Star-crossed

This article is about the phrase. For other uses, see Star-crossed (disambiguation).
"Star-crossed lovers" redirects here. For other uses, see Star-crossed lovers (disambiguation).
The phrase "star-crossed lovers" was coined in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The terms "star-crossed" and "star-crossed lovers" refer to two people who are not able to be together for some reason. These terms also have other meanings, but originally mean that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that the stars are working against the relationship.[1] Astrological in origin, the phrase stems from the belief that the positions of the stars ruled over people's fates, and is best known from the play Romeo and Juliet by the Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare. Such pairings are often said to be doomed from the start.

  1. ^ Levenson (ed.), Jill L. (2000). Romeo and Juliet, The Oxford Shakespeare (Oxford World's Classics). Oxford: Oxford University Press. page 142 ISBN 0-19-281496-6.