Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, is about two middle aged teens that are deeply in love with each other, but they’re love is forbidden due to their social classes. This causes many issues in the story, leading to secrets, drama, confusion, conflict, etc. When Romeo takes his life next to his thought to be dead loved one because he could not bare the thought of living without her. But to the readers surprise, Juliet awakens as Romeo falls into an eternal slumber. “Thus with a kiss I die” Romeo cries before taking his life. This enlightens the reader to not make rash decisions for your thoughts could be wrong. It also shows the reader to think through decisions, especially big ones. And that young love is not always to die for.
Shakespeare’s book has been taught in schools for many years, but why? A lot of students find it hard to follow and boring. But teachers continue to insist that it is necessary to read. Maybe it is the poetry Shakespeare uses, or maybe they feel as though it teaches us a valuable lesson. Whatever it is that makes people like it or not, there is no way around the fact that Shakespeare was an amazing writer.
I personally believe that the story Romeo and Juliet teaches lots of things, mainly depending on how they view it. I feel as though it is a good introduction to literature classes because it can get the students into more complex written works, and get the students thinking more complex overall. The diversity in the way Shakespeare speaks in his writing is like another language and can in a way, educate the reader by improving their vocabulary. It is also an important story to be read and taught to teens that could find this in a way, relatable. When taught in school, teachers and peers can talk about the story and share different views/ideas.
The book is able to expand a young readers vocabulary because of Shakespeare’s intense and complex writing. At first it’s hard to follow and understand what he is writing and figure out what is happening but over time the more you read it it starts to make sense. In one line Romeo says “See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand that I might touch that cheek!” I believe that this line was a way of showing his love for Juliet even if it was said in a weird way.
I also believe that this story could be relatable in a sense to readers. It is a story about young love of Romeo and Juliet, two middle aged teens, and has topics about family issues, forbidden love, suicide, being in a forced relationship etc. Even though planned/set marriages don’t really happen nowadays readers can still relate to it from being in a possible toxic relationship that they couldn’t get out of.Although Romeo and Juliet was written hundreds of years ago the story can still be related to and helpful today with expanding readers vocabulary and overall understanding of complicated stories.
