Famous Lovers: Why do we love their stories despite not loving them?

Dane and I were so fortunate to go see Romeo and Juliet at the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta last night with our dear friends, Scott and LeeAnna.

So this morning, I was thinking about the play and the love story, which in turn got me thinking about

 Wuthering Heights and Twilight. Hang in there. This has nothing to do with the fact that Stephanie Myer references both former titles in her teenage love series.

Speaking of Twilight, let me address that first, before the annoyed little fingers start typing.  I believe the book was fine and good for what it was intended to be. It’s not Stephanie Meyer’s fault that millions of teenage girls made it into a serious cult-like thing and then attacked it for falling so short of the imaginary, bewildering standards to which the hype had raised it. It was a teenage, vampire, love story.  The author never claimed to be a literary genius. She wrote a story that was interesting and fun to read.

Wuthering Heights has long been one of my favorite works of literature, ever since I first read it one foggy January for Mrs. Brown’s class in high school. It’s romantic, dramatic, epic, chilling, and beautiful.

Same thing with Romeo and Juliet. I loved reading it in middle school and have enjoyed several of the film versions also. Shakespeare is always wonderful, especially when you can hear and see his words performed.  Last night was actually my first time seeing the whole play live, which was a marvelous experience.  

However, as always (and especially as this rendering was directed), I was struck by how  unlikeable Romeo and Juliet are as stand- alone characters, even though their love story is undeniably compelling.

Which brings me back to Wuthering Heights and Twilight.  

My romantic self has loved these stories throughout the years, but I realized last night that, for all of them, what draws me in is not the two main characters. In fact, I dislike Cathy, Heathcliff, Bella, Edward, Romeo and Juliet. Yet I love the stories.

I know I am not alone in this. I mean, come on. Romeo is rash and immature, Edward is a controlling pedophile, and Heathcliff has serious rage issues.  Cathy is a brat, Bella is a boring tease, and Juliet is such a little girl that- really- it’s kind of disturbing how into Romeo she is.

So why do us romantic types find ourselves sucked in regardless?  Why do thousands, no, millions of us shed tears for these couples. Why do our hearts soar when they so beautifully express their  great depths of feeling for one another?

I have some thoughts, which I will post on tomorrow. In the meantime…think about it.