tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post3246960643204726248..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Arthur MelvilleJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-50509649860907822422017-09-17T15:55:34.550-04:002017-09-17T15:55:34.550-04:00Well, yes, the worldwide persistence of the fantas...Well, yes, the worldwide persistence of the fantasy is actually what fascinates me. Love at first sight is a universal idea, or nearly so. Everyone knows what it means. Many people have felt that this is how it should be, and would be in some golden age. The hard reality of marriage negotiations and property transfers, though extremely common, have often been felt false and even wicked; think how many tragedies turn on true love frustrated by cynical elders. <br /><br />Here is another way that we have become more free than our ancestors. We can now, most of us, marry whom we love, rather than settling for something arranged by our parents. And, again, the reality of this freedom is rather less wonderful than the way it is portrayed in fairy tales.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-69735378246452662612017-09-17T10:26:13.104-04:002017-09-17T10:26:13.104-04:00"I find it fascinating that these stories wer...<i>"I find it fascinating that these stories were so widely told among people for whom romantic love played a rather small part in society, since all of their marriages were arranged."</i><br /><br />People often fantasize about what they wish they could have. We tell ourselves stories about good triumphing over evil, when frequently it doesn't. We fantasize about a simple orderly world when reality is complex and chaotic. The powerless love to imagine scenarios in which they (or an everyman stand-in) somehow have or acquire great power. The poor and unfortunate revel in tales of riches and success.<br /><br />Cowboys stories appeal to people who've never ridden horses. Action heroes appeal to people who live boring, uneventful lives. Knights in shining armor appeal to people who aren't chivalrous. Superheroes appeal to people who are utterly ordinary. Fairy tales appeal to people who don't believe in faeries.<br /><br />The 1800s were full of stories about romantic love, in both hopeful and tragic versions, in large part <i>because</i> there was so little of it to go around in reality. Tropes like finding one's true love, and particularly doing so with a woman of low station, a social pariah such as a beggar or a prostitute who nevertheless was incredibly beautiful or sparked incredible love or passion, resonated for a reason. How many people of that age must have fallen in love, but been denied a chance for that love to be expressed, all because of the restrictions and obligations of society! For all those who felt their own love could never be, they could at least take some small solace in the miraculous romantic fortunes of the heroes in their favorite stories.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com