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| Billie Silvey |
| Famous Lovers |
| If Valentine’s Day for you isn’t all hearts and flowers, if you’ve ever been unlucky in love, or if the fires of your romance have cooled to ashes, you’re in good company. Most of the great lovers of literature and history have had hard times, and often their stories have ended in tragedy. Here are a few whose stories speak to me: |
| Odysseus and Penelope--In the epic poem by Homer, Odysseus, king of Itahca, is captured by the sea nymph Calypso on his way home after the Trojan War. Although Calypso offers him immortality, Odysseus returns to his wife Penelope. Meanwhile, Penelope has been resisting the advances of suitors by making them wait while she weaves a shroud for her father-in-law, unraveling at night what she weaves during the day. The couple are finally reunited and restored to their position. |
| Tristan and Iseult--In one of the world’s greatest love stories, Tristan goes to Ireland to bring the beautiful princess Iseult to Cornwall to marry his uncle, King Mark. On the way back, they drink a potion that causes them to love each other eternally. A betrayed Mark shoots Tristan with a poisoned arrow, and Tristan clutches Iseult so tightly they die in each other’s arms. |
| Romeo and Juliet--Shakespeare's tragic tale of young lovers from warring families who are secretly married. Romeo avenges the murder of his friend Mercutio, who has been killed by Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt and is banished from Verona. Juliet, being forced to marry Paris, takes a sleeping potion which makes her appear dead. Romeo returns and drinks poison at Juliet’s tomb. When she wakes up a few minutes later, she stabs herself. Stunned by the tragedy their feuding caused, the two families make peace. |
| Jane Eyre and Rochester--Jane Eyre, the title character of Charlotte Bronte's novel, is a shy, intense young orphan who becomes governess for the ward of Edward Rochester, a moody and violent man. They fall in love and are about to marry when the existence of his insane first wife is revealed. Years later, the lovers are reunited. |
| Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler --In Margaret Mitchell's epic novel Gone with the Wind, set during the Civil War, the daughter of a plantation owner falls in love with a riverboat gambler. They escape the burning of Atlanta, but not the ravages of war. Strong and independent, Scarlett eventually pushes Rhett away. |
| Johnny Cash and June Carter--Country music legend Johnny Cash grows up listening to the Carter Family on border radio. He suffers from addictions, but is able to overcome them with June’s help. They marry in 1968 and record several hit duets. Kris Kristofferson calls Cash “a deeply spiritual man who was also a holy terror . . . a dark, dangerous force of nature that somehow seemed to stand for freedom, justice and mercy for his fellow human beings.” He dies just four months after she does. |
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| February 2006 |
| Antony and Cleopatra--Antony, in love with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, returns to Rome to patch up differences with Octavius (later Augustus Caesar) and Lepidus, the other two rulers of the triumvirate. He cements an alliance with Octavius by marrying his sister Octavia, but abandons her for the Egyptian queen. Octavius defeats the combined forces of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium. Antony falls on his sword upon hearing the false rumor that Cleopatra is dead. She joins him in death with the self-inflicted bite of an asp. |
| Lancelot and Guinevere--One of the best-known stories of the Arthurian legends concerned King Arthur’s favorite knight, Sir Lancelot and his love for his queen Guinevere. Lancelot gallantly rescues her when she is abducted, but the lust that characterizes their love keeps Lancelot from being chosen to search for the Holy Grail, and is a major cause of the downfall of Arthur’s court in Camelot. |
| Eloise and Abelard--Peter Abelard, a scholar and theologian at Notre Dame, falls in love with one of his pupils, Eloise. Eloise is an educated woman, the niece of a canon at Notre Dame. Moved by Abelard’s writings, Eloise writes him the first of their famous exchange of letters on love and suffering. Eloise goes to a convent, where she dies and is buried in Abelard’s tomb. He is later buried beside her. |
| Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy--They meet on the set of Woman of the Year and immediately fall in love. An East Coast socialite and a Hollywood tough guy, they make nine movies together, including Adam’s Rib and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. They manage a discreet Hollywood romance, despite Tracy’s addiction to alcohol and his Catholic background that makes divorce from his failing marriage impossible. |
| Porgy and Bess--In a story by DuBose Heyward set to music by George Gershwin, a crippled Porgy takes in a weak-willed Bess and falls in love with her. She tries to remain faithful, but is seduced, first by Porgy’s rival, Crown, and then by drugs. When Porgy is in jail on suspicion in Crown’s death, Bess leaves for New York with Sportin’ Life. When he is released, Porgy leaves on a fairly hopeless quest to bring her back. |