Romeo and Juliet: Star-Crossed Lovers

Romeo and Juliet is bard's most famous play in the world, and it is now being studied by students taking Literature in English paper for SPM for the new cycle which started last year. last year, one of my students studied the play while the rest did Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. this year, i hope that my current Literature student, Keshen Antioni, will work hard and finish his novel asap before we can embark on this play.

most people shun away from Shakespearean plays. my first introduction to Shakespeare was by reading Charles and Mary Lamb's painless summary of the play at the age of 12. when i was in Seri Puteri and was actively involved in the English Soc., we had to stage A Merchant of Venice when i was 15, and A Midsummer Night's Dream when i was 16. thus, my passion for literature began.

the play Romeo and Juliet is about the innocence of love. Romeo is just 15 and Juliet is 13. both come from warring families, Romeo is from the house of Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. on their first meeting, Romeo falls in love at first sight and wishes to kiss Juliet:

Romeo: If i profane by my unworthiest hand,
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,
My lips two blushing Pilgrims ready to stand,
To smooth the rough touch with a gentle kiss
...
Juliet:Saints do not move, though for grant for prayers sake.
Romeo: Then move not while my prayer's effect i take, from my lips, by thine my sin is purg'd.
Juliet: then have my lips the sin they have took.
Romeo: sin from my lips, O tresspass sweetly urg'd: give me my sin again.

Such is the passion these lovers have. However, they learn the cold hard truth about their families:

Romeo: Is she a Capulet, oh dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.
Juliet: My only love sprung from my only hate,
Too early seen, unknown, and known too late,
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.

Thus a tragedy strikes, the tragedy of twisted fate that surrounds them. And yet, youth’s optimism and love do not fail. Romeo, lovesick after meeting Juliet at the mask ball, steals into the Capulet garden and thus begins the most romantic scene in theatre history – the balcony scene.

Romeo: but soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun.
….
Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

The hatred of both families is so great, and yet these lovers represent the hope for a truce with their innocent love, which can outweigh the hatred. The love is deep, says Juliet “My love as deep, the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”

Later, the two lovers are married secretly by Friar Laurence, who sees the union of these two as the instrument of bringing peace between the two warring houses.

Friar Laurence: In one respect I’ll thy assistant be:
For this alliance may so happy prove,
To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.

Scarcely after getting married, Romeo is banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Lord Capulet intends to marry Juliet to a young man called Paris, thus Juliet is in a dilemma. The only solution is to drink a potion that will render Juliet deathlike. The news of Juliet’s death reaches Romeo, unfortunately Friar’s messenger fail to deliver the message to Romeo that this is only a ruse. He buys a poison from an apothecary and sets to Verona to gaze at his beloved for the last time, drinks the poison, and dies beside Juliet. Juliet then wakes up from her deep slumber and finds a cup:

Juliet: What’s here? A cup clos’d in my true love’s hand?
Poison I see hath been his timeless end:
O churl, drunk all? And left no friendly drop
To help me after, I will kiss thy lips
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make me die with a restorative.
Thy lips are warm.

For Juliet, life has no meaning without her Romeo, who represents hope and happiness amidst the family feuds. Thus, she exercises the marriage vows “till death do us part” and kills herself with a dagger, not wanting to live without her Romeo.

However, the lovers death bring peace to the Montagues and the Capulets, but with a heavy price.

And thus concludes the love story of Romeo and Juliet, who love with a passion but are victims of fate.

Note to Nash: this is a spur of the moment thingy, so you can see that i didnt include any critical analysis hehehe...i've my own reasons for writing this.