If the ruin of Samson by a woman, and the ruin of Hercules by a woman, have a common legendary origin, it is gratifying to know that we can also explain, as a fable, the ruin of Nelson by a woman and the ruin of Parnell by a woman. And, indeed, I have no doubt whatever that, some centuries hence, the students of folklore will refuse altogether to believe that Elizabeth Barring eloped with Robert Browning, and will prove their point up to the hilt by the unquestionable fact that the whole ficition of the period was full of such elopements from end to end.
C. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, Heretics, Science and the Savages, (Barnes and Noble, 2007, p. 79).
Do people jump to conclusions too easily about various types of stories? What is the correct approach?
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