Before I say anything, the title’s a joke, don’t get your knickers in a twist. Most of you know that Romeo and Juliet is a play about love and killing oneself for it. It is often spoken of as a great representation of love, and tragedy, with which I can agree only partly. It starts with two idiot children: Romeo (M 16) Juliet (F 13), from rivaling families. They, as it be, fall in love. Being the youths that they are, they decided to run away together, after they got caught in their family's feuds and got their people close to them killed. So, they elope. Before they get the chance to run, Juliet has to run away from an arranged marriage, so she fakes her death with a poison. Her plan runs smoothly with everyone thinking she’s dead. Unfortunately for her, as Romeo lays his eyes upon his beloved’s seemingly dead body, he kills himself- assuming she was actually dead. She wakes, and kills herself to join him in death. The end. Many people enjoy focusing on that last part; the meaningful killing to join a loved one. A love so powerful it breaks social status. Which, I agree, is important. However it is not always the dessert that we cherish most if the main course has a better chef. The play is, past the romance, about death. Specifically, this play involves killing due to feuds. As much as I’d enjoy taking it as a warning not to kill yourself two seconds after you find your beloved unconscious or to not marry someone from a rival family (without a prenup), I take it more as a warning not to kill.
The first to die is Mercutio (the funniest/best character). He’s both related to Juliet’s betrothed and is also Romeo’s close friend. He is eventually killed unintentionally by Tybalt, as Tybalt tries to kill Romeo. As Mercutio dies he curses the Montague and Capulet houses (Romeo and Juliet’s houses) for being the death of him. This first death is the most important, both leading to all the other deaths and explaining the entire play. In dying in Romeo’s place, he died for someone else, just as everyone did in the play. Tybalt is killed by Romeo for vengeance, Paris is also killed by Romeo over Juliet, then Romeo kills himself, and Juliet follows. It’s significant that they all died for someone else, because it shows how violence can spiral. However, the part I find most important in Mercutio’s death scene is when he curses both Romeo and Juliet’s houses, not Romeo and Juliet themselves. It is not their love nor them as individuals that caused this, but their houses.
The most famous line of the play (annoyingly so), is “Wherefore art thou Romeo,” (Shakespeare, 2.2.35) in which Juliet asks Romeo why he is Romeo. The lovers are, clearly, stupid. Juliet, in saying why are you Romeo, implies that who he is is the problem. However, when she says this, she doesn’t say “Why are you a Montague” (his family name). This contrasts with Mercutio's cursing of the families, because the lovers take it on as an individual problem, as do most viewers or readers of the play.
This play is about death. From when I was a kid, I always heard Romeo and Juliet mentioned following the topic of romance or tragedy, but I’m not sure where it may fit. Romeo and Juliet, ironically, is not about Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a story about how violence is unnecessary, and even in the most pure and innocent of young loves, death can follow if it is being chased. The two families feuded, and what for? This play is about the understanding we can have for each other, and yet, if we are too quick to kill, all the beauty of love is lost. This play is about killing, not for love, but out of misunderstanding.
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I think this take on Romeo and Juliet is excellent! When reading the play, I also asked "Well, do the families even have a basis or reason to rival the other ones?" It was simply just something by their blood, and they didn't know each other - misunderstandings were written all over this play. I do respect people like Capulet, however, that had respect for the other families without trying to clash for no reason.
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