Rei
Stuck on the Ground
Posts: 10
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Post by Rei on Jul 18, 2011 11:31:56 GMT -5
Ok, so I just finished reading the Shakespeare play. And I can't help but hate Romeo and Juliet. May it be that I feel so closed towards romantic love. But I just don't see why Juliet falls inlove with Romeo so quickly and takes the drought potion to make her seem dead. Couldn't she just run away or just refuse to get married? Then why did Romeo have to go poison himself after he killed Paris? I liked Paris, he seemed somewhat normal and Romeo goes and kills Paris for loving Juliet. Then kills himself for loving the same girl. All I have to say is the play was a infuriating chaos. Any opinions or clearifications you can give me, since I'm pretty much the only girl in my neighborhood that reads, and doesn't find Romeo and Juliet romantic at all.
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Post by Widdershins Wizard on Jul 18, 2011 13:28:24 GMT -5
Well, it has been a while since I last read Romeo and Juliet, but I think I can answer a few of your questions. First, one needs to keep in mind the play isn't so much about two young people finding their soul mates and being kept apart as it is two young people thinking they're in love and acting rashly and stupidly because of it. Hence why Juliet so readily takes the "poison" -- which I believe the friar failed to inform Romeo about? She couldn't just run away or refuse to marry because neither of those options were available to aristocratic women of the time. If she ran away, her family would do everything within their power to find her (and it wouldn't look good when they found her with a member of their rival's family). And, she simply didn't have the right to refuse. Romeo poisoned himself because he thought Juliet was really dead. Remember: young people acting stupidly and rashly.
But, as I said, it's been a while...
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Rei
Stuck on the Ground
Posts: 10
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Post by Rei on Jul 18, 2011 14:16:21 GMT -5
Too true...but I still can't find something right with those two. I didn't really find it very romantic at all. And I do winder who would forget to tell Romeo "hey your wife is faking her death to be with you so don't freak out"
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Post by <-Såm-« on Jul 18, 2011 18:40:54 GMT -5
You'd think that something so drastic would persuade the Friar to keep a watchful eye on the two of them... but I do agree that most of the couple's actions can be attributed to the stereotypical rashness of teenagers. I don't really see much in the play myself, except I do appreciate the irony at the end. Still, some people must see something that I don't in the story, because it's influenced so much of our literature and popular culture. I wonder why, though, it's Shakespeare's most well-known play when he has written so many other gems.
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Post by Widdershins Wizard on Jul 18, 2011 20:24:45 GMT -5
I've not read all of Shakespeare's work, but I'd imagine that Romeo and Juliet's popularity has a lot to do with it being one of the easier plays to understand on several different levels. Structurally it's pretty straight-forward, and, psychologically, it's something a lot of people can relate to.
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Post by <-Såm-« on Jul 18, 2011 21:52:50 GMT -5
That's true, the "tragedy of love" is a common theme because everybody can believe that they've experienced something equally tragic or at least relatable. Perhaps it's popular for the same reason that people love romance novels and romantic comedies: everyone wants to believe that love will work out. The fact that in this case it didn't (and in such a spectacular way) makes it at the very least memorable.
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Rei
Stuck on the Ground
Posts: 10
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Post by Rei on Jul 19, 2011 8:00:10 GMT -5
I guess that could be a reason that everybody loves Romeo and Juliet. But I still don't find anything right with Romeo or Juliet. So I'll just accept the answer that they are stereotypes xD
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