The Components of Romantic Love

Love is said to exist in 3 stages, lust, attraction, and attachment. And for most of us, this is a well known fact. However, what many of us may not realize is, recent studies have shown that the brain, releases a certain set of chemicals, when people are in love.

These chemicals include Pheromones, Dopamine, Norepinephrine and Serotonin. Without getting technical, the outcome is a feeling of euphoria or excitement.

This chemical effect and lust, is said not to last more than a couple of months, and is the initial emotion which is experienced in romantic love.

The second stage of Love is, attraction, and is usually based on physical attraction, common interest, and attributes, such as money, status, job title, standing in the community, popularity, etc.

The first two stages of love, lust and attraction, are NOT enough to create a long term relationship. The third stage of love, "attachment" is needed to sustain a long term relationship.

The 10 Most Romantic Couples in History

Reams have been written about it; it has forged the most unusual alliances and triumphed over all odds. Like an elephant on rampage (not a very romantic simile but you get the picture), it has not bothered to see who lies in its path, and just completely consumes the persons involved. Yes, we are talking about this thing called Love. Down the decades, Cupid's arrows have sometimes caused two human beings to be so deeply, passionately and hopelessly in love that society and its dictates have simply fallen by the wayside. And we have devoured their immortal love stories, secretly envying these couples who found their matching halves or soul mates. And feeling encouraged to find our own prince or princess.

Here are 10 of the all time most romantic couples in mankind's history.

1. Romeo and Juliet. Arguably, the most famous pair of lovers of all time, this is one love story by William Shakespeare that has inspired generation of lovers, and continues to do so till today. Rome and Juliet are the ultimate synonyms for true, eternal love, and also of love's greatest sacrifice - one's own life.

2. Pyramus and Thisbe. Penned by the Roman poet Ovid in his work 'Metamorphoses', this is a tragic love story that probably set the tone for William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' several centuries later. In this story, two young lovers are next door neighbours but cannot meet openly because of their respective warring families. They used to meet secretly and one day agreed to have a rendezvous under the mulberry tree. Through a series of unfortunate incidents and colossal misunderstandings, both Pryramus and Thisbe die within minutes of each other, each killing oneself believing the other to be dead.