
Who coined the phrase Star-Crossed Lovers?
The phrase star-crossed lovers was coined in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed or star-crossed lovers is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces.
What does Star Crossed Lovers mean in Romeo and Juliet?
Star-crossed Lovers. Origin. Like several other phrases, this phrase has been selected from Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet. This phrase is illustrating a couple whose bond of love is destined to fail. Its origin seems to be astrological, but it is best known for its association with Romeo and Juliet.
What is a star-crossed lover?
What we have learned from these examples is that a couple in everyday life, who experience a tragic end to their relationship, could be called star-crossed lovers. The chorus uses this phrase in the sixth line of the prologue section in Romeo and Juliet. The chorus goes on to say that,
What does it mean to be a star crossed couple?
Star-crossed or star-crossed lovers is a phrase describing a pair of lovers whose relationship is often thwarted by outside forces. The term encompasses other meanings, but originally means the pairing is being thwarted by a malign star or that the stars are working against the relationship.

What is the origin of star-crossed lovers?
The phrase was coined in the prologue of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life (5–6). It also refers to destiny and the inevitability of the two characters' paths crossing.
Who said a pair of star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet?
The Chorus's remark that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed” and fated to “take their li[ves]” informs the audience that the lovers are destined to die tragically. Romeo's remark “O, I am fortune's fool!” illustrates the fact that Romeo sees himself as subject to the whims of fate.
Is star-crossed lovers a metaphor?
Metaphor: The phrase presents an example of a beautiful metaphor.
What does the term star-crossed lovers mean?
“Star-crossed lovers” refers to any lovers whose affection for each other is doomed to end in tragedy.
Where did the phrase "star crossed lovers" come from?
The phrase "star-crossed lovers" was coined in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Who are some examples of star crossed lovers?
In soap opera, modern examples of star-crossed lovers have included couples such as Cliff Warner and Nina Cortlandt, JR Chandler and Babe Carey and Bianca Montgomery and Maggie Stone from All My Children.
What is the show Starcrossed about?
In 2008, a web-based reality soap opera was created based on the concept of being star-crossed. In Starcrossed, Fox News astrologer Greg Tufaro takes a couple in crisis and separates them for one cycle of the moon. Each is then set up with individuals who are a better match astrologically. The show puts the question "Is love written in the stars?" to the test with the couple deciding on the 28th day of their separation whether they will stay together or remain apart.
What games have star-crossed couples?
Video games too have featured star-crossed couples across different genres, particularly role-playing video games: Cloud Strife and Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII have been cited as a well-known star-crossed love story. Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X have also been called star-crossed lovers. Zero and Iris from Mega Man X4 are another notable example.
How many stars cross lovers take their life?
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life (5–6).
Who were the lovers of the Iliad?
Other classic star-crossed lovers include Devdas and Paro (Parvati) in Devdas, Paris of Troy and Helen of Sparta in The Iliad, Oedipus and Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Mark Antony and Cleopatra during the time of the Roman Empire, Khosrow and Shirin during the time of Sassanid Persia, Heloise and Peter Abelard during the Middle Ages, and Emperor Jahangir and Anarkali, Cyrano and Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac, Hagbard and Signy, and Maratha Peshwa (Prime Minister) Bajirao and Mastani during the peak of Maratha Empire .
Where is the story of Hero and Leander?
Hero and Leander is a Greek myth, relating the story of Hero (Greek: Ἡρώ), a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont, and Leander (Greek: Λέανδρος, Leandros), a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp at the top of her tower to guide his way.
What is star crossed love?
Star-crossed love is often sacrificed for what is seen as a greater good for the beloved. The world of Italian opera is rich with examples of lovers doomed by their own choices. In Giacomo Puccini 's La Bohème (1896), Mimi agrees to abandon Rodolfo for his own good. In Tosca (1900), also by Puccini, the title heroine pretends to sacrifice her body to Scarpia in return for her lover Mario's life. Tosca instead commits murder for Mario, only to see him executed anyway, which causes her to leap to her death from the top of Castel Sant'Angelo. In the classic Italian novel I Promessi Sposi (1840), by Alessandro Manzoni, Lucia makes a holy vow to save Renzo, even though doing so means they can never consummate their marriage.
What are some examples of star crossed lovers?
There are examples of star-crossed lovers in most literary traditions of the world. In Asian literature, Jia Bao-Yu and Lin Dai-Yu, two characters in Hsueh-Chin Tsao's early-eighteenth-century Chinese classic The Dream of the Red Chamber, are excellent examples of star-crossed lovers. When his family makes Jia Bao-Yu marry another girl, Lin Dai-Yu dies of grief. In Japan's famous eleventh-century literary work by Lady Shikibu Murasaki (c. 976–c. 1031), The Tale of Genji, the love between Genji and Fujitsubo, the emperor's concubine, is similarly doomed. Each of these examples fit the criteria set forth below for star-crossed love. However, this entry focuses on paradigmatic cases from the European and North American tradition.
What is the ending of the star-crossed love story?
The star-crossed love story follows a tragic path. Shakespeare calls it "death-mark'd." Death—or, at least, disaster—is the only possible end for star-crossed love. On the eve of his death, Tosca's Mario expresses the paradox of love and loss in the last line of his famous aria, E' lucevan le stelle: "Time is fleeting and I die in despair, yet never have I loved life more." Romeo too has a sense of imminent tragedy on his way to the Capulet ball where he meets Juliet:
What are the elements of starcrossing?
Six elements define the state of being star-crossed: transgression, destiny, secrecy, heightened passion, tragedy, and sacrifice. Not all six need be present for a love relationship to be considered star-crossed, but to differentiate the paradigm from Aristotelian tragedy and other forms of love stories, several of the elements must be involved, often with one dominant element.
Who was Peter Abelard?
The love story of Peter Abelard (1079–1142), the French philosopher and theologian, and Heloise, in the early twelfth century, which survives in their famous letters to one another, provides another example. Heloise, the niece of a canon, fell in love with Abelard, who was her tutor, in her uncle's house. The two transgressed by disregarding the boundaries imposed on them by their social roles. After Heloise bore their child, Abelard was castrated and disgraced, then sent to live out his days in St. Denis while Heloise was sent to a convent nearby.
Is star crossed love transgressive?
Star-crossed love is transgressive: It is nearly always forbidden by society and/or made dangerous by circumstance. Romeo and Juliet are the only children of two feuding families. In Shakespeare's source, Arthur Brook's narrative Pyramus and Thisbe (1562), the lovers were forbidden to marry by their parents.
What does "star crossed lovers" mean?
‘ Star crossed lover s’ is a phrase from Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet that has become particularly well known. Here we examine what ‘Star crossed lovers’ means, and the context of the phrase within the play.
Why did the lovers' stars cross?
That the lovers’ stars crossed meant that the tragedy was inevitable because, as they saw it, the stars controlled human destiny. It’s called ‘astrology.’. It was medieaval science – not just a medieaval science but the medieaval science, a compulsory subject in schools and universities. Its claim was that everything in human life is controlled by ...
What did the stars crossed mean in Romeo and Juliet?
That the lovers’ stars crossed meant that the tragedy was inevitable because, as they saw it, the stars controlled human destiny.
Why did humans fail to defy the stars?
Human beings who tried to defy their stars always failed because the power lay entirely with the stars. The educated members of the audiences would have studied astrology and the others would also have strong opinions on the effect of the stars on their lives.
What does it mean when a couple is star crossed?
The expression star-crossed lovers refers to a romantic couple whose relationship appears to be doomed before it even begun.
Why is it called a star cross?
It is called “star-crossed” because it appears that the stars and the universe is actively working against their love. It also refers to fate and destiny that their paths were to cross.
Why were Jack and Rose never meant to be together?
A pop-culture reference is “Jack” and “Rose” from Titanic. They were never meant to be together because of their different financial classes, which back in those days were completely unacceptable. Yet they chose to stay together – ultimately leading to “Jack”s death.
The legend
As the story goes, Teruel in the 1200s was home to Juan Diego de Marcilla and Isabel de Segura —he, the second son in his family and unlikely to receive much of an inheritance, and she, the only child of a wealthy nobleman.
Did it really happen?
People can die from a broken heart. But that’s not what’s up for discussion here. In 1619, two mummies were exhumed in the Church of San Pedro, beneath the side-chapel of San Cosme y San Damián.
Does it matter if it happened?
Regardless if the story actually happened in real life or not, I really liked hearing from the mausoleum tour guide that what matters is preserving this cultural heritage: honoring the story-telling tradition by keeping the tale alive and passing it down to the next generation.

Overview
- It refers to someone having bad luck, because the stars or heavens do not favor him. This phrase refers to those lovers whose relationship is destined to fail, because people who have a strong belief in astrology are of the belief that stars actually control the destiny of human beings. Simpl…
Definitions
Classical examples
Modern examples
See also
"Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers who, for some external reason, cannot be together. The term also has other meanings, but originally means that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship. Astrological in origin, the phrase stems from the belief that the positions of the stars ruled over peo…