All sacrificed for a passion

Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots > Polti's Situations > All sacrificed for a passion

Description | Discussion | See also

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Description

Elements

• The Lover
• The Object of the fatal passion
• The Person or Thing sacrificed

Summary

The Lover is impassioned by the Object to the point where they give up the Person or Thing, perhaps unwisely, blinded as they are their passion.

Variants

A

1. Religious vows of chastity broken for a passion
2. A vow of purity broken
3. A future ruined by a passion
4. Power ruined by passion
5. Ruin of mind, health and life
6. Ruin of fortunes, lives and honors

B

1. Temptations destroying the sense of duty, of pity, etc.

C

1. Destruction of honor, fortune and life by erotic vice
2. Destruction of honor, fortune and life by any other vice

Discussion

It is said that love is blind, and this situation illustrates just how far people will go to pursue that which they truly desire.

As with other forms of sacrifice, the tension in this is derived partly from the social horror at the act and partly in the sympathy for the person, in this case the sympathy being directed in the same way as when a person has gone mad (or maybe those who suffer as a result). We may also see potential in ourselves for such an act, perhaps increasing the tension of a secret fear.

'All sacrificed for a passion' is the 22nd of Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations.

See also

Madness, Involuntary crimes of love, Necessity of sacrificing loved ones

Emotion and rationality