blog banner romeo juliet
blog banner romeo juliet

Please Enter Your Date of Birth

icon-tooltip SparkNotes requires all users to provide their real date of birth to comply with local laws.

Month

Day

Year

Please read our terms and privacy policy

7 “Romantic” Gestures in Literature That Aren’t Actually Romantic

We all show our love in different ways. Some of us make mixtapes. Some of us write poetry. Some of us fade from the public eye for five years, then return with a modest fortune and unrealistic expectations only to get shot in the pool because of the futility of the American Dream. Wait, what?

Fictional characters seem to have a questionable relationship with the concept of romance. In fiction, there’s a fine line between being in love and just being a maniac, and it’s not always super clear where that line is. Not to the characters, anyway. To us, it’s a little more obvious. For example…

Start the slide show