tragedy of woe: juliet and her romeo

[cosmicna]

it has only recently occurred to me how i never fully knew what went on in the famous shakespearean play “romeo and juliet.” well, up until i had it as a classic reader for my class—later on acting in a play of our rendition of it.

i was never informed of the problems between the two star-crossed lovers: the age gap, the time their love took or lack thereof.

all i really knew was that it was a tragic romance: they loved each other immensely, their families hated each other, they died.

i am certain shakespeare never, ever, intended for romeo and juliet to be portrayed in the media so wrongly, so romantically. everyone always said they loved each other passionately and they became a symbol of love due to that. i then do remember someone combating such symbolisms bringing up the wrong problem: they said the lovers should not be role models because they died in the end.

however a good point, they dismissed the problems i’ve stated before.

age gap:

juliet is thirteen. 13. she is to turn fourteen but as of now, she is still thirteen. romeo, though age not specified, may be between sixteen to twenty, 16-20. (this is said by my teacher, so do not hold me to it.)

this wasn’t uncommon where romeo and juliet lived. but that does not automatically mean it isn’t wrong. ever since my sister told me about their ages (this is when i first found out about it), i have always felt uncomfortable reading about them.

other things that made me uncomfortable regarding ages is as follows:

it horribly disturbed me how paris (mid-late-twenties) wanted to marry juliet (thirteen). getting married at such an age was normal for them too—if i recall right, i remember my teacher saying her mother got married at thirteen too, maybe she already had her—but it isn’t right at all, especially to a man of paris’ age—and for lady capulet, to a man of lord capulet’s age.

just because this system was normalized, nobody bats an eye? it truly shows how society is able to change minds. society here made it a norm for young girls to marry older men and because of its normality, it was okay.

and perhaps i have more to say but my fingers might ooze out too much and so from there, i will stop.

another thing on ages is how lord capulet disturbs me. my first thought of him was that he was a good father,

“my child is yet a stranger in the world. she hath not seen the change of fourteen years.”
(my child is still extremely young. she’s not even fourteen years old.)

but i am quickly put off when he continues with,

“let two more summers wither in their pride ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."
(let’s allow two more summers to pass before we consider her ready for marriage.)

lord capulet was willing to let juliet be wed when she was around fifteen or sixteen. talk about being a bad father.

the rest of the lines, i didn’t quite understand until i saw modern translations of it. he says,

“and too soon marred are those so early made.”
(girls who marry that young grow up too quickly.)

(modern translations from litcharts.com)

he is essentially pertaining to his marriage. as mentioned, lady capulet was already wed at age thirteen, and seeing how lord capulet is around sixty in present times, he’s twice his wife’s age. he, himself, has experienced being wed to a girl of young age and he regrets that she was that young because she grew up too quickly. to that i say: but, lord capulet, what did you expect?

age is a messed-up thing in romeo and juliet and i cannot believe it is a problem not often talked about.

bonus: juliet’s birthday

the nurse mentions that juliet’s birthday falls on lammas eve—the day before lammas. this means juliet was born on the 31st of july. i realized so when i searched “lammas.” lammas is a holiday celebrated on the first of august.

my head then did some thinking of its own. august first, lammas day. do you know what comes after? on the second of august? well, of course, mark’s birthday!

yes, i had to mention him again. it was what i really did think about when i came upon it, and i had to share it, come on.

hastiness of love:

romeo and juliet of william shakespeare happened within the course of five days. this was brought to light to me by, yet again, my sister.

who knew such a passionate love could bloom at first glance? the want to risk literally everything for a single person just from a single look at their eyes (their facial features, their attractiveness)?

i do not believe in love at first sight nor do i think what people label to be love at first sight will ever work out. several romances back me up on this: hans and anna (frozen), jesse and celine (before trilogy)

you will never be able to peel someone’s layers just by the mere look in your eyes and the attraction you feel in your heart. it is impossible. it isn’t any rocket science to understand that we don’t have the power to truly know someone wholly—some people don’t even understand themselves, so what more you understand them?

friar lawrence knew this. when romeo came to him, he questioned the montague’s love for rosaline. he says one of my favorite lines in the play after:

“young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”

i love this line so much. it speaks truth, i think. young men do not love with their hearts, but they love with their eyes. just perfection. truly. and i say this, loving the line with all my heart as well as pleased with how it looks—how it rhymes.

friar lawrence, however, is not a character as perfect as his words are at times. i can’t believe he let the two marry. i can’t believe he married them! and he was doing so well saying his first thoughts on the lovers.

going back to the main couple, i don’t think it was love. i think they were too young. i’m not saying you can’t love when you are a kid, i’m saying that when you’re young and there is no one guiding you, it will be hard to differentiate love from other feelings. the friar would have been a good guide if he had not thought that their marriage would end the feud.

romeo and juliet is not the ideal romance it is often made out to be and i hope there are others who i am able to exchange such sentiments with.

bonus: my school play

i was the leader of my group of four for our romeo and juliet play. i took it upon myself to rewrite the lines and make them more modern as well as make them rhyme. it was so fun rewriting the lines. even if i hate their situation, there are some aspects of romeo and juliet that i would have loved if it were for a different love story.

because i love what i wrote so much, here are two favorite lines i wrote for the main characters!

juliet: oh, how i wish when my death comes, he will be taken and placed in the stars. he will make the night sky as lovely and beautiful as this love of ours.

romeo: if i cannot love her, if i cannot speak, i yearn for her the same i yearn to no longer breathe.

ao3 works

branching away from romeo and juliet, i have placed my fics on registered users only. i still have uncertainty about what ao3 will be doing but i’m not going to try to risk anything. i really don’t think i can handle ai stealing my words or anyone else’s. writers feel things too! we aren’t robots.