“Crazy in Love” is not a new topic in artistic expression, despite Beyonce’s tribute to the feeling of insanity while infatuated in 2003. Characters in literature throughout time have been making illogical decisions based on passion and emotion, a topic that still reigns true today. Although it makes for an interesting story, letting go of one’s mind for emotion is a decision that often leaves protagonists in precarious situations. In “Book IV: The Passion of the Queen,” from Virgil’s The Aeneid, Queen Dido meets a man named Aeneas, and is instantly obsessed with him. This obsession causes her to leave her rationale behind in a series of ill-thought out decisions that ultimately lead to her demise. Virgil uses Dido’s madness about her love …show more content…
Dido and Aeneas consummate in a cave after being trapped by a raging storm, and the great beast Rumor carries word of the deed across cities and kingdoms. “Rumor took an evil joy at filling the countryside with… gossip” (246-248), and the monster prayed on the vulnerability of the two lovers. The gossip weakened Dido and Aeneas’s image and turned many people against them, particularly against Queen Dido. Many of her former suitors were filled with rage at the thought of the queen not accepting them, yet allowing Aeneas to be her husband, although he was not. “Libyans and nomad kings detest me,” says Dido, “My own Tyrians are hostile… I lost my integrity.” (417-419). Her carelessness about labeling her fling with Aeneas as a marriage spiraled into her allies no longer trusting her. Had the queen kept a level head and not been so consumed with her affection for Aeneas, this would not have …show more content…
In Catching Fire, a 2009 dystopian novel about a corrupt government written by Suzanne Collins, the protagonist Katniss allows her passion to override her logic. Katniss is unable to explore romance with her long-time friend Gale, because it would challenge what her controlling superiors, particularly the terrifying President Snow had ordered her to do. She wants so badly to rebel and be free that she kisses Gale and attempts to run away from her district with him, without thinking about the consequences. President Snow eventually finds out about the kiss, and threatens to have Gale and her loved ones killed if Katniss does not conform. Like Dido in The Aeneid, Katniss allowed her emotions to make her careless, which inevitably made her situation