Love, Death, and Literature

The concept of love and death in literature and television and other medias has evolved and changed throughout the ages, moving throughout societies and cultures to influence readers, listeners, and viewers.  There are few emotions as powerful as love and few events as powerful as death.  Throughout written history, these two concepts have been used by writers of all medias to get their audiences to understand the point of the story, to teach a lesson, or to simply tug at heartstrings and evoke overwhelming emotions.

The sign of a good book, opera, television show, etc is when the audience is drawn in and the characters come alive.  We see it happen again and again, we talk about these characters as being real, live people instead of two dimensional characters created from someone’s mind.  We watch the shows, read the books, and feel the emotions these characters are feeling.  When discussing a particular show or analyzing a book, I think it’s more common to speak as though the characters are real people and their good times and bad times as real events instead of just a show with actors portraying people who don’t really exist.

And yet, for these characters, the emotions and events they experience can be just as real as real-live events can be.  Love and death are two central ideas throughout literature and other media that resonate with readers and viewers.  Nothing is so wonderful as finding the love of your life and nothing is so horrible as having them taken from you.  And death is the ultimate end to a relationship.  This has been used and exploited throughout written history (and I’m sure prehistory as well).  I watched the House season finale a couple weeks ago, and for the life of me, I cannot get it out of my head.  It was so well done, so powerfully written and so heartwrenchingly sad that I cannot forget it.  I think the only time I have cried so much watching (of all things) a television show was when Denny died on Grey’s Anatomy.  But that’s the whole point of these events – to bring about an emotional reaction from the viewers.  And when it is done well, not only do you wonder what will happen next, but you feel deeply for these characters who don’t exist. 

And who can say that the story of Tristan and Iseult does not move them?  If you do not know what I am talking about – read the medieval story or watch the opera.  I suppose you can watch the recent movie made as well, but the written story and the opera are much much better.  By the time you are through with the story, not only are you examining yourself for the lessons the writer was trying (successfully) to convey, but you wish and hope – somewhat irrationally – that somehow things turned out differently and that maybe the writer got it wrong. 

The power of love and the power of death and the emotions both bring to people watching or reading cannot be denied.  Witnessing the joy of found love are great things to watch, and when done well, cause a yearning inside me to experience a love that cannot be shaken by time, outside forces or even death.