Romeo and Juliet. Probably the best known play in history. People from all over the world still write letters to Shakespeare's famous heroine in Verona asking her for romantic advice.
Because she got married to some guy she barely knew (who an hour ago was desperately lovesick over some other girl) and then ended up dead. Yeah. Definitely an authority on the subject. *shakes head*
Bottom line, I don't think Romeo and Juliet are among the best couples of all time. So I'm gonna tell you my favorites. 'Cause I'm a sap who has nothing better to do on Valentine's Day. :)
JANE AND ROCHESTER in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. (Seeing a trend?... I'm just a smidgen biased.) Quick summary for you non-literary types (spoilers!): Jane is hired as a governess for Rochester's ward, and they fall in love (even though Jane is convinced he can never love her because of the difference in their social standings). However, during their wedding it is revealed that Rochester is already married to an insane woman that he keeps locked in a room upstairs. (It's a lot better than it sounds, I promise.) Anyways, despite her deep love for Rochester Jane knows that she cannot stay with him, so she leaves his manor, utterly destitute. She ends up staying with a minister who eventually proposes to her, but in her heart she is still in love with Rochester, so she refuses. After hearing Rochester's voice calling for help in a dream, she returns to his manor only to make sure he is alright. She discovers that his lunatic wife has set fire to the house and died in the process. Rochester has lost just about everything, and can't even see anymore, but he still loves Jane, and now that his wife is dead they can be together. Yay. Happy. :)
But some of the quotes in the book are just incredible.
When Jane thinks she is falling in love with Rochester, but considers him out of her league:
"I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, great and strong! He made me love him without looking at me."
When Rochester is about to propose to Jane:
"I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you—especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame."
After Jane leaves Rochester:
"Perhaps you think I had forgotten Mr. Rochester amid these changes of place and fortune. Not for a moment. His idea was still with me, because it was not a vapor sunshine could disperse, nor a sand-traced effigy storms could wash away; it was a name graven on a tablet, fated to last as long as the marble it inscribed."
Oh, to write as beautifully as Charlotte Bronte. In a culture where people would appreciate it. Sigh.
CHARLIE BROWN AND THE LITTLE RED-HAIRED GIRL.
I hesitate to call them a couple, because, alas, poor sweet Charlie Brown is constantly eluded by the love of his life. However, I love the way Charles Schultz can always write the human heart, and Charlie Brown's pursuit of the Little Red-Haired Girl does it AWESOMELY. And hilariously.
Take the way love blinds people to all faults (and even normal quirks):
"She nibbles on her pencil! SHE IS HUMAN!"
... Or the stupid things we do for love...
“If I stand here, I can see the Little Red Haired girl when she comes out of her house... Of course, if she sees me peeking around this tree, she'll think I'm the dumbest person in the world... But if I don't peek around the tree, I'll never see her... Which means I probably AM the dumbest person in the world... which explains why I'm standing in a batch of poison oak.”
...Or the unhappiness love can bring when it's not returned:
"There's nothing like unrequited love to take all the flavor out of a peanut butter sandwich."
But what's so adorable is that Charlie Brown never gives up, no matter how many times he convinces himself she's going to laugh in his face. There is just no one in the world for Charlie Brown but that Little Red-Haired Girl.
Sigh. I love Charlie Brown. I would be his Valentine. :)
ANN MARIE AND DONALD HOLLINGER from That Girl.
This is one of my favorite TV shows EVER, even though it went off the air in the late 1970s. Ann is your classic "America's sweetheart": pure, sweet, and innocent. And Donald is the perfect gentleman. I would give you quotes... but I don't have the time to go watch my seasons looking for the one of thinking of, and nothing's on Google (apparently I'm the only person on the planet who still knows about this show) so I guess I won't. Come watch it with me sometime. Haha. But for now, take my word for it. They're precious.
PETER PARKER AND MARY JANE WATSON.
I love Spiderman. I mean, LOVE. And the reason I love Spiderman so much is that it's a chick flick disguised as a superhero movie. Take it from the very beginning: "This, like any story worth telling, is all about a girl." Peter's eternal undying love for Mary Jane is the whole reason he becomes Spiderman in the first place. (That and Uncle Ben dying. But Uncle Ben wouldn't have died if he hadn't been trying to get a car to impress MJ.)
When they're talking in the front yard:
Peter: "I cried like a baby when you played Cinderella!"
MJ: "Peter, that was first grade."
When she comes to visit Aunt Mae in the hospital:
"The great thing about MJ is that when you're looking in her eyes, and she's looking back in yours, everything is... not quite normal. Because you feel stronger, and weaker. Excited, and at the same time, terrified. The truth is, you don't really know what you feel, but you know what kind of man you want to be. It's as if you've reached the unreachable. And you weren't ready for it."
When she FINALLY figures out it's HIM she's in love with:
Mary Jane: "I know you think we can't be together, but can't you respect me enough to let me make my own decision? I know there'll be risks, but I want to face them with you. It's wrong that we should be only half alive... half of ourselves. I love you. So here I am… standing in your doorway. I have ALWAYS been standing in your doorway. Isn't it about time somebody saved your life?"
(long pause)
MJ: "Well? Say something."
Peter: "Thank you, Mary Jane Watson."
Wonderful. :)
NOTE: All of my Spiderman love goes to the first and second film installments and the comics. As far as I'm concerned, Spiderman 3 does not exist.
CORY MATTHEWS AND TOPANGA LAWRENCE from Boy Meets World.
Recipe for a great love story: The guy never gives up. Charlie Brown never gives up. Peter Parker never gives up. Cory never gives up. Prime example...
Topanga goes out with another guy to make him jealous:
Cory: "It's a strange feeling."
Shawn: "Knowing it's over?"
Cory: "No. Being the only guy in the world who knows it's not."
She's a jerk to him, he's a jerk to her, but they always fix it. They're undeniably human. They're beautifully imperfect, but beautiful nonetheless. And then they get married and live happily ever after! Yay. :)
Probably my favorite Boy Meets World quote of all time: "I would rather break my ankle into fifty thousand pieces than cause you any pain." -Cory Matthews
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Does this even need an explanation? I don't think so. Best Disney couple of all time. Hands down.
And... *drum roll please*
WESTLEY AND BUTTERCUP from The Princess Bride.
I don't think there's a more classic couple. Forget Romeo and Juliet. Westley and Buttercup overcome pirates, betrothals, shrieking eels, an R.O.U.S., torture, and DEATH. Romeo and Juliet just die. Wimps.
Plus, some of the best quotes of all time are in Princess Bride.
"As you wish."
"This is true love. Do you think this happens every day?"
"You can't hurt me. Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love, and you cannot track that--not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it--not with a thousand swords."
So very romantic, yes?
Alright, my lovelies. Time to be serious. They always say the best love story is your own... so don't wait until Valentine's Day to show somebody you love them, okay? Romantically or otherwise. Today should be extra. :)
Have a wonderful, beautiful Valentine's Day, my friends. Much love. <3
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