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. 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.
The phrase "star-crossed lovers" was coined in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Tristan and Isolde
Layla and Majnun
Hellelil and Hildebrand
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
An 1870 oil painting by Ford Madox Brown depicting the play's balcony scene
L'ultimo bacio dato a Giulietta da Romeo by Francesco Hayez. Oil on canvas, 1823.
Masuccio Salernitano, author of Mariotto & Ganozza (1476), the earliest known version of Romeo & Juliet tale
Frontispiece of Giulietta e Romeo by Luigi da Porto, 1530