Romeo and Juliet

Hello! Welcome to the Young Reader's Review! These days I have reviewed rather recent books which is why today I’m going to bring us back to the sixteenth century.  So today, I’m going to review a classic that everybody knows: Romeo and Juliet by the amazing William Shakespeare.

This story, is absolutely breathtaking. I was expecting something big, but not as big as this. The style, the poetry, the drama, everything about it is pure genius. The characters are very well developed, and we get very attached to them. Despite the very well-known ending, we can’t help but shed a tear. 

The story takes place in Italy, in the village of Verona. In this village, there are two principal families: the Capulets, and the Montagues. As you can probably guess, this family has a history of feuds and are enemies. This tension is the base of the whole story.

The story starts with two servants in the streets of Verona. They aren’t just any servants, one is from the Capulet family and the other from the Montague. They start fighting, and this shows that the families hate each other so much, that even the servants don’t get along.

Even at the first few lines, we can feel the hatred upon the two families. The writing speaks to you.

Benvolio, a Montague, tries to separate the two domestics but Tybalt, a Capulet, joins and worsens the conflict. People watch them fight and take sides. But then, the Prince Esculus of Verona arrives and tells them that if they do this once again, they will be killed. While reading this, we can tell that this wasn’t the first time a fight between them happened.

Benvolio meets Montague and Lady Montague and tells them about the fight. They ask him why Romeo, their son, was behaving morosely and having such a dark mood these days. Benvolio says that he might know why but Romeo appears and the two heads of the Montague family leave.

Romeo explains to Benvolio, his friend and cousin, that he is in love with a girl called Rosaline and that it isn’t reciprocal. Benvolio doesn’t seem very worried because he doesn’t think that it’ll last.

Meanwhile at the Capulet family, a young man named Count Paris, asks Capulet if he can marry Juliet, Capulet’s daughter. Capulet tells him that he should wait because Juliet is not even fourteen. But he agrees to invite Paris to a ball at the Capulet’s house that night so he can meet Juliet. Juliet agrees to meet him.

Can you imagine being forced to marry someone at thirteen years old? This story makes you realize how different this time period is from ours, but it is also what makes the charm of the story and it makes it more interesting.

Romeo and Benvolio roam in the street but a Capulet servant, who was trying to invite people to the ball, stops them asking them to help him read a list of people invited because he couldn’t read.

Ignoring the fact that they were from the Montague’s family, he invites them also. Romeo wants to go because he saw Rosaline’s name on the list.

That night, Romeo goes to the ball with Benvolio and Mercutio, a friend of theirs from the family of the Prince.

When Romeo catches Juliet’s eyes, he completely forgets about Rosaline and is in love with Juliet with one single stare.

Tybalt from the Capulet family, sees Romeo and becomes enraged but Capulet tells him that he doesn’t want any problems.

They go see each other and talk in poetry. Then, they kiss.

Shakespeare’s poetry is magnificent. Every word goes together like a puzzle piece perfectly fitting in with the others.

When they find out that they are from enemy families, they are a bit daunted in the face of it but declare that they are too in love to go back.

Afterwards, Romeo leaves his friends behind and climbs over the Capulet’s orchard wall to go see Juliet. They speak to each other and Juliet, from her balcony, says that she is in love. Romeo says that he loves her too.

The next day, Romeo goes to his friar, Friar Laurence, and tells him that he wants to marry Juliet. The friar is a bit hesitant knowing the he was heartbroken by Rosaline not very long ago, but agrees any ways thinking that it would bring the families to peace.

After, Romeo sees Mercutio and Benvolio and they tell him that Tybalt had left a provoking note challenging him to a duel.

Juliet’s nurse arrives saying that she wants a word with Romeo. Romeo tells her to tell Juliet to meet him at Friar Laurence’s cell that afternoon so they can get married.

They get married that afternoon, but they don’t tell their parents of course.

At this part of the book, we think that everything is going to be all right, but moments later, everything changes…

This story is like I said, a masterpiece. I can fully understand Shakespeare’s success. Everything about this story, and Shakespeare’s stories in general, is absolutely brilliant. I think that everybody should read this story, even adolescents. Even though the vocabulary from the sixteenth century can be sometimes perhaps hard to comprehend, the story is easy to understand and reading it is very pleasant.

I hope that you liked this review, if you enjoyed this one don’t forget to look at the precedent ones and don’t forget to follow me so you’ll be alerted every time I post a new review. (｡◕‿◕｡)