"Romeo and Juliet" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman"

Caution: This entry refers to the end of "Kiss of the Spider Woman".

Every love story has the plot of "Romeo and Juliet".

At first, a boy and a girl fell in love with each other. But someone or something disrupted their relationships. In a tragic love story, they died and their love turns to be eternal in heaven. In a comedic love story, they overcame obstacles but their love will not be eternal on the earth.

I love Manuel Puig's "Kiss of the Spider Woman", which is a typical tragic love story.

The main characters are Molina and Valentine. They were imprisoned the same cell, but they were completely opposite in every way.

Molina was a gay. He was arrested for sexual harassment to a boy.

He loved straight men, so his love was always impossible. Sometime he loved an intellectual straight man, who said to Molina that he understood what Molina felt. But he would never love Molina as Molina loved him.

Molina didn't like to meet gay people, because he wasn't interested in gay people but straight men. But he could only be a friend with a gay, because only gay people could share his feelings. So he didn't like to go to a gay bar, but he went to a gay bar.

Valentine was a macho revolutionary warrior.

He lived in the political world. Of course he wasn't interested in a gay at all.

The governor of the prison sent Molina to Valentine's cell as a spy. But Molina fell in love with him. At first Valentine rejected his love, but Molina was so dedicated to him that Valentine became to open his heart to Molina.

Molina wasn't interested in the revolution at all, but he loved Valentine so deeply that he swore loyalty to the revolution. When Molina was set free, Valentine gave him a letter to his revolutionary fellows.

Molina went to give the letter to Valentine's fellows, but he was followed by the police. Valentine's fellows found the police and they didn't trust Molina. And then they shot Molina.

What a tragic love story! Molina got nothing more than Valentine's love (although it was not sure that his love is real) and Molina's love to Valentine killed Molina himself.

This is the modern "Romeo and Juliet" story.