Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:20:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 VergasVAS.pdf: 346048 bytes, checksum: ff36ecd8cd1debb1611fd02d05c352ea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-05-31 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Romantic love constitutes a central value in the social imaginary of modern societies and with reflexes in today s society. This is because the romantic expectation of realization of love appears, in the majority of cases, as a guarantee of completeness and happiness of individuals. However, the ideal of romantic love imposes a series of demands and character roles that are not easy, in modern age, to be brought about into practice by the ones in love. And, it is in this sense that possible conflicts appear between the romantic proposition and the practical reality of contemporary love. Consequently, the possibility of suffering from love emerges because of these propositions. Initiating from these presumptions, this paper aims to study the contemporary forms of representation and expression of love and of the suffering because of love, through the course of love in the life of some men and women, residents of Natal/RN, that live and/or have lived emotional-sexual relationships, observing the relationship that can be established between suffering from love and the ideal romantic love / O amor rom?ntico constituiu-se num valor central no imagin?rio social das sociedades modernas, tendo seus reflexos, at? hoje, nas sociedades contempor?neas. Isso porque a expectativa rom?ntica de realiza??o amorosa surge, em boa medida, como garantidora dos sentimentos de completude e felicidade dos indiv?duos. O ideal de amor rom?ntico, contudo, imp?e uma s?rie de exig?ncias e o cumprimento de pap?is que, na atualidade, n?o s?o t?o f?ceis de serem efetivados, em sua pr?tica, pelos sujeitos amorosos. ? nesse sentido que podem surgir conflitos entre a proposi??o rom?ntica e as pr?ticas amorosas contempor?neas. Tais conflitos, por sua vez, podem engendrar o sofrimento amoroso. Partindo desses pressupostos, este trabalho visa a estudar as formas contempor?neas de representa??o e de express?o do amor e do sofrimento amoroso, atrav?s da trajet?ria de vida amorosa de alguns homens e de algumas mulheres, residentes em Natal/RN, que vivenciam e/ou vivenciaram relacionamentos afetivo-sexuais, observando a rela??o que se pode estabelecer entre sofrimento amoroso e o ideal de amor rom?ntico