Star-crossed
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"'''Star-crossed'''" or "'''star-crossed lovers'''" is a reference to those who fight against (or cross) their fate, which is [[astrology|written in the stars]]. The phrase is first coined by [[William Shakespeare]] in his play ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. | "'''Star-crossed'''" or "'''star-crossed lovers'''" is a reference to those who fight against (or cross) their fate, which is [[astrology|written in the stars]]. The phrase is first coined by [[William Shakespeare]] in his play ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. | ||
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+ | ''Romeo and Juliet'' borrows from a tradition of [[tragic love]] stories dating back to antiquity. One of these is [[Pyramus and Thisbe]], from [[Ovid|Ovid's]] [[Metamorphoses]], which contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus falsely believes his lover Thisbe is dead. The ''[[Ephesian Tale|Ephesiaca]]'' of [[Xenophon of Ephesus]], written in the 3rd century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the separation of the lovers, and a potion which induces a deathlike sleep. | ||
==Star-crossed in Shakespeare== | ==Star-crossed in Shakespeare== |
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"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a reference to those who fight against (or cross) their fate, which is written in the stars. The phrase is first coined by William Shakespeare in his play Romeo and Juliet.
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Romeo and Juliet borrows from a tradition of tragic love stories dating back to antiquity. One of these is Pyramus and Thisbe, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which contains parallels to Shakespeare's story: the lovers' parents despise each other, and Pyramus falsely believes his lover Thisbe is dead. The Ephesiaca of Xenophon of Ephesus, written in the 3rd century, also contains several similarities to the play, including the separation of the lovers, and a potion which induces a deathlike sleep.
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."
It also refers to destiny and the inevitability of the two characters' paths crossing each other. It also 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 didn't have adequate knowledge of each other; that they weren't thinking rationally. Romeo and Juliet were just not meant to be.
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
See also