And so the Year of the Bard begins! Today, I have for you a summary of, some of my thoughts about, and some of my favorite bits from Shakespeare’s iconic romance, Romeo and Juliet! Yay! Here we go…
What’s it about? Meet Romeo, a young man who is trying to recover from heartbreak. Enter Juliet, a beautiful young woman ready to be adored, and WHAM! We now have ourselves a pair of star-crossed lovers. Why star-crossed? Romeo and Juliet come from families on opposing sides of a deep feud. But love recognizes no borders (or feuds, in this case) and all they can think about is each other. They get married secretly, but a street fight, an angry father, and some bad communication all lead to an inevitable tragic ending.
What is it really about? Our young Romeo and Juliet, born to families feuding against each other, fall in love. Those feuding families are not okay with this and, well, tragedy ensues. Because drama.
No, really. What’s it ACTUALLY about? Romeo and Juliet is about the power of love, as well as its danger.
My thoughts:
Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet. Everyone recognizes the pattern/trope of star-crossed lovers. Everyone knows that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet (although, as Anne Shirley points out, would it really?…). But what do we learn from it?
In all honesty, Romeo and Juliet has never been my favorite play. I have a strong dislike for “insta-love,” of which this play is certainly an offender. What makes it still work, though, at least in my opinion, is the complexity that exists beyond that. When you ignore the ridiculous speed at which the two teenagers fall in love, and you peel everything else away, what you are left with is a story about the power and universality of love.
Above and beyond that, something that I find absolutely inspiring is the couple’s absolute lack of fear.
Romeo and Juliet both seem to recognize very early that their relationship either has a very troubled future, or no future at all. But this does not stop them. There’s something quite beautiful about how they very consciously appreciate the time they do have together, since they know it will be limited. This teenage couple shows not only that love is powerful and universal, but that it is greater than fear. It transcends fear. It even transcends death in a very real way. In some regards, they show more wisdom than any of the other characters. They embrace the inevitable.
As human beings, I think we often fight against the inevitable. Romeo and Juliet embrace it and find beauty and joy in it. If that’s not a lesson for the ages, I don’t know much that would be.
Genre: Tragedy/Romance
Date written: between 1591 and 1595
Highlights:
Favorite line – In a play full of beautiful, descriptive language, I love what Juliet says as she is waiting for Romeo:
“Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.”
Best surprise – Romeo and Juliet is a surprisingly funny play. The nurse provides some comic relief, for example, and surprising humor is strung throughout the play. This seems rather fitting for a tragedy about young love and inevitability. For more on this, see Ian McKellen’s wonderful Acting Shakespeare.
Favorite moment – Act 3, Scene 5, Juliet and Romeo have to part after spending the night together and Juliet has a deep foreboding about their future. Romeo assures her they will meet again, but after he leaves, she says the following lines. I love their earnestness and the heartbreak behind them:
“O fortune, fortune, all men call thee fickle. If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him that is renowned for faith? Be fickle, fortune, for then I hope thou wilt not keep him long, but send him back.”
Hope you enjoyed this! Next week, I will be looking at Taming of the Shrew.
