Juliet, in particular, by the decisions of the men around them. i mean, julie it is so sheltered. this is a girl who only believes her parents had to go to church. this is a girl who doesn t seem to know anybody in her city. she s painfully isolated. i think this is a reading before romance. the play was always hugely successful in shakespeare s day. but i think it was understood far more as a tragedy, as a shocking play, rather than a vision of any kind of aspirational love story. jeff, one particularly memorable moment from the play is a warning from fryer lawrence to romeo. these violent delights have violent ends, and in a triumph die, like fire and powder. which as they kiss consume. the sweetest honey is load some in its own deliciousness. and in the taste, confound the appetite. therefore, love moderately. long love dot so.
Because of how film and production since have presented it. if you read the play, the ending isn t romantic. it s a mess. juliet kills herself out of panic, because she s been abandoned by fire lawrence, her confidant. she doesn t want to become a none. and the reason the lovers kill themselves, and i think it s very much to show, for shakespeare, showing the parents how senseless and terrible the cost of their feud is. it s not a glorification of the romance, it s the consequences of the senseless feud between the families. jeff, your take on that? romeo juliette, sort of asked to me, four key questions. so, first is, is the love of romeo juliette something to pursue, or something to avoid? second, how do we as parents