Many problematic relationships in literature are meant to be problematic (Jocasta and Oedipus say hi). Others are the result of authors having a poor sense of what makes a relationship healthy. For the purposes of this list, I don’t care one way or the other: whether the author knew they were writing a problematic relationship or not, I’m taking the text as is and leaving authorial intent out of it. The five relationships I go over in this piece are problematic to varying degrees: some (the minority) are only problematic to an extent, others are downright wild. Content warnings for mentions of: sxual assault, incst, violence If you enjoy problematic relationships in literature, how about problematic characters? Or perhaps you’re done with the use of the term “problematic” at all?
