Spike's Soul: What Does it Mean?

be loved. Another example is in the first half of "Intervention", when Spike was playing with his BuffyBot. Despite the fact that building a BuffyBot was a terribly creepy thing to do, when Spike told the robot to “just be Buffy,”there was a warped kind of sweetness to the way he said it -- his only motive was to have some way to express his love for Buffy.

Over the course of the season, there were many times when we saw Spike doing good things: he helped Buffy kill the Queller demon, he tried to help people who had gotten hurt in the Bronze, he looked after Buffy’s family. In the beginning, he was doing it purely for the hopes of a reward. At times he acted like a petulant child when his desired reward didn't materialize, showing just how far he still had to go. Sometimes, however, the very act of doing good deeds can have a redemptive effect. Actions originally performed deliberately can, over time, become habit and become a part of you, changing who you are. I think we saw this beginning to happen in "Intervention", when Spike was willing to let Glory kill him rather than helping her discover that Dawn was the Key. It was Spike's first entirely selfless act, one for which he expected no reward. Ironically, yet appropriately, it was the first time he did receive a reward, when Buffy gave him a kiss as a sign of her appreciation for his sacrifice.

Spike continued his efforts to be good through "The Gift" and into the first few episodes of Season Six. He was willing to die in the effort to save Dawn's life, despite having given up all hope that Buffy could ever return his love. Throughout the summer after Buffy's death, Spike helped stave off the demon population of Sunnydale. After Buffy was brought back from the dead, Spike revealed that he had spent the entire summer regretting that he had been unable to die in her place.

To me, Spike's actions during this period were very much the acts of a knight of old engaged in the art of courtly love. In this tradition, a knight, who is socially beneath a lady with whom he is in love, puts the object of his affections on a pedestal and does everything he can to prove his worth. He performs acts of courage and

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