Romeo and Juliet - an age old family rivalry

By: I.Doherty

​Most of you already know the famous story of Romeo and Juliet, but why not tell it again? A romantic and dramatic story about an age-old vendetta between two families which erupt into bloodshed! A group of masked Montagues risks further conflict by crashing a Capulet party. A young lovesick Romeo Montague falls instantly in love with Juliet Capulet, which is due to marry her father’s choice, the County Paris. With the help of Juliet’s nurse, the women arrange for both of them to get married the next day, but Romeo’s attempt to start a street fight leads to the death of Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, for which Romeo is banished. Desperately Juliet tries to reunite with Romeo, she follows Friar’s plan and fakes her death. This message fails to reach Romeo, and believing she is dead, he takes his life on her tomb. Juliet wakes up to find Romeo’s corpse beside her and immediately kills herself. The grieving family agrees to end their feud in honor of their children’s death.  
 
Love is naturally the play’s most dominant and important theme. The play focuses on romantic love and the passion that springs between both characters at the beginning of the play, creating a sense in the audience that love at first sight can truly be real and how nothing else matters in the world but the fact that they had to be together. In Romeo and Juliet love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions.  
 
One of the many meanings behind Romeo and Juliet’s love story is that hatred between two families can have deathly effects. The play teaches the audience lessons about prejudice, which is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or experience. This is because the Montagues and Capulets were prejudiced against each other and their hatred ultimately caused the deaths of their children. 
 
Men were expected to be masculine and carry themselves with honor and pride. Romeo was afraid he might be losing this pride by falling in love at first sight, but he got past that and went after Juliet. While women are expected to please their men and hold their own opinions; Juliet jumped over that, and her family rules and did what she had to do to be with him. This means that Romeo and Juliet deified the standard gender roles that were put on them by their society. Their actions and behaviors and actions throughout the play reflect how both characters were different from many other people during that time. Romeo and Juliet's gender reversal left a huge impact on society and both their families