ) means “affectionate regard, friendship,” usually “between equals.” it is a dispassionate virtuous love, a concept developed by aristotle. in his best-known work on ethics, nicomachean ethics, philia is expressed variously as loyalty to friends ( specifically, “brotherly love” ), family, & community, & requires virtue, equality, & familiarity. furthermore, in the same text philos denotes a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers.
this is something that adam doesn’t display until he begins to bond with belle ; he begins to enjoy his time with her, he likes being around her & he learns to see her as his friend, his equal, & eventually his love interest.
storge ( στοργή storgē ) means “love, affection” & “especially of parents & children” it is the common or natural empathy, like that felt by parents for offspring. rarely used in ancient works, & then almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family. it is also known to express mere acceptance or putting up with situations, as in “loving” the tyrant.
this type of love, the love between parent & child, is the love adam has for his mother, & the love he has for mrs. potts, who was surely another mother figure, despite her absence in regards to his father’s cruelty. however, adam is not the type to ‘ merely accept ’ ; this is not a terribly large part of his love.
O K ay, now that’s out of the way. we’re moving on to ADAM & FAKE LOVE. aka, what adam did to lure lovers to his bed.
adam is intelligent, well educated, & attractive. he uses all of this to his advantage ; he’s also the dauphin, he’s what everyone wants to be in status, or so he believes. does adam put up a very good front of ‘caring’ for his partner ? yes ; pre-curse adam was incredibly talented with words, knowing exactly what to say to make a partner feel like they meant something to him ( reminder, adam’s sexuality is beautiful ; he has bedded both men & women ). he starts with gentle touches, kisses & the likes, he tangles his fingers in his partner’s hair & only gives gentle tugs here & there. he seduces them far before they reach his bedchambers, because this is where the difference between faking love & really wishing to make love comes into play. pre-curse adam would become forceful, although he would never engage in full on intercourse if his partner decided to leave — in those scenarios, which did happen once in a blue moon — they would be gone ; he would never see them again. usually, his partner would be just as anxious to discard every bit of clothing as he. then, their coupling would be passionate & lust driven, he would not kiss them at this point, although he was prone to marking up his partner’s neck. he practically expects his partner to treat him as if he is a god, it’s a mess & one of the best displays of how vain he really is.
adam, post curse, only has eyes for belle ; that clears up a great deal of issues. he is gentle the entire time & the erotic acts that once took place in hallways would instead happen as soon as they were in a private place, a room where they knew no one would come to for a while, or his bedchambers. adam takes time to treat belle like a goddess, instead of wishing for her to worship him, he worships her. she then is the combination of agape & overwhelming eros-love ; adam tends to her pleasure first & will ask before he acts — something that he clearly didn’t do in the past. his displays of love do include kisses & a lot of them, he is more careful in marking her up, as he respects her & would never want her to feel awkward or ashamed.
tl;dr adam knows how to love & he knows how to fake love….