Romeo and Juliet

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Summary: Best Shakespeare ever!
Review: Romeo and Juliet is the best of Shakespeares work ever. Everyone knows the story, but once you read it, it brings the meaning and connection to a different level. The language is beautiful. The words passed betweem Romeo and his love are so moving, you read them over and over. Even if you don't understand what they are saying, you'll still get the general idea and fall in love with this forbidden romance. Even though its a sad ending. The tragedy just adds more to the play. A magnificent book...you have to read it.

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Summary: it would be even better if it weren't so cliched
Review: Romeo and Juliet is the most famous Shakespeare play, and it is a very good play; very romantic, and eventful and interesting. But to many people, it's the only Shakespeare play and there are all of those pretentious teenyboppers/pubescent teenage girls who basically lament over how it's so romantic, and all that stuff, basically categorizing it in the ilk of pointless, bland and meaningless romance novels. It is also used as a metaphor for anything romantic, to the point where it's predictable, cliched and trite, an insult to Shakespeare and his works.

And if you think about it, the play itself is somewhat unrealistic in my opinion, mainly about how Romeo and Juliet fell in love and died together. They knew each other for 3 days, but probably knew of each other's existence since their respective families (Montague and Capulet) were bitter enemies. You can't really fall in love in 3 days... well you can I suppose, but not to the point where you would commit suicide over it. Plus the ending could've been varied in real life: Sure the two families could have made amends when their two children died, but it could also have further divided them as well, so you must imagine the possibilities on such an event.

Despite its cliches and questionable sense of reality, R&J is a worthwhile play, certainly an essential piece of literature. It is not the best Shakespeareplay in my opinion, but you can check it out if you'd like.

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Summary: Romantic
Review: Romeo and Juliet would have to be the best book I have ever read. It's about a young boy and girl who fall in love. They are forbbiden to see each other, because of enemies between their religion. Therefor they do some preety intense sneaking around. I prefer this book to any age.

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Summary: My Favorite Shakespeare
Review: The language wraps you up and transports you to a time and land like no other. It's full of love, hate, brutality, and loyalty. All these emotions get tangled up and mixed together. That lends itself to an amazing set of circumstances. There is no greater love story than Juliet and her fair Romeo. All other love stories are measured against this one and you will get lost in this classics story. It's a true classic.

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Summary: The Tragedy of Forbidden Love
Review: The most tragic of all tragedies, this beautiful play takes place in Verona and revolves around Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two young lovers who are doomed because of the feud between their families.

The play opens with a lovely sonnet which is unusual since sonnets were meant to be from a lover to his beloved and, at this point, Romeo and Juliet have yet to meet. The sonnet, however, is a highly structured form of prose, signifying order. This contrasts with the immediate disorder of the play's first scene during which quarreling servants provoke a fight between the Montagues and the Capulets.

Shakespeare, always a master at foreshadowing, makes liberal use of it in Romeo and Juliet with the Nurse being one of the first characters to actually foreshadow future events in the play.

Comparisons between light and dark also abound. Upon first seeing her, Romeo compares Juliet to "a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear." It is central to the play that important love scenes take place in the dark, away from the disorder that marks the day. Romeo loves Juliet at night, but he kills during the confusion of the day.

This interaction and conflict of night and day is raised to new levels in the second act when Benvolio states, in reference to Romeo's passion, "Blind is his love, and best befits the dark." And when Romeo encounters Juliet with the now famous words, "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?/It is the east, and Juliet is the sun./Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon." Romeo then invokes the darkness as a form of protection from harm, saying, "I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes." This conflict of night versus day will not end until the disorder of the day finally overcomes the passion of the night and destroys the lives of the lovers.

Another special piece of foreshadowing occurs near the end of the first act when Juliet states, "If he be married/My grave is like to be my wedding bed." This will be related over and over during the play, from both Juliet's Nurse and even from her mother, Lady Capulet, who, in the third act comments about Juliet's refusal to marry Paris with the words, "I would the fool were married to her grave."

There is also a strong conflict between the uses of silver and gold throughout the action of the play. Silver is often invoked as a symbol of love and beauty. Gold, on the other hand, is often used ironically and as a sign of both greed and desire. Rosaline is described as being immune to showers of gold, and when Romeo is banished, he comments that banishment is a "golden axe" akin to death. Finally, the erection of the statues of gold at the end of the play serves as a sign of the fact that neither Montague nor Capulet has really learned anything from their loss.

One of the most beautiful of all of Shakespeare's soliliquies takes place during the third act when Juliet beckons for nightfall, once again representing the contrast of the nights of love to the disorder of the day. "Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-browed night,/Give me my Romeo, and when he shall die/Take him and cut him out in little stars,/And he will make the face of heaven so fine/That all the world will be in love with night/And pay no worship to the garish sun."

Much in the way the characters in Richard III dream about their fates in the final act of that play, Romeo, too, has a dream that warns him of his fate, when he awakens and says, "I dreamt my lady came and found me dead." Shakespeare often used dreams to foreshadow, but this particular dream also serves to heighten the dramatic element of the tragedy by irrevocably sealing the characters' fate.

When Romeo goes to the Apothecary to purchase poison, the description of the Apothecary makes it seem as if he were buying that poison from Death himself: "Meagre were his looks,/Sharp misery had worn him to the bones." Romeo pays him in gold, saying, "There is thy gold--worse poisons to men's souls." For Romeo, gold really is a form of poison, since it will help to kill him.

Sexual and biblical references also abound. There is a strong erotic element in the final death scene as Romeo drinks from a chalice (whose shape is often compared to that of a woman). Juliet says, "O happy dagger,/This is thy sheath! There rust, and let me die." The dagger, of course, is Romeo's and the sexual overtones are starkly clear. It is Juliet's love for Romeo which ultimately brings about her death.

There is a strange biblical reference from Benvolio in the very first scene of the play. He remarks, as he attempts to stop the fighting that is going on, "Put up your swords, You know not what you do." These words echo the words of Christ as he attempted to stop the fighting of His apostles with the Romans during his arrest and may foreshadow Juliet's demise, namely her three-day "death" followed by a resurrection which still ultimately ends in death.

And finally, Friar Laurence, at the end of the play seems to be attempting to play God in convincing Juliet to drink a potion which will make those around her believe she is, indeed, dead until he, himself, comes to resurrect her. In his attempt to play God, however, Friar Laurence is condemned to fail by the simple arrogance of his acts, a tie-in with the death of Christ that could not have possibly escaped the early Christians watching performances of the play.

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Summary: The Star-Crossed Lovers
Review: The peace in the streets of Verona has just been disturbed for the third time by the two great warring families: the Montegues? and the Capulets?. It is a family quarrel that spans generations and fuels the emotions of the youngsters of the families to the point where they cannot even look upon one another without wishing to kill each other. In this poisonous atmosphere, Romeo, a Montegue, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love.

At first, Romeo and Juliet are shocked when they find out who each other is but love wins out over family hatred. Romeo wants to marry the girl and seeks the help of Friar Lawrence. The clergyman is initially stunned by this latest development but realizes that this marriage would end the quarrel. He marries them that day but then tragedy strikes.

No one else knows of this secret marriage when Tybalt, a nephew of Lord Capulet challenges Romeo to a duel. Tybalt discovered that Romeo crashed his uncle?s party and wanted to kill him. Romeo knows he is now related to Tybalt by marriage and declines a duel. Mercutio, Romeo?s good friend, thinks Romeo has become a coward and fights Tybalt on his behalf. Romeo tries to break up the fight and in doing so Mercutio is slain. Romeo, in vengeful anger, slays Tybalt and is banished from Verona.

To Romeo, banishment is the same as death. He?s lost his wife and family. But the good friar convinces him that he can make everything all right and will send for him later. But more bad luck strikes the "star-crossed lovers." Lord Capulet insists that Juliet marry Paris. The friar once more has a plan to save the day and gives the girl a potion that simulates death. When she wakes up forty-eight hours later Romeo will be there to take her away. The problem is Romeo never gets the friar?s message and his servant tells him Juliet is dead. Romeo plans to poison himself and die with Juliet like Quasimodo with Esmirelda in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

More bad luck. Romeo dies before Juliet wakes up. When she awakens she discovers Romeo and kills herself. The families learn from the friar all that transpired and in their shock were able to set aside their quarrel.

"Romeo and Juliet" is a beautiful play about love conquering hatred and healing a serious interfamily wound. As in most tragedies many people had to die before this healing could come about. The two lovers understood the risk that they were taking but were willing to die for their love, and in doing so they healed two families


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Summary: A book lover!!!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read! I think anyone with tast for drama should read this book! Maybe not anyone under seven, but even so, maybe even they could read it!!!And it's also pretty easy to understand! If you do choose this book, I think you will love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Summary: Not my favorite
Review: This isn't my favorite of all of Shakespeare's stuff. First of all, Mercutio is the best character, and he dies too soon. Second, I didn't really like Romeo and Juliet enough to care a lot when they died.
As for all the metaphors and allusions packed in, that's always interesting. I think people start Shakespeare with this play, because it's not as difficult as the other tragedies, which I suppose is a good idea. After this, go to Macbeth (the best!).

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Summary: It was better in the movie
Review: Well, it was very romantic and very imaginative, totally complicated and fantastic to analyze, very emotional. I'm touched deeply with Shakespeare.