Star-crossed
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is said to be doomed from the start. The phrase is astrological in origin, stemming from the belief that the positions of the stars ruled over people's fates. To describe a relationship as "star-crossed" is to say that it is "thwarted by a malign star",[1] or that the stars are working against the relationship. The phrase is best known from the play Romeo and Juliet by the Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare.
Star-crossed in Shakespeare
The phrase was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, / a pair of star-cross'd lovers, take their life."[2]
It also refers to destiny and the inevitability of the two characters' paths crossing each other. It usually means unlucky, since Romeo and Juliet's affair ended tragically. Further, it connotes that the lovers entered into their union without sufficient forethought or preparation; that the lovers may not have had adequate knowledge of each other or that they were not thinking rationally.
Famous examples of "star-crossed lovers"
Other famous star-crossed lovers include:
- Pyramus and Thisbe (usually regarded as the source for Romeo and Juliet, featured in A Midsummer Night's Dream)
- Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
- Lancelot and Guinevere
- Tristan and Isolde
- Hero and Leander, Greek myth
- Pelléas and Mélisande, Symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck
- Venus and Adonis, classical myth during the Renaissance
- Troilus and Cressida, tragedy by William Shakespeare
- Hagbard and Signy
- Devdas and Paro (Parvati) in Devdas
- Heer Ranjha
- Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl
- Layla and Majnun
- Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (also known as The Butterfly Lovers)
- Paris of Troy and Helen of Sparta in The Iliad
- Oedipus and Jocasta in Oedipus the King
- Mark Antony and Cleopatra during the time of the Roman Empire
- Count Dracula and Mina Harker by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula
- Heloise (abbess) and Peter Abelard during the Middle Ages
- Emperor Jahangir and Anarkali
- Cyrano and Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
Modern examples
In soap opera, modern examples of star-crossed lovers have included couples such as Cliff Warner and Nina Cortlandt and Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone from All My Children.[3][4]
Prime time created one of its most notable star-crossed lovers with Buffy Summers and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[5] Cole Turner and Phoebe Halliwell from Charmed, Michael and Nikita from La Femme Nikita, Kara Thrace and Lee Adama from Battlestar Galactica, and Clark Kent and Lana Lang from Smallville are other star-crossed couples from the genre.[6][7][8][9]
With film, such star-crossed couples as Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater from Titanic, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan from "A Walk to Remember", Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala from the Star Wars saga, "Bella Swan" and "Edward Cullen (Twilight)" from "Twilight (series)"and Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain have been included.[10] [11][12][13][14]
See also
References
- ^ Levenson (ed.), Jill L. (2000). Romeo and Juliet, The Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford World's Classics). Oxford: Oxford University Press. page 142 ISBN 0192814966.
- ^ Full text / script of the play Romeo and Juliet Act I by William Shakespeare
- ^ "Peter Bergman Biography". hollywood.com. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
- ^ Warn, Sarah (2005-02-24). "The End of a Lesbian Era on All My Children". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
- ^ "IGN's Top 10 Favorite TV Couples". IGN. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
{{cite news}}:|first=missing|last=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/06/review.charmed/index.html
- ^ Armstrong, Jennifer. "La Femme Nikita: The Complete Second Season (2005)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ^ Johnston, Andrew. "Final Flight". Time Out NY. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
- ^ "Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang". The CW. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
- ^ http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/16/local/me-29454
- ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117916821.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
- ^ http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117916821.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
- ^ http://www.natalieportman.com/articles/nparticles_en.php?viewarticle=1&article_number=170
- ^ Harris, Dan. "Christian conservatives serve up 'Brokeback' backlash". ABC News. Retrieved 2006-05-27.