In Ovid’s Ars Amatoria he writes about the ways to find and pick up women. He talks about how to deceive them and make them feel wanted. In Marina and the Diamond’s song “How to be a Heartbreaker,” she lists off rules for a girl on how to win the love of a man and ultimately leave him wanting that girl but, much like Ovid, deceiving the man and leaving him, well, heartbroken. They both write/sing about specific perspectives and are meant to be fairly light-hearted with maybe some underlying truth. Whereas Ovid’s first two books in the series appeal to what he thinks women want to see and hear, Marina’s song appeals to what she thinks the men want. They both highlight the ways in which men and women can manipulate the game of love to stack the odds in their favor.
Besides the obvious gender flipping between the two pieces, other differences exist. Ovid talks about ways in keeping a girl and creating a more lasting relationship and the lyrics in Marina’s song are for the sole purpose of being a person boys fall in love with and being in control of that power.
“First: be a confident soul, and spread your nets with assurance. Women can always be caught; that’s the first rule of the game. Sooner would birds in the spring be silent, or locusts in August, sooner would hounds run away when the fierce rabbits pursue, than would a woman, well-wooed, refuse to succumb to a lover.” (~269-273)