broken heart syndrome

[Savannah Dalcourt]

Giselle comes to mind, of course, but are there any other performance pieces which highlight death from a broken heart?

[Savannah Dalcourt]

I'm currently researching the medicalization of said condition and hoping to juxtapose it against its Romantic understanding. John Ford's The Broken Heart, and the 1913 silent film Marble Heart have both been brought to my attention, as has Schumann's Requiem Für Mignon (text by Goethe).

And I've yet to read A Single Man but the film seems to suggest that George's fatal heart attack is a product of his broken heart. 

I'm still unsure about these options, however, so if any other ideas come to mind please please pass it along.

[Graham Wolfe]

In An-sky's The Dybbuk, the male protagonist Khonen dies instantly on hearing that the woman he loves has to marry another man. (He'll later return as a dybbuk to possess her ...)

[Mark D Price]

If you're looking for something concerning a 'broken heart' that itsn't overdetermined by any sexual or romantic relationship, there is always Kafka. Back in the late 80's- early 90's Steven Berkov (or Stephan Birkoff, forgive my poor memory) staged a wonderful adaptation of Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'. The performance suggested that while Gregor Samsa's 'heart/soul' survived the bodily transformation into the bug, what ultimately cut the cord between Gregor and humanity was not the apple thrown by his father (that was merely the mechanical/ medical cause of death) - but the refusal or inability of the younger sister to recognise Gregor anymore. Gregor loses the will to live when he realises his sister's love for him is gone....so, its not implausible to say that Gregor Samsa eventually dies of a 'broken heart' - with all that 'heart' implies - self, ego, core values, species-being, etcetera. What a fucking downer!

  

[Mark D Price]

Mark D Price said:

If you're looking for something concerning a 'broken heart' that itsn't overdetermined by sexual or romantic relationship, there is always Kafka. Back in the late 80's- early 90's Steven Berkov (or Stephan Birkoff, forgive my poor memory) staged a wonderful adaptation of Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'. The performance suggested that while Gregor Samsa's 'heart/soul' survived the bodily transformation into the bug, what ultimately cut the cord between Gregor and humanity was not the apple thrown by his father (that was merely the mechanical/ medical cause of death) - but the refusal or inability of the younger sister to recognise Gregor anymore. Gregor loses the will to live when he realises his sister's love for him is gone....so, its not implausible to say that Gregor Samsa eventually dies of a 'broken heart' - with all that 'heart' implies - self, ego, core values, species-being, etcetera. What a fucking downer!

  

[Andres Leon-Geyer]

As far as I know, the "broken heart" is often the door which allows illness to take over, by making people giving up. La Boheme is a classical case: guess the idea is that illness has spread due to her being so hurt. 

Mental illness is also a way to "die", like Ophelia or Gretchen in Faust.