I feel that anyone who believes Romeo & Juliet is about some kind of Great and Timeless Love TM* needs to see this.
WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT THIS TODAY IN MY SHAKESPEARE CLASS.
If you go and actually read what Romeo says to Benvolio in the first scene, you will realize that he is only upset because HE WANTED ROSALINE’S BODY AND SHE SAID NO AND SO ROMEO WAS MOPING AND PITCHING A FIT ABOUT IT. Then, the second he lays eyes on Juliet, he’s basically saying
During the balcony scene, Romeo talks about how he scaled the wall of the garden to see Juliet. That is not romantic. That is disrespectful to her. This is a private area of the Capulet home, and Capulet built the wall around it to protect his daughter. This was a time when a woman’s virtue was the most important thing she owned. If Juliet was found with a man in this very private part of her home, everyone would think she was no longer a virgin, her reputation would be ruined, and it would be much harder, if not impossible, for her father to make a good marriage.
Speaking of good marriages, Count Paris is seen as the bad guy because he “comes between” Romeo and Juliet. Capulet had arranged for Paris to marry Juliet in 2 years time, when she would be 16, in a time when most women were already married and mothers by the time they were Juliet’s age at (almost but not quite) 14. Most fathers would have already had their daughters married by now, but he wants to wait two more years AND PARIS IS OKAY WITH THAT. Not only that, but Paris is young (her father could have had her married to a 60 year old man), titled (he’s a fucking Count), wealthy (again, he’s a count, which means Juliet will have financial stability), and, from what we see of him, he is a very good guy. Capulet could have done a LOT worse in choosing his son-in-law.
Finally, here’s something to consider: Juliet was 13, Romeo was 17. Their relationship lasted 3 days, defied their parents, and ended in the deaths of 6 people.
If I ever hear you say that Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told, I will bitch slap you.
That is all.
THANK YOU! SOMEBODY FINALLY PUT IT IN WORDS FOR ME
The whole point of the play was not meant to show a “timeless and fantastic love”, it was meant to show how stupid kids can be when it comes to love!
Ahem, no.
It was meant to show that the world parents set up can destroy their very own children. You may have noticed the lengthy monologues at the beginning and end of the play that address this subject?
It’s a play about two kids who are trapped in a system their warring families have created. Everybody’s like “Oh, they’re the heirs to their family!” but MOSTLY Romeo’s got nothing much to live for other than youthful thuggery and then an adult lifetime of whatever his parents arrange for him, and Juliet has that plus being a woman (and worse, she’s the smarter, more serious, and more ambitious of the two in terms of being willing to fight for something better in life, and basically she’s supposed to marry who her parents say and then sit down and shut up).
Whether or not they’re really in love or they’re just grabbing something that looks like a lifeline, the point is that their society cuts off all their options, and all they’ve got left is self-destruction.
Which is, you know, a story that remains very relevant and familiar to us today. Whether it’s drugs, violence, love, thrill-seeking, kids still are driven to burn out and destroy themselves before they ever reach adulthood because as far as they can see there’s nothing for them.
Also it’s a myth that people were often marrying their young children off. Check church records through the Medieval and Renaissance periods and you will find it was very rare that either member of the couple was under the age of 16, even among noble families (and even rarer among peasant families, who lacked the political impetus to marry their kids off younger than 18 or 20). Which is still damn young, but it’s not little kid young.
^^^^^
Sure, if you read it as a documentary, it’s an after-school special cautionary tale. But it’s not a documentary. And it’s not just about love, it’s about the freedom of Juliet to choose whom she loves. Before Romeo gets up that balcony, she’s already in love. (“My only love sprung from my only hate!/Too early seen unknown, and known too late!” See there? Juliet’s constantly talking about knowledge—she is the furthest thing from a “stupid bitch.”) And yes, it’s “unrealistic” that they fell in love in the course of a dance party, but that’s the point: Shakespeare’s writing about how this brilliant girl can take this foolish boy and turn their youthful infatuation into real love through the power of her language. Because lemme tell you something: when Shakespeare, the poet who made worlds with words, writes about someone who creates love or moves people with language, then that character is really really important, and really really powerful. (See also Cleopatra, Viola, Prospero, Lady Macbeth, et.al.) In light of all this, calling Juliet a stupid bitch is pretty fucking misogynist. (Not to mention unclear on the concept of art, which is valuable precisely because it can tell unrealistic stories representing deep human truths.)
I have to say that in the end its sounds an awful lot like you’re defending arranged marriage for a free-minded young woman. And that’s a reality I would just as soon do without.
