A kiss generally stands for the intimate connection between two people or is at least a loving, directed gesture. But kisses can also be completely different: religion, literature, art, film and the judiciary know some with extremely dramatic consequences.
What wonderful feelings a kiss can trigger. But by no means everyone - some also cause the opposite feeling. Or happiness is deceptive, the end: tragic. For International Kissing Day on July 6th, we take a look at its dark side.
Once upon a time... this is how the story of Ana and Carlos could begin. Because of her, lovers from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Guanajuato, Mexico, to kiss in a very narrow alley there. The reward for this should be years of happiness. The legend of the two lovers is anything but happy: Ana comes from a rich family, the miner Carlos is poor. Ana's father doesn't want the relationship. The two therefore meet and kiss secretly every evening - on two balconies that face each other in the alley.
It comes as it must: Ana's father catches her and stabs his daughter. In a variant of the story, Carlos falls to his death trying to protect Ana from her father. Another ending lets the mourner commit suicide in the mine.
Effi Briest almost faints when the major covers her with hot kisses, as Theodor Fontane writes in his social novel. But the Major isn't Effi's husband. When he uncovers the brief affair years later, he feels compelled by convention to kill his former lover in a duel. And to leave his wife, who from then on is socially ostracized and who dies young and lonely.
Cheating kisses have also played a literary role earlier, for example in Dante's "Divine Comedy" from the 14th century. In it, Francesca kisses her husband's brother, who therefore kills both of them.
This forbidden love in turn inspired the sculptor Auguste Rodin to create his world-famous sculpture "The Kiss", of which there are various copies. If you look closely, you will see that the lips of the lovers depicted are not touching. Has the kiss already happened or is it just imminent?
How a kiss became a case for the British judiciary - and the judgment from 1837 strengthened the right to sexual self-determination: After Thomas Saverland kissed Caroline Newton against her will at a party, Newton bites off a piece of his nose. Saverland then sued her.
But the judge makes it clear: No means no. If a man kisses a woman against her will, "she has the right to bite his nose off if she feels like it," he is quoted as saying in Bell's Weekly Messenger, April 30, 1837.
The most famous, of course - the Judas kiss. According to the biblical story, the disciple kisses Jesus and thereby betrays him. However, it is a contradictory picture that the evangelists paint of Judas - the younger a gospel, the more negative the portrayal of the apostle. The oldest after Mark emphasizes that Judas was "one of the twelve". He is not regarded as a "traitor" as in Luke, but as an instrument of God. However, a deeply negative image of Judas dominated the view of the Jews for centuries and provided a basis for the worst anti-Semitism.
Following Judas' example, Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, kisses his brother in the second part of the mafia classic "The Godfather". He found out that Fredo had previously betrayed him. "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart, you broke my heart." But the kiss of death is not an instant death sentence. Fredo temporarily goes into hiding. Michael later arranges for his brother to be murdered.
When the king receives the kiss of death, there is not much left to save. Then it's chess: mate. In this variant, the queen stands directly in front of the opponent's king; another figure covers the lady. This works best when the king is on the edge of the board.
The king of the then chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik received a completely surprising kiss of death from the lady of the chess computer "Deep Fritz" in a game in 2006 - after a blatant mistake by Kramnik, which he could not explain. "It all looked so good to me, and then I'm faint in one."
Matt also feels an opponent of the Pokémon Rossana when it uses its Kiss of Death special attack in-game. However, he does not die from it, but falls asleep. For connoisseurs: Rossana is a further development of the Pokémon Kussilla. This has the slightly less effective weapon Bitter Kiss, which is confusing.
