Time and time again, history has created a star-crossed couple who overcome all obstacles through the power of love. Whether it is Pyramus and Thisbe, Romeo and Juliet or Jack and Rose, the only possibility of separating the couple is the death of one or both individuals. Love is defined in these relationships as fighting against all odds, against all odds, class, society, and even family, in order to be with your loved one. Although these stories may be fictional, the story presented a real-life case of star-crossed "lovers", Peter Abelard and Héloïse. This couple hasn't done much to fight society in trying to establish a relationship with each other. Although considered a love story to some, a relationship built on lust, the inability to fight for marriage and union in the Church, shatters the illusion of romance and shows the relationship for that that she really is, a dull affair. The relationship between Peter Abelard and Héloïse failed to establish strong bonds between the young couple, allowing desire to be the only wayward foundation of the relationship. Pierre Abelard was a 12th-century philosopher who, after he began lecturing on the Scriptures, began to gain notoriety throughout France and much of Europe. This newfound fame quickly turns into vanity, Abelard considering himself “the only philosopher in the world” (Historia Calamitatum 9). This attitude gave way to a carnal lifestyle, prostitutes, and an inability to focus on philosophy. Pierre Abélard met Héloïse, a young woman full of promise of studies, during a trip to Paris (9). Rather than establishing a relationship based on solid foundations, Abelard bases his interest in Héloïse through more external factors; Basics of Abelard...... middle of paper ...... lifestyle of the relationship between Abelard and Héloïse. If the two were truly in love, then they would fight to stay together rather than surrender to a higher being or what society demanded of the religious definition of a relationship. If Abelard and Héloïse were truly in love, even the Church would be unable to separate the two. Abelard and Héloïse faced a range of problems when it came to their relationship; they were confronted with their own pride, their inability to separate love from lust, and forces severing their relationship bonds. If the two men were truly in love, only death could separate them. Neither Abelard nor Héloïse competed in strength to be together; they allowed other entities to slowly pull at the bonds of this partnership and because of this, Abelard and Héloïse failed to truly be in love..