Now that we’re feebly stirring our forelegs in recovery from that massive dose of chocolate yesterday, it’s time for an astringent antidote to all that Valentine sweetness. As this is an open forum, let’s brood on the following statement: “The course of true love never did run smooth.” (Lysander to Hermia in Act 1, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's Dream.)
Please open that curiously twisted tangerine-colored clasp below and follow me through the gate.
“Feudin’, a-fussin’, and a-fightin’.” Who are your favorite fictional “fighting lovers”?
Remember how Benedict and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing really disliked each other—at first? And what about Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew? That was an unpromising beginning to a courtship if there ever was one.
Scarlett and Rhett were generally at odds throughout Gone with the Wind, except for the famous scene that began with his carrying her up the stairs in the dark.
And there were Sally McBride and Sandy McRae in Jean Webster’s Dear Enemy, as well as the ever-popular Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice—until about halfway through the book.
Does it count when the happy pair feuded as children, striving to outperform each other in the classroom and complaining about each other to their respective friends? I’m thinking of Anne of Green Gables and her Gilbert.
Which others can you think of? Of course “woman dislikes man on sight (or vice versa) but secretly adores him and finally makes this feeling known” is the standard plot in most Harlequin novels and others of that ilk. But for this forum let’s confine our discussion to standard or classic literature.
There’s an urn of hazelnut-flavored coffee in the corner for your delectation, along with plenty of half-and-half. Don’t even mention sugar this morning, okay? For non-coffee drinkers I’m offering Earl and Lady Grey, and for non-caffeine drinkers, decaf green tea. So grab a cup, pull up a chair, and think hard.
Who ever loved that loathed not at first sight? You must know someone, so tell us about it. We're all ears!