Valentine’s Day is traditionally a day to celebrate love. Couples all over celebrate their love with dinner, chocolate, and jewelry. Whether a couple has been together one week or 50 years, the day is a way to show that special someone how much you care. But what about when loves goes wrong and your partner isn’t who he/she seems? Or, when a couple remains in love despite serious obstacles? By obstacles, I don’t mean moving or surgeries. I mean serious obstacles such as a double suicide or trying to murder the other person. That’s what today’s post is about. Here, you will find literary examples of love gone horribly wrong. Some of these crazies stayed together and some didn’t.
Warning: Reading below this line may result in spoilers. If you plan to read one of the books below, I recommend skipping the description.
Love Gone Wrong
Romeo and Juliet
Quick synopsis: Two families hate each other, their children fall into a forbidden love, and rather than be apart they kill themselves.
Why it made the list: They killed themselves over their teen love.
Best quote: “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink—I drink to thee.”
Nick and Amy Dunne
Quick synopsis: Narcissistic girl meets clueless boy and they get married. Girl fakes her own murder and frames her husband.
Why it made the list: There’s not much that went right with Nick and Amy’s relationship. After all, she faked her murder to frame her husband. Nothing says love like a little blood, right?
Best quote: “I am a great husband because I am very afraid she may kill me.”
Dominique Francon and Howard Roark
Quick synopsis: Young, idealistic architect (Howard Roark) struggles to make a name for himself because he refuses to bend to the will of his superiors by snuffing out his original creations. Then he meets Dominique, who despite loving Roark deeply, is hell-bent on destroying both Roark and his career because he and his creations are too good for the collectivist masses. As she sets out to destroy his career, she does all the things we also hates and Roark completely understands.
Why it made the list: If you’ve ever read Ayn Rand, then you know this is an incredibly simplistic synopsis. There’s no way to accurately describe how disturbing their relationship is, but considering it is based on resentment and mutual destruction, it’s easy to see why they made the list.
Best quote: “I could die for you. But I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, live for you.”
Christine and Ben
Quick synopsis: Christine has lost her memory and, in her efforts to restore them, learns some pretty startling things about her husband, Ben.
Why it made the list: Being suspicious of your husband is usually a sign that something is wrong, but when you find out that he is not at all who he seems and is, in fact, completely nuts, it throws a wrench into your marriage.
Best quote: “…I feel like he’s taking advantage of me. Advantage of my illness. He thinks he can rewrite history in any way that he likes and I will never know, never be any the wiser. But I do know. I know exactly what he’s doing. And so I don’t trust him. In the end he is pushing me away, Dr. Nash. Ruining everything.”
Maxim and Rebecca de Winter
Quick synopsis: Rebecca is dead and Maxim remarries. The new wife is taunted by the housekeeper and can’t live up to the standards of the first Mrs. de Winter. Even dead, Rebecca’s presence lingers in some pretty disturbing ways.
Why it made the list: This book is actually about three loves gone wrong: Maxim and his wives, respectively, but also of the housekeeper and Rebecca (that kind of devotion is symbolic of some kind of love). With one wife ‘haunting’ the other and a wicked housekeeper devoted to the dead wife, it’s no wonder why this made the list.
Best quotes: “It wouldn’t make for sanity would it, living with the devil.”