Review: Romeo and Juliet: How Not to Handle Dating.

I realize Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories ever written and has been adapted into play after highschool play and movie after cheesy Halmark movie, but just why? When I read it, I thought, “Aww, that’s cute. The joys of being young and dumb…and they killed themselves.” Now obviously, this is not to say that Romeo and Juliet isn’t a good story. It is and still should be considered a classic that everyone should read, but many times while I read it, I couldn’t help but think that it was one of Shakespear’s edgier works.

#1: Juliet is 13 and Romeo is 17

I don’t consider this a con because this is simply a historical fact. In the Elizabethan period, girls were often married off at at age since that was when they were the most capable of having babies. However, it does make me laugh because clearly, Juliet is very new to everything, has more prospects in front of her (especially because she’s of a wealthy family), but still chooses to marry the guy who called her pretty a few times, something that was considered highly scandalous, even more so when you take into account that she was engaged to Count Paris.

While it is true that Juliet’s attraction to Romeo is kinda cute and idealistic, I wouldn’t say that they actually loved each other. Rather, what seemed like love to them reads more like severe infatuation and flattery in real life. I enjoyed how the Hulu movie Rosamund showed this at the end where when Romeo and Juliet finally sail off to be with each other, it highlights how they actually know very little about the other person. On top of that, Romeo also left Rosamund (a character who is actually in the original story) to be with Juliet since she was prettier. If anything, that just tells me that Romeo is a player and the type who goes off of looks than personality. While looks play a huge part in male attraction, they shouldn’t just be going off of that like what Romeo does.

#2: Dark humour

A lot of the humour in Romeo and Juliet would’ve gone over my head if I hadn’t been reading the annotated version. Many scenes in the book have overt (or at least overt to the Elizabeathan people) references to sex, that – while somewhat funny – are completely innapropriate. You never realize how PG-13 to Rated R some Shakespearean poetry is until you read it in context.

#3: Three Day Relationship Ends with Six People Dead

Killing yourself is not how you deal with being forced into the friendzone by your lover’s parents and killing off several people is also not a healthy way of dealing with it. While it is a tragic end to the story, it is also laughable when you take into account that these two kids who barely knew each other just killed themselves essentially for the sake of spiting their parents and took several other people down with them. It is a classic and a story that I do think you should read, but don’t read it and base relationships off of it.

Until next time,

M.J.