What is the meaning of but love is blind and lovers cannot see what pretty follies they themselves commit?

Answer 1

It's said by Jessica in Merchant of Venice as she is eloping with Lorenzo. She has disguised herself as a boy (Why? Because every other girl in sight was doing it) and is lowering her father's money and herself out of a window. Possibly thinking about this undignified posture, she says:

Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.

I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,

For I am much ashamed of my exchange:

But love is blind and lovers cannot see

The pretty follies that themselves commit;

For if they could, Cupid himself would blush

To see me thus transformed to a boy.

You know of course that Cupid, the god of love, is often pictured as a boy with a bow and arrow who is blindfolded. From this comes the idea that "love is blind", meaning that lovers tend to overlook their lovers' faults or that it is random who we fall in love with, or both. "Follies" are things done by fools; she is saying that another possible implication of the "love is blind" thing is that lovers cannot see what fools they are making of themselves. Because if they could, she says, Cupid himself would get embarassed seeing her derriere, dressed in a boy's trousers, wiggling down the ladder.

Answer 2

I believe the saying means that love makes you blind to the imperfections of your loved one. Not in a literal manner, it pertains to how the imperfections of whom one loves means nothing when in comparison to the one who that person loves--unconditional love.

Answer 3

Because if you love someone alot you go blind.