Introduction. The article investigates the linguocognitive representation of the emotional concept LOVE in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Gothic novel The Devil’s Elixirs. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a comprehensive linguistic analysis of a concept central to Romantic consciousness, whose dual nature serves as a structural element of the narrative in Hoffmann’s work. The aim of the research is to identify and analyze linguistic and non‑linguistic means of representing the opposition LIEBE/LUST and to demonstrate that this opposition constitutes the semantic core and driving force of the novel’s central conflict. Methods. The study is carried out within the framework of a cognitive‑discursive approach using a set of methods: conceptual, contextual and quantitative analysis. The subject of the study is the emotive vocabulary verbalizing the emotional state of love in Hoffmann’s The Devil’s Elixirs. Results and Discussion. The emotional state of love in the novel is realized through the binary opposition of the lexemes Liebe (love) and Lust (desire, lust). The lexeme Liebe, being the most frequent (61.6 % of occurrences), forms a «semantic mask» of deception, combining both positive and negative connotations. The lexeme Lust (19.5 %) verbalizes a negatively charged physiological attraction associated with the motifs of sin, crime and ancestral curse. Their dynamic interaction (Liebe as a shell, Lust as content) models the psychological and plot conflict, projecting the inner split of the protagonist’s personality. Conclusion. The duality of love, objectified in the opposition LIEBE/LUST, is the main narrative mechanism of the novel. This opposition serves as a linguistic projection of the concept of dualism, the split of personality, where the illusion of the sublime feeling Liebe conceals the destructive passion Lust, which constitutes the essence of the central conflict between the divine and the demonic, spirit and flesh in the consciousness of the main character.