The modern ideals of relationships

1745, Versailles France.

Jeanne-Antoinette is the King's chief mistress and will now be known as Madame de Pompadour and resided in court with the King.

At this point, the King has been married for 20 years. He married for reasons of state and had mistresses on the side. It wa...

Free love in the 1960s America argued that society's rules against nudity, same-sex relationships and sex before marriage are forms of sexual repression. Monogamy is being questioned.

Sexually liberated men and women should give up on marriage and jealousy, and adultery and divorce is a ro...

Rudel is one of the earliest known troubadours or skilled court poets. In the 12th century, he wrote poetry exclusively on love in honour of the countess of Tripoli, whom he has fallen deeply in love with without ever having set eyes on her.

Rudel's idea of love is very par...

In 1812, Scotland. Harriet married John Lambton, the first Earl of Durham, despite the families trying to intervene. John has land and responsibilities, and Harriet is a pretty but illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Cholmondeley with no money and little social status.

The modern couple be...

In the early 19th century, Jane Austen is defining the wise ideal of modern love. In her novel Pride and Prejudice,  she shows that her idea that to marry only for money is a disaster, but to marry only for love is a terrible folly. In her eyes, marriage requires warmth, ...

In 1859, Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, arguing that humans are descended from the primates and that their drives and basic psychology are inherited and that their ideals are not wholly their own fault.

He argues that we are half apes and for apes to aim for faithful and ...