Love? Actually, Probably Not! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dante himself

Both Dante and Beatrice were real people, though in the poem they function as literary characters. Scholars often describe Dante's love for Beatrice as a form of "courtly love." He first met her when he was only nine years old and continued to admire her from afar as he grew into adolescence and adulthood. She married the banker Simone dei Bardi, while Dante later married Gemma Donati. Yet Beatrice remained the woman he chose to portray in "The Divine Comedy" as the heavenly guide who leads him through most of Paradiso.

As an ultimately Christian work, the poem uses Beatrice's scolding of Dante to redirect him toward righteousness. Through her, he transforms his earthly love for a woman into a deeper love for the Creator and a renewed commitment to his faith.

Answer: Jay Gatsby, "The Great Gatsby"

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan are lovers in their youth before the war pulls him away. During his absence, Daisy marries Tom Buchanan and begins a new life without Gatsby. Determined to prove himself an equal match for Tom, Gatsby makes the several desperate moves mentioned in the question in an attempt to rekindle the love he and Daisy once shared.

For a time, it almost seems to work, as Daisy reunites with Gatsby and appears willing to imagine a life with him. Ultimately, however, she breaks his heart by remaining with Tom rather than building a new future with Gatsby. I won't spoil the ending for those who haven't had a chance to read the book, but it is hardly what anyone would consider a happy one.

Answer: Anna Karenina, "Anna Karenina"

This chain of members of the Russian nobility pining for one another is not uncharacteristic of 19th-century Russian novels, and Leo Tolstoy's work was no exception. Another characteristic of such novels is that characters who fall madly in love and begin affairs are not typically given happy endings. Anna and Vronsky's affair ends in tragedy, with painful consequences for nearly everyone involved. (I'll once again spare you the spoilers.)

Yet one could argue that things end well for Levin and Kitty, who enter a marriage that seems based on love and mutual respect. Once Kitty realizes that her feelings for the officer Vronsky were a youthful infatuation, she comes to appreciate and return the more dependable Levin's love, even though he does not possess the same social glamor as Vronsky.

Answer: Count Paris

In many English plays, including some by Shakespeare himself, wealthy suitors seeking the hand of a young woman are often portrayed as villainous or even lecherous. Yet in this particular tragedy, Count Paris's general affability seems to break that mold. The effect is an even more tragic series of events.

Count Paris seeks Juliet's hand in marriage, and he is generally portrayed as a courteous and honorable person--a socially suitable match for someone like Juliet. Yet her love for Romeo and lack of feelings for Paris drive her in a different direction. Paris, who sees Romeo, a member of the rival Montague family, standing outside Juliet's tomb, believes that Romeo is there to defile it and challenges him. Romeo fights and kills him. Paris's death is the first in the sequence of tragic deaths that occurs during the play's climax.

Answer: The soldier, Captain Phoebus

Let's take a look at the different ways these characters respond to their romantic feelings:

First, Quasimodo realizes that Esmeralda will never love him romantically. He asks little of her and expects little in return, yet his love still leads him to protect her whenever she is in danger.

Claude Frollo takes a very different approach. Consumed by his desire for Esmeralda, he repeatedly tries to force her to return his feelings. When she continues to reject him, his jealousy and anger intensify. He retaliates by contributing directly to her arrest and condemnation and ultimately handing her over to the authorities for execution.

Pierre Gringoire presents a more complicated case. He initially marries Esmeralda to save his own life: after entering the Court of Miracles without permission, he faces hanging unless one of the women agrees to marry him. Esmeralda takes pity on him and enters a marriage in name only, but he becomes frustrated when she refuses to act like a true wife. Although he develops some affection for her, he remains largely self-interested and never becomes either a true husband or a dependable figure in her life. In fact, when given the choice, he saves Esmeralda's goat rather than Esmeralda herself.

Captain Phoebus, on the other hand, is the man with whom Esmeralda falls head over heels in love. After the handsome soldier saves her from an attempted abduction, she forms an idealized image of him. However, Phoebus is neither a good person nor genuinely in love with her. Although he begins a brief dalliance with Esmeralda, he is already engaged to another woman and ultimately abandons her.

Answer: Moneta, "Hyperion"

Many of the stories told within Dan Simmons's "Hyperion" (sometimes described as a science-fiction version of "The Canterbury Tales") involve unusual relationships with time, including life-extending technology, reverse aging, and lovers moving through time and aging at different rates. This leads to several poignant scenes and reflections on the meaning of love.

In Kassad's case, he is surprised by an enigmatic woman who appears during a battle simulation, saves him, and becomes his lover. Yet because the two are moving through time in opposite directions, she has already met and made love to him many times, whereas this is his first encounter with her. As he continues to encounter her, he eventually realizes that she is working with the Shrike (a dangerous and legendary creature) and that they have manipulated him in an attempt to provoke an interstellar war that will kill billions.

Answer: Lucie Manette, "A Tale of Two Cities"

Though Carton's sacrifice might seem unusual to some, his transformation from a resentful, life-hating barrister into a man with a sense of purpose is presented as admirable. Characters suffering from unrequited love in 19th-century literature were often portrayed as becoming bitter or vengeful, sometimes acting in horrific ways.

Sidney Carton, however, illustrated a different path. When Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette's husband, is sentenced to execution by guillotine, the lawyer secretly takes the other man's place. During his last moments, he has no regrets, believing that he has carried out a final act of compassion for the woman he loves.

Answer: Toru Watanabe, "Norwegian Wood"

In "Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami, the life of Toru Watanabe, a Japanese university student in Tokyo, is complicated by the suicide of his close friend Kizuki. As mutual friends of Kizuki, Toru and Naoko are both deeply affected by his death, but Toru is generally able to move toward a life that resembles normalcy, while Naoko suffers greatly and becomes increasingly emotionally troubled.

Though he can clearly see her pain, Toru still pursues a relationship with Naoko. The two become physically intimate, but Naoko is unable to commit to a stable romantic relationship and eventually withdraws from university to live in a sanatorium. During her absence, Toru grows close to Midori Kobayashi, a lively fellow student who clearly demonstrates her feelings for him. His own actions are much more mixed: he shares special moments with her while remaining emotionally attached to Naoko, and he later neglects to tell Midori that he has moved away.

Near the end, Toru receives a letter from an older patient named Reiko, informing him that Naoko has taken her own life. Devastated, he wanders around Japan for about a month before returning to Tokyo. He and Reiko then hold a small memorial service for Naoko, after which Toru decides to tell Midori that he loves her.

Answer: Florentino Ariza, "Love in the Time of Cholera"

In Gabriel García Márquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera," Florentino and Fermina fall in love in their youth, become secretly engaged, and make plans to marry. Fermina, however, backs out after concluding that she has fallen in love with a fantasy. She eventually marries Dr. Juvenal Urbino, and the two build a life together.

This devastates Florentino, who spends the next fifty-one years moving from one affair to another while continuing to believe that he loves Fermina. Now an old man, he finally sees an opportunity when Dr. Urbino dies and immediately declares his love again. Unsurprisingly, Fermina is insulted that Florentino has made the attempt so soon after her husband's death. After some time passes, the two begin corresponding and gradually grow closer, eventually developing a new romantic relationship in their old age.

Answer: Lady Brett Ashley, "The Sun Also Rises"

Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" features Jake Barnes as its main protagonist, though Lady Brett Ashley arguably commands just as much attention. Jake and Brett are in love with one another, but a war injury has left him unable to have a conventional sexual relationship, preventing their love from developing into the life together that Brett desires. Jake is the American journalist in this equation.

Next is the American novelist Robert Cohn. He and Brett have a brief affair, one that Cohn takes much more seriously than she does. His inability to accept its casual nature, along with his growing possessiveness, becomes a major source of conflict within Jake's circle of friends.

After her dalliance with Cohn, Brett meets the up-and-coming matador Pedro Romero, and the two begin a passionate affair. Unlike Cohn, Romero inspires genuine romantic feeling in Brett, while he falls deeply in love with her and wants to marry her. In the end, Brett breaks off the relationship because she does not want to damage his promising future or allow him to reshape her into the more conventional woman he wants her to become.

All of this takes place within the context of Brett's engagement to Mike Campbell, a Scottish war veteran who is unemployed, heavily in debt, and living far beyond his means. Brett cares for him, but his drinking and financial irresponsibility place considerable strain on their relationship and help explain the instability that contributes to her infidelity.