Are we living in classic literature?

[Tezcatlipoca]

I don't mean this literally, but if you read a lot of old books there are a lot of similar themes to what men are complaining about on this forum today and themes in classical literature.

Examples:

Crime & Punishment: Raskolnikov's romance with a prostitute
Jane Eyre: A young schoolmistress falls in love with a much older wealthy man
Madame Bovary: a beautiful poor woman marries a sequence of men to sustain her luxurious lifestyle
Candide: a young idealistic man chases a woman so hard he ends up harming his life
Cyrano de Bergerac: a man with a facial deformity believes the woman he loves cannot love him in return, he helps a more attractive man win her heart and in the end she finds out it was he she loved all along.
The Great Gatsby: A man achieves great wealth and social status in order to win the love of a high society woman

I do think things have changed in the culture, but perhaps to one level or another these stories always have existed and always will exist?

[Someone]

Depends on how traditional you are. Would you sacrifice everything for a woman? Are you a romantic? Further, do you believe that your worth as a man is primarily a function of your ability to provide (i.e. resources and wealth)? If you answered "yes" to these questions you're probably conservative. In which case, yes, these traditional themes will ring true.

[Ghost]

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[fschmidt]

Tezcatlipoca, you have the wrong time periods. Look at other decaying cultures. Try Chaucer, The Secret History by Procopius, The Golden Ass by Lucius, or Juvenal.