Love, Tragic
Love, Tragic
See also Death, Premature.
Abélard, Pierre(1079–c.1144) philosopher notorious for the tragic love affair with Héloїse. [Fr. Hist.: Benét, 2]
wordly Venezuelan falls passionately in love with girl who is killed by hostile Indians. [Br. Lit.: Hudson Green Mansions in Magill I, 333]
his love for the courtesan is shattered by her renunciation and fatal illness. [Ital. Opera: Verdi La Traviata in Benét, 1022]
Breton fisherman and his girl marry just before fleet leaves; he is lost in a storm. [Fr. Lit.: An Iceland Fisherman in Magill I, 410]
a storm swept her away. [Am. Lit.: “Annabel Lee” in Hart, 35]
victims of conflict between political ambition and love. [Br. Lit.: Antony and Cleopatra]
though attracted to his wife’s cousin Ellen, he cannot act to win her. [Am. Lit.: The Age of Innocence]
Rossetti poem depicting the longing of a beatified maiden for her mortal lover. [Br. Poetry: The Blessed Damozel in Benét, 113]
after feuding, recognize love; each imprisoned thereafter. [Am. Lit.: Desire Under the Elms]
commits suicide when beloved receives death sentence. [Ger. Lit.: Egmont]
when Noisi is betrayed and slain, she kills herself. [Irish Legend: Benét, 259–260]
she takes poison when he is shot as a traitor. [Fr. Lit.: Mme. de Staél Delphine in Benét, 262]
with the gods demanding his departure, she commits suicide. [Rom. Lit.: Aeneid; Fr. Opera: Berlioz, The Trojans, Westerman, 174–176]
dies when Tannhauser vows return to Venus. [Ger. Opera: Wagner, Tannhauser, Westerman, 212]
loses Lohengrin on their wedding night when she disobeys his proviso that she never ask him to disclose his identity. [Ger. Legend: “Lohengrin” in Benét, 595]
after years of searching, she finds him as he lay dying. [Am. Lit.: “Evangeline” in Hart, 263]
archbishop and his mistress: she and their infant die, and he retires to a monastery. [Fr. Lit.: The Charterhouse of Parma in Magill I, 135]
place in underworld where lovers who committed suicide dwell. [Rom. Lit.: Aeneid]
their passion is foredoomed by the estrangement of her father and his mother. [Br. Lit.: The Forsyte Saga]
she falls in love with him, her husband’s architect; he dies in an accident. [Br. Lit.: The Forsyte Saga]
“sporting woman” shot her man for “doing her wrong.” [Pop. Music: Leach, 415]
his thwarted love for Mattie culminates in an attempted double suicide that leaves them both crippled. [Am. Lit.: Ethan Frome in Benét, 324]
love shattered by latter’s death. [Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]
their marriage forbidden, he is given a false report of her death, and enters a monastery. [Br. Lit.: The Cloister and the Hearth in Benét, 208]
princess’s and commoner’s affair fatal upon discovery. [Ital. Lit.: Decameron]
his plan for wedding Déruchette foiled by her love for another, he commits suicide by drowning. [Fr. Lit.: Toilers of the Sea in Magill II, 1037]
loses love, Scylla, when she is made monster. [Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]
second wife of Fionn, she elopes with Diarmiud; caught by Fionn, Diarmiud is killed. [Irish Legend: Century Classical, 509]
latter drowns, former kills herself in grief. [Gk. Lit.: Hero and Leander; Br. Lit.: Hero and Leander]
commits suicide after death of lover, Cyllarus. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 72, 123]
her death destroys Count Vronsky’s desire to live. [Russ. Lit.: Anna Karenina]
exiled by King Arthur, he returns after the King’s death to find Guinevere a nun. [Arthurian Legend: Le Morte d’Arthur]
her love for Henchard squelched by his degradation. [Br. Lit.: The Mayor of Casterbridge, Magill I, 571–573]
the lost love with whom the poet learns that he will nevermore be united. [Am. Poetry: Poe The Raven]
her brother must kill her for eloping with the man he mistakenly supposes has murdered their father. [Ital. Opera: La Forza del Destino in Osborne Opera]
ne’er-do-well adored by Julie, his young wife; caught in a robbery, he commits suicide, leaving her with child. [Hung. Drama: Molnar Liliom in Magill I, 511]
idyllic romance of a young couple that is shattered by the death of the woman. [Am. Lit.: Segal Love Story]
supposed gypsy troubador loves the girl courted by his brother, the Count of Luna; she takes poison and he is executed. [Ital. Opera: Verdi Il Trovatore in Benét, 1028]
her love for Rodolfo ended by her early death. [Ital. Opera: Puccini, La Bohème, Westerman, 348–350]
die together as sacrifices to Druid war god. [Ital. Opera: Bellini, Norma, Westerman, 130–131]
latter condemned to stake; lover joins her. [Ital. Lit.: Jerusalem Delivered]
long hopelessly for each other after her marriage to another. [Russ. Lit.: Eugene Onegin]
looking back to see if Eurydice was following him to earth, he lost her forever. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 103]
slain by his jealous brother, her husband, Giancotto. [Ital. Lit.: Inferno]
she married the wrong brother; dies of disappointment. [Fr. Opera: Debussy, Pélleas and Mélisande, Westerman, 196]
thinking lover mauled, Pyramus kills himself; upon discovery, Thisbe does likewise. [Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]
archetypal star-crossed lovers. [Br. Lit.: Romeo and Juliet]
passion waxes, but class strictures block marriage. [Fr. Lit.: The New Heloise]
love between Father Ralph and Meggie remains unfulfilled because of his priestly vows. [Australian Lit.: McCullough The Thornbirds in Weiss, 463]
adores a cardboard dancer, but both are consumed in a fire. [Dan Lit.: Andersen “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” in Andersen’s Fairy Tales]
famous singer, witnessing her lover’s execution, jumps to her death. [Ital. Opera: Puccini Tosca in Benét, 1017]
irrevocably enamored; die because of his wife’s machinations. [Medieval Legend: Tristan and Iseult; Ger. Opera: Tristan and Iseult]
love of Puerto Rican girl and young New York street-gang leader is destroyed by his murder. [Am. Musical: West Side Story]
innocent beauty drives giant gorilla, Kong, to his death. [Am. Cinema: King Kong]
Heathcliff’s revenge for Catherine’s sup-posed scorn leads to her marrying another and to his own lonely death. [Br. Lit.: Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights in Magill I, 1137]
has passionate but fleeting affair with Lara. [Russ. Lit.: Doctor Zhivago in Magill IV, 241]