regshoe

I was fascinated to learn that pre-Shakespeare King Lear had a happy ending, and then Shakespeare wrote it with one of the unhappiest endings in the world, and now that's pretty much supplanted the original ending. It's just interesting how some stories will go through a period where there are multiple endings that audiences will accept (King Lear in the 19th century, or Swan Lake now, could go either happy or tragic) and then sometimes settle down to one and if you do anything else the audience will consider it a cheat.