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noshitshakespeare · 5 years

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Hello. I'm going through a very rough breakup right now (broke up three months ago, still not over it) that is partially my fault, partially not. at this point she has me blocked on everything, deleted things that we used to share joy in (her tumblr and pinterest) and we no longer write together. I am without a doubt in love with her and I don't think I'll ever get over her. Are there any characters or stories from Shakespeare that I could relate to? Anyone who never gets over someone? thank you

I’m very sorry to hear you’re having a difficult time.

I don’t know if it will be any consolation to you, but heartbreak and unrequited love is something people have felt for as long as literature can attest to and Shakespeare is one of them. In fact, Shakespeare is full of people who can’t get over the people they love, so I can easily answer your question.

In the ones that end happily (or reasonably so):

Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream is in love with Demetrius, who she used to have a relationship with.

Another Helena, this time in All’s Well that Ends Well, is unrequitedly in love with Bertram, and can’t get over it (I wouldn’t take her approach as a good example though).

A slightly different situation, but Viola in Twelfth Night is in love with Orsino, even though he’s in love with Olivia, and she can’t get over it. There are some characters, like Orsino, who do get over their love in this play, but there are also more tragic situations, like Antonio, who doesn’t ever seem to get over his love for Sebastian.

The Winter’s Tale contains the sad plight of Hermione, who endures a lot of cruelty from her husband Leontes; it isn’t just about the love between couples in this case, but the fact that she loses her husband’s love, and her reaction to it makes this a very interesting case.

Cymbeline This is a great one. Innogen is an amazing character, and her persistence in her love for Posthumous despite his cruel treatment of her is one of the best examples I can think of. Especially the scene where she thinks he’s dead.

Bonus: Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. I’m including it because she never gives up even when her beloved has essentially left her, but the denouement makes this play rather too complicated and uncomfortable.

Another Bonus: Hero in Much Ado About Nothing. Bonus because it’s not a large part of the play and because the fact that she continues to want to marry Claudio is not fully fleshed out, because she’s not the main plot. Some might include Beatrice as an example, but that would require the interpretation that her anger towards Benedick is a bitter cover for the love that she still feels for him (not easily textually provable).

In Tragedies:

Romeo and Juliet is an obvious one, in the sense that even death won’t get in the way of love for the two titular characters, though it’s different to a breakup situation.

Antony and Cleopatra, both lightly mocking and sympathetic in its portrayal, shows a love that neither side can quite overcome, in spite of both sides acting at times terribly to one another. It shows how illogical love is, how powerful, and how, sometimes, cruel.

Another somewhat obvious one is Ophelia, in Hamlet. Her madness is caused by many different factors, but as her love songs make clear, her inability to get over her love for the man who treats her cruelly and who killed her father is one of the key factors to her madness. It’s one of the more poignant moments in this play, as the general obsession with such a small role shows.

Othello, because Desdemona continues to love Othello in spite of everything. As he threatens to kill her on their bed, telling her it is ‘thy death-bed’, she answers ‘Aye, but not yet to die’ (5.2.53-54), imagining that she will die on her wedding bed after a long life spent with her husband. And even after he has strangled her, she manages one last lie to try to absolve him when Emilia asks who did it by answering ‘Nobody - I myself’ (5.2.124).

Bonus: Troilus and Cressida. Features a romantic betrayal and heartbreak, but whether Troilus remains as true to Cressida or continues to love her is… Not the easiest thing to discern. It should be an obvious one, with Menelaus fighting for his wife, and with Troilus’ situation in love, but the way Shakespeare tells the tale, it really isn’t. As wonderful as the play is in many ways, I might give this one a miss because it’s not an easy one to relate to.

Poetry:

Venus and Adonis this one is interesting. It’s painted in a generous but lightly satiric tone, so maybe not the kind of poignancy you’re looking for. Still, the ending is quite beautiful, and in the sense that it features the goddess of love herself failing to get a response from the one she’s in love with, it fulfils the criteria well.

The Sonnets. If you want unrequited love and love that continues in spite of the other person’s indifference, the sonnets are for you. They’re hard but worthwhile.

In fact, if you’re looking outside of Shakespeare then Petrarchan sonnet sequences and Petrarchan poetry generally are about unrequited love, like Petrarch’s original sonnet sequence. Sidney’s Astrophel and Stella is a good English non-Shakespeare example; single poems include Wyatt’s famous ‘They flee from me’.

I won’t say you’ll get over your love, but I hope you feel better soon. Hard breakups only happen because it meant something, because it was a relationship worth having, and whatever happens I hope you treasure that for the rest of your life.

#love #anon anon sir!#long post #asks #there are some other characters who might just about count in this category but I haven't included them for one reason or another #Like Margaret in HVI #Or the Queen in RII #Sorry if my explanations are dry and scholarly

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