Pursuit of the perfect love has been a part of our culture since nearly time immortal. We long to find that other person who completes us, who is the cream to our Oreo cookie, the macaroni to our cheese. (If I'm going to use that, I should mention Juno and Blecker, since it's from the movie about them).
From the 2007 award winning film
These images of love from movies, television, literature and art are sometimes the only examples of what a relationship looks like to some people, which most of the time is not such a good thing. Many of these passionate lovers burn out on each other, or worse, came to tragic ends. But we often want love so badly, we are indoctrinated that this is okay. As the poet Alfred Tennyson said, "Better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all."
Thisbe falls on Pyramus' Sword
Romeo and Juliet Death Scene
Rhett cuts Scarlet loose with "I don't give a damn
I would say it certainly depends on how much you lose. And the characters listed above, for the most part, lost a lot.
But there is always one writer whose characters make wonderful marriages and have triumphant happy endings. The couples in Jane Austen's novels, regardless of the pitfalls they face, always end up together and happy, fulfilling the "happily ever after."
Jane Austen
I think this is one of the reasons novels such as Pride and Prejudice have endured over 200 years. Elizabeth and Darcy endured much on the bumpy road to love, but once they got there, they stayed. Her novels give us faith that once we find love, it will last, in spite of the obstacles.
The happy ending in "Pride and Prejudice"
In my novel "Because You're the First," a young Cameron and Kassandra used a scene from Austen's "Emma" as the metaphor for their relationship. When Kassandra has words with her friend Mindy, which results in Kassandra being cruel, Cameron lets her know she was out of line. This reminds Kassandra of this scene in Austen's Emma between Emma and her friend and future husband, John Knightley.
Knightley scolds Emma for her cruelty to a impoverished Miss Bates in
Jane Austen's "Emma"
It's funny; I never intentionally thought to bring anything Jane Austen into the story when writing it. I just wrote the scene, and suddenly realized I had inadvertently written the scenario of Emma and Knightley. Both characters, while having their faults, are amazingly people; kind, generous, and caring of other people, like most of Austen's characters. If the characters I create are even one quarter as good as Austen's are, I will have achieved something. It's truly something to aspire to, that is for sure.
Like all Austen's character, Emma and Knightley do have a happy ending. Do my characters? Do they get the Jane Austen ending?
You'll just have to read it and see!!!
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