Love triangle
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A love triangle refers to a romantic relationship involving three people. While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. The relationships can be friendships, romantic, familial (often siblings), or even pre-existing hatred between rivals. Addition of bisexual or homosexual characters adds many possible combinations of sexes, and of romantic and sexual interactions.
The term "love triangle" almost always implies that the arrangement is unsuitable to one or more of the people involved. A similar arrangement that is agreed upon by all parties is sometimes called polyamory, although polyamory usually implies sexual relations. Within the context of monogamy, love triangles are inherently unstable. Unrequited love and jealousy are common themes in love triangles. Though rare, love triangles have been known to lead to murder or suicide committed by the rejected lover in real life.
Love triangles are an extremely popular theme in entertainment, especially romantic fiction, including opera, romance novels, soap operas, romantic comedies, Japanese comics and popular music.
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Love triangles in entertainment
Love triangles are a popular theme in entertainment, especially romantic fiction, including opera, romance novels, soap operas, romantic comedies, manga and popular music.
Eric Berne termed that conflictual aspect of the love triangle "Let's You and Him Fight"; and considered "the psychology is essentially feminine. Because of its dramatic qualities, LYAHF is the basis of much of the world's literature, both good and bad".
Bob Dylan provides a similarly violent outcome to "the sexual intrigues of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, in their various ménage à trois manifestations".
A common love triangle is one in which the hero or heroine is torn between two suitors of radically contrasting personalities; one of a girl next door or nice guy type, and the other as a physically attractive but potentially hazardous person. Alternatively, the hero or heroine has a choice between a seemingly perfect lover and an imperfect but endearing person. In this case, the "too-good-to-be-true" person is often revealed to have a significant flaw, such as hidden insensitivity or lecherousness, causing the other person to become the more desirable partner.
Love triangles can either be relatively balanced, in which the two candidates each have a fair chance of ending up with the protagonist, or they can be lopsided, in which the hero or heroine has an obvious romantic interest in one of the candidates, and considers the other candidate as "just a friend", but withholds a confession to avoid hurting feelings. But in this latter case, to provide necessary tension and drama, the second platonic candidate is also very often the hero or heroine's long-term boyfriend or girlfriend.
A less permanent love triangle occurs when a former lover of the main character makes an unexpected appearance to win back the character's heart, provoking feelings of jealousy from the main character's steady partner. However, this situation is usually not considered an actual love triangle since there is little possibility of the main character breaking up with a longtime partner to pursue a just-introduced character, and it is often used as only a test of the true depth of the main character's devotion to their partner. In these cases, the long-term partner has usually been guilty of neglect toward the main character and in the end, the relationship remains intact with the long-term partner having learned some valuable lesson.
Usually, a love triangle will end with the hero or heroine confiding their feelings in the suitor they feel is most virtuous or has the most interest in them. (As in Twilight or The Hunger Games.) The other suitor usually steps aside to allow the couple to be happy, or comes to terms with their feelings, often claiming they could not love the main character as much. Sometimes they are written out of the love equation entirely by falling in love with someone else, or being killed off or otherwise eliminated. While love triangles can be accused of being clichéd, if done well, they provide insight into the complexity of love and what is best to pursue in a romantic relationship.
Young Adult literature has seen a rise in the popularity of the love triangle story structure (such as Twilight or The Hunger Games). But the love triangle story structure has been around since before early classic writers like William Shakespeare and Alexandre Dumas. Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet featured a love triangle between Juliet, Romeo, and Paris. Although more subtle, Dumas's classics The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers also feature love triangles strong enough to seek revenge and start a war.
In television shows, a love triangle is often prolonged, delaying final declarations of love between the pursued character and suitors that may prematurely end this dynamic or displease fans. Some examples of these include 90210, Friends, and Grey's Anatomy. Similarly, romance films also sustain this set-up until near the film's end, although they tend to establish a more clear-cut conclusion to the romantic entanglements than in long-running TV showsTemplate:Citation needed. Love triangles are also a common topic in soap opera storylines, as well as tabloid talk shows, such as The Jerry Springer Show.
Several recording artists have also released songs about love triangles, most notably country music superstar Loretta Lynn, who has several "love triangle" songs to her credit, including "You Ain't Woman Enough" and "Fist City". Other "love triangle" songs include "The Girl Is Mine" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney; "Make No Mistake, She's Mine" by Kenny Rogers and Ronnie Milsap; and "Does He Love You" by Reba McEntire and Linda Davis.
Related terms
Ménage à trois
A love triangle should not be confused with a ménage à trois, a three-way relationship in which all members are romantically involved with each other instead of being in conflict over one person.
Love rectangle
Love rectangle (also quadrangle or quad) is a somewhat facetious term to describe a romantic relationship that involves four people, analogous to the typically three-sided love triangle. Many people use this term for a romantic relationship between two people that is complicated by the romantic attentions of two other people or one person who is complicated by the romantic attentions of three other people, but it is more frequently reserved for relationships where there are more connections. Minimally, both male characters usually have some current or past association with both female characters. These relationships need not be sexual; they can be friendships or familial relations. Both males and/or both females can also be friends, family members (frequently siblings) or sworn enemies.
Love rectangles tend to be more complicated than love triangles, often using their tangled relationships as a source of comedic humor. They may however only be a spin-off from the main love triangle, where 'as a sub-plot, A may try to rekindle B's love by introducing yet a fourth party (D)'. Similarly extraneous is the husband in De Sade's "Room for Two", where the witty, pretty heroine sets out to find 'two assistants for her husband', unbeknown to each other; and who, on being discovered by the one assistant with the other, calls out "Don't disturb us, my friend, and take your place in what's left to you; you can easily see there's room for two'.
An example of a love rectangle in classic literature is in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, between the characters Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia. Demetrius is granted Hermia's hand in marriage by her father, but Hermia loves Lysander, and the two flee, intending to elope. Demetrius pursues the couple, and Helena pursues Demetrius, whom she has always loved. The fairy Puck, in trying to use magic to resolve the situation, temporarily transfers both men's affections to Helena. Further tampering restores Lysander's love for Hermia. Demetrius, now in love with Helena, withdraws his claim on Hermia, and both couples are wed.
Another love rectangle happens in Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, where female characters Dorabella and Fiordiligi (siblings) are Ferrando and Gugliemo's girlfriends respectively, and by the end of the opera they "accidentally" swap their boyfriends.
The love rectangle concept is popular in television programs such as Lost (Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Juliet), True Blood (Bill/Sookie/Eric/Alcide), That '70s Show (Kelso/Jackie/Hyde/Laurie), One Tree Hill (Lucas/Peyton/Nathan/Brooke), The Vampire Diaries (Stefan/Elena/Damon/Katherine) and on the ABC Soap Opera Love Lives (Megan/Joey/Andrea/Collin).
For additional terms, the word "love" can be prefixed to other equiangular polygons with the appropriate number of vertices, to reflect romantic relationships involving more people, e.g. "love pentagon" or a "love hexagon."
In mythology
In fiction
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- La ley del deseo
- Big Bad Mama
- The Mother and the Whore
- Jules and Jim
- Look Back in Anger
See also
