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Much ado about love

At a time when love is all about cards and surprise gifts, Anima Balakrishnan revisits some of the great old romances

"How do I love thee, let me count the ways," wrote Elizabeth Barrett, taking stock of her lover's worth. Shakespeare's love could do no wrong, "Such is my love, to thee I so belong, that for thy right myself will bear all wrong," he said.

Torn apart by his tumultuous love for Catherine, Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights) screams, "I have not broken your heart -- you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine."

Exasperated, Rhett Butler finally walks out on Scarlett (Gone With The Wind) with his classic one-liner, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"

Tempestuous tales

As the day earmarked for love is here again, this is about those who never knew how to live without it. The saga of Elizabeth and Darcy, Othello and Desdemona, Randolph Henry Ash and Christabel, Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza and Ammu and Velutha, who loved, rebelled, waited, suffered, killed, won and lost — all on their own terms.

"I think Shakespeare had love for all ages. Be it the young love of Romeo and Juliet, the destructive one of Othello and Desdemona or the middle-aged one of Anthony and Cleopatra," says Radha Nair, a retired English professor.

But it is the brooding and stark Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte that has stayed with her.

"Heathcliff and Catherine are the opposites and such strong individuals. They had to give each other up and that there was no fulfilment adds to the aura," says Radha.

For Suryarekha, an English teacher, it is the charm of Rhett Butler and the arrogance of Scarlett O'Hara that haunts her.

"I read it soon after my Class X and Rhett seemed to be the answer to all dreams; he was simply irresistible," she says.

For journalist Tony Tharakan, in spite of swearing by the novels of Chetan Bhagat and promoting the cause of Bridget Jones, love is all about Rebecca. "She loves Maxim de Winter even after knowing that he killed his wife. In fact, she is thankful that he had not loved Rebecca ever," says Tony.

Remember the lovers in Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" who were arrested in painting even as they were about to kiss? "Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!"

For P.E. Thomas, lecturer in communication, these lines portray love at its sublime best. "There is no deception of human beings here. It is the artist who animates the lovers and brings to life everlasting love," says Thomas. "Then all smiles stopped together," from Robert Browning's masterpiece "My Last Duchess". For many, this would be tragedy in five words. But Thomas points out that the poem is about another form of love, the possessive one. "There is an element of wickedness, romance and love in it. But real love is about setting free," says Thomas.

I think love has degenerated with time; now it's only about dinner and parties, says Tony. "Modern day love is weird," is his verdict. We go back to the old stories, as "Classics are genuine to a great extent," says Thomas.

But for Jayanthasri Balakrishnan, Reader in English, one of the greatest love stories was staged outside the textbook — that of the Brownings! "I tell my students not to fall in love, but to rise in it. That's what the Brownings did; they were people who lived love and showed what the human heart can do," she says.

Sure, the tale of two of the renowned poets in English is pure fairy tale. Imagine a struggling and young 33-year-old Browning smitten by Elizabeth Barrett, a renowned poet and an invalid, six years his senior. A year and 545 letters from Browning later, they eloped, got married and settled in Italy.

"They placed each other on a pedestal and never allowed the other to come down from it. Browning almost stopped writing so that she could write. It was as if he knew he had time on his hands and she didn't," says Jayanthasri. No wonder, Sonnets from the Portuguese, written by Elizabeth from the day they the letters began till she tied the knot, is considered to be one of the most complete expressions of love.

It was Elizabeth who wrote, "I shall but love thee better after death." And her husband, who survived her by 28 years, had one answer to all those women who wanted to be Mrs Browning: "My heart is buried in Florence."

What you miss today is the subtlety of these emotions, says Jayanthasri. "What you really mean by Valentine's Day is very different from what it is being sold as in the bazaar. How can love ever be a commodity?" she asks.

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