Romance Like Shakespeare
By Jess Mahler
Romance was my introduction to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare was my introduction to romance. And my introduction to both of them
was Saturday morning cartoons. Yup, someone with a huge amount of
awesome had the idea to take Shakespeare's kid-friendly plays, and make them
into half-hour animated shows. Nearly 20 years later, I still have a clear
memory of Rosalind, dressed up as a boy, leading her would-be suitor through
the strangest courtship ever. “Woo me, as if I was your Rosalind” she says, and
he, thinking his new (male) friend is teaching him how to woo a woman, does.
Oh, wait. You thought I meant Romeo and
Juliet, didn't you? Maybe Othello. No. No, no, no, no, no, NO.
Those were tragedies. I'm betting is was
the Victorians and their 'romanctic movement' in the arts that decided those
were supposed to be romances—they were big on young lovers dying tragically. When
Shakespeare wrote romance, he stuck to the same rule we do—happily ever after
or it doesn't count.
Unless you happen to be a fan of
Shakespeare, you might never have seen his romances. The only one that's had
any popular distribution in the past few decades is Midsummer Night's Dream.
Twelfth Night (or What You Will), As You Like It, All's Well that Ends
Well...sometimes I think Shakespeare had a rule that the names of his romances
had to be incomprehensible and interchangeable. Which is probably part of why
we don't see them often. Can you Hollywood trying to come up with a marketing
plan for something called As You Like It?
Shakespearean romance has two tropes that
make it stand out from the modern romance genre.
How many weddings???
Shakespeare never wrote a romance about
just one couple. Sure, he had protagonists that the plot centered around. But
he surrounded them were at least two other couples (and sometimes more), all of
whom would end up in wedded bliss (or about to be in wedded bliss) at the end
of the play. Twelfth Night is a great example of this. In the last scene,
Sebastian and Olivia are engaged (or just married depending on the whim of the
director—the dialog is vague), Fabian announces that Sir Toby and Martha have
just been married, and Viola finally admits to Count Orsino that she's a woman
and in love with him, and they get engaged. Now, let me point out that the
entire play only had three female characters. And by the end, every single one
of them was married (or about to be).
I Love Y—
While there are exceptions, the general
pattern of the modern romance novel is to throw the happy couple into a
relationship early and keep them together, to the point that they may not even
interact with anyone else, until they've sorted out their problems, saved each
other and declared their happily ever afters. In fact, the crisis in many
modern romances often comes when the pair, having been stuck with each other
for so long, are suddenly separated by an outside force. Whether they like it or
not (and they often aren't sure) the relationship starts early in the book, and
continues throughout.
Shakespeare? He had a different way of
messing with his characters. They fall in love immediately and know they want
to be together forever—and spend the entire play unable to actually start a
relationship. Often, they are pining away right under each other's noses
(Shakespeare loved his crossdressers.) There might be a wicked father in the
way, a pledge of honor, or a manic mix up. But something will keep the would-be
lovers trapped in a realm of “look, but don't touch!” sure their love can never
be...until the last five minutes of the play, of course!
I never set out to write a Shakespearean
romance. I just had an idea for a story and some fun characters I wanted to
play around with. But I was reading Shakespeare before I'd ever heard of
Harlequin, and I guess early childhood imprinting really is a thing. Cause as
much as I wanted to get Mattin and Jahlene together, they had other ideas. Mix
ups? Check. Misunderstandings? Check. A hidden enemy deliberately sabotaging
them? Check.
And let's not forget the romantic insanity.
Granted, the last chapter only has two new relationships, but the rest of the
book! Well, I'll let you find that out for yourself.
I'll be honest—if you pick up Glamourhai
expecting a typical romance, you might be disappointed. But there's lots of
routes to happily ever after, and if your interested in something different,
you'll find it here.
And if you're interested in checking out the
original Shakespearean romances, may I suggest you start with my favorite: Twelfth Night.
Glamourhai
Blurb:
When the fae lord, Oeloeff, takes his sister, Mattin seeks out Countess Jahlene n'Erida, a fae noble who is Oeloff's enemy, and begs her to help free his sister. In return for her help, he offers the only thing he has--himself. Lady Jahlene accepts Mattin's offer, and he finds himself an initiate of a strange world where pain is pleasure, cruelty is love, and nothing is as it seems.
Mattin hates being a slave, almost as much as he hates and fears the fae. But as he learns more about Jahlene, he finds himself drawn to her, and her sadistic pleasures. As they race to prepare their trap for Oeloff, Mattin fights to reconcile his desires with his fears. Until he makes a mistake that costs him everything...
Author website:
http://www.fantasyromanceserial.com
Purchase link:
www.amazon.com/Glamourhai
Thanks for the great post, Jess! All the best. :D Blak Rayne
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