Do all epic love stories have tragic endings? Look at Romeo and Juliet. There were 5 deaths. Antony and Cleopatra both end up dead. Then there's the story of Dido and Aeneas; I could identify with Dido a couple years back. Both in the Christopher Marlowe and Virgil versions of the story it is a depiction of unrequited love. She gives him everything, he swears he loves her, marries her, then leaves her because Destiny is calling him elsewhere. Let's see, what other epic couples are there? Tristan and Isolde were the precursors to Guinevere and Lancelot. These two couples were never meant to be but somehow were. Hero and Leander; Leander would swim every night across the strait and Hero would set up a lantern in her tower to guide his way, but one night a storm came, blew out the light, and drowned him and she jumped from her tower in grief.
Is it because the lovers must die to be together that makes these stories epic and the love so profound? Is it because we somehow associate happy endings with easy, frivolous, and passionless love? How many times have you gone to see a romantic comedy and at the end thought to yourself "That doesn't happen in real life." Aside from the fact that it's a movie, why do we compare our love to that of Romeo and Juliet's which had a tragic ending instead of say...a Disney prince and princess where there is a happily ever after? Maybe it's because the men don't really show up until the end, after the woman has suffered and endured so much for her love. Have you ever noticed that? We never get the guy's perspective. It's always the woman dreaming of her love and waiting for him to just kind of show up, meanwhile she's dealing with family issues, identity issues, living situations, etc. and then her dream love shows up and takes her away and all the problems go away. For once, I would love to see a love story from the guy's perspective because I always wonder, when guys have a crush on a girl, what do they do? Do they think about her? Do their hearts start beating crazily when they see her go by? Do they hope that she'll look at them? Do they think about how they're going to tell her? I would write the story, but I'm not a guy, so I don't know how guys think. I would love my male readers' input on this and maybe I will write the first ever Disney prince story. I'll actually give him a real name, not Prince Charming.
