9 Love Stories with Tragic Endings

Anna Karenina appears to have the perfect happy family with her husband, a wealthy bureaucrat, and their son, until she begins what becomes a very public affair with a handsome count. Their relationship quickly dissolves, along with her place in society. Disgraced, shamed, and heartbroken, Anna meets her death on the Russian railroad.

In this musical adaptation of Romeo & Juliet set in 1950s New York City, the love of teenagers Maria and Tony is doomed by their affiliations with rival gangs. They carry on a secret romance as tension between the gangs escalates and ends in tragedy.

In Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Emma Bovary is bored and dissatisfied with her marriage to a country doctor. Her escapes into fantasy and infidelity lead her to financial ruin and, ultimately, a tragic end.

In E. Annie Proulx’s short story, which later became an Academy Award-winning film, ranch hands Ennis and Jack fall for each other in rural Wyoming and begin a long-term love affair. An unaccepting culture compels them to keep their love secret, however, and they live apart while each secretly pines for the man he truly loves.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is Victor Hugo’s tale of the unrequited love of hunchbacked bell ringer Quasimodo for the beautiful, kind-hearted street performer Esmeralda. When Esmeralda’s jealous stalker stabs the man with whom she is trysting, she is blamed for the crime and eventually hangs. Years later, the skeleton of a hunchback is found embracing her skeleton in its tomb.

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is among the most dramatic romantic tragedies in literature. Societal constraints and personal pride prevent Cathy from being with Heathcliff, and she eventually marries another man. Heathcliff, heartbroken, remains bitter through the rest of his life, which he commits to seeking revenge on the forces that kept him apart from Cathy. When she dies in childbirth, he directs his fury at her remaining family (as well as his own).

In James Cameron’s 1997 film, upper-class Rose meets working-class Jack aboard the Titanic. Jack offers an alternative to Rose’s fiancé, with whom she is not in love, and her sheltered life, which bores her. Their plans to run away together are thwarted when the ship sinks following a collision with an iceberg. While Jack perishes in the icy waters of the Atlantic, Rose goes on to live a long, rich life influenced by her brief time with Jack.

The love of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, is doomed by their feuding families. The two fall in love at first sight and secretly marry but are prevented from being together for fear of their families’ disapproval. Seeking a way to be together, Juliet fakes her own death, with devastating consequences. Romeo & Juliet is the quintessential tragic love story, as evidenced by its countless stagings and numerous film adaptations.

One of the classic romances of Western literature, Tristan & Isolde is the tale of a princess who, pledged to marry a king, instead becomes involved with his nephew, Tristan. The two are, of course, eventually separated and years of pining ensue; the story culminates in a thwarted reunion. Originally a 12th-century legend, the story has been adapted countless times, most notably as Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde.