Romeo And Juliet: Can You Relate?
Can You Relate ? William Shakespeare is a brilliant man. He wrote many great plays. It is still amazing how Juliet relates to modern day teens in so many ways, when the play was written in 1597. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is a love sick teenager who goes through a tragic romance, but it is the series of events and how she responds to them that makes her relatable to modern day teens.
These similarities occur in the way Juliet and teens today act. The first likeness is in the word choice they all use. In act IV Paris says “Do not deny to him that you love me” and Juliet replies by saying “i will confess to you that i love him” and Paris says “So will ye, I am sure, that you love me” and Juliet says “If I do so, it will be of …show more content…
more price Being spoke behind your back than to your face”(William Shakespeare act IV,i lines 25-27). Juliet uses irony to get out of situations. This deceiving word play is copied by teenagers today. Pride plays a big role. Both Juliet and modern day teens deal with a lot of pride problems. In Juliet’s time, everything was about pride and honor. Whenever someone did something, it affected their pride and honor. That is the same in our time as well. Teenagers never back down from a challenge so that their pride, honor, and reputation won’t get hurt. Teenagers are very dramatic and at times so is Juliet like when she said “Go ask his name.—If he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”(William Shakespeare act I,V line 134-135) she is overly dramatic because she does not even know his name and she is already in “love” with him. She also says that if he’s married she would rather die than marry anyone else. Teens tend to drag situations out and think it is the end of the world when it’s not or think they're truly in love when they are not.
Nowadays teens act impulsively by doing risky things without thinking them through or how the outcome will be.
Just as modern teenagers do, Juliet makes impulsive decisions, like when she asks Romeo to marry her “If that thy bent of love be honorable, thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow”(William Shakespeare act II,ii line 144). She doesn't consider all that could happen or how the outcome would be. Juliet acts impulsively again when she takes the potion from the friar without even asking questions about it, like how she said “Give me, give me! O tell me not of fear!” (William Shakespeare act IV,i line 124). When Juliet wakes up to Romeo dead is another example of when she acts impulsively, by saying “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die” (William Shakespeare act V,III lines 183-184) she doesn't think about what she is leaving behind or how there is other options. Like Amanda said “They make impulsive, life-altering decisions based on their love and end up losing their lives as a result as a result of their relationship”(Brown and Schulten). Speaking of that, it shows another relation between her and modern day teenagers. Teens have a tendency to be self centered without even realizing it, by taking pictures of themselves all the time and always worrying about themselves before others. Juliet is like this because the whole time she was only worried about her love for Romeo and not how it affected anyone else or how they …show more content…
felt.
Juliet is a stronger character that related to modern day teenagers by going through some of the struggles that they face and responding to those situations in ways that today's teens would.
Amanda said ”Our whole modern understanding of adolescence is there to be found in this play. Shakespeare essentially created this new category of humanity, and in place of the usual mix of nostalgia and loathing with which we regard adolescents, Shakespeare would have us look at teenagers in a spirit of wonder. He loves his teenagers even as he paints them in all their absurdity and nastiness” (Brown and Schulten). Juliet and teenagers share similar personalities, attitudes, and emotions. Teens today have kept the same personality as they had hundreds of years ago during Juliet’s
time.
These similarities occur in the way Juliet and teens today act. The first likeness is in the word choice they all use. In act IV Paris says “Do not deny to him that you love me” and Juliet replies by saying “i will confess to you that i love him” and Paris says “So will ye, I am sure, that you love me” and Juliet says “If I do so, it will be of …show more content…
more price Being spoke behind your back than to your face”(William Shakespeare act IV,i lines 25-27). Juliet uses irony to get out of situations. This deceiving word play is copied by teenagers today. Pride plays a big role. Both Juliet and modern day teens deal with a lot of pride problems. In Juliet’s time, everything was about pride and honor. Whenever someone did something, it affected their pride and honor. That is the same in our time as well. Teenagers never back down from a challenge so that their pride, honor, and reputation won’t get hurt. Teenagers are very dramatic and at times so is Juliet like when she said “Go ask his name.—If he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”(William Shakespeare act I,V line 134-135) she is overly dramatic because she does not even know his name and she is already in “love” with him. She also says that if he’s married she would rather die than marry anyone else. Teens tend to drag situations out and think it is the end of the world when it’s not or think they're truly in love when they are not.
Nowadays teens act impulsively by doing risky things without thinking them through or how the outcome will be.
Just as modern teenagers do, Juliet makes impulsive decisions, like when she asks Romeo to marry her “If that thy bent of love be honorable, thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow”(William Shakespeare act II,ii line 144). She doesn't consider all that could happen or how the outcome would be. Juliet acts impulsively again when she takes the potion from the friar without even asking questions about it, like how she said “Give me, give me! O tell me not of fear!” (William Shakespeare act IV,i line 124). When Juliet wakes up to Romeo dead is another example of when she acts impulsively, by saying “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die” (William Shakespeare act V,III lines 183-184) she doesn't think about what she is leaving behind or how there is other options. Like Amanda said “They make impulsive, life-altering decisions based on their love and end up losing their lives as a result as a result of their relationship”(Brown and Schulten). Speaking of that, it shows another relation between her and modern day teenagers. Teens have a tendency to be self centered without even realizing it, by taking pictures of themselves all the time and always worrying about themselves before others. Juliet is like this because the whole time she was only worried about her love for Romeo and not how it affected anyone else or how they …show more content…
felt.
Juliet is a stronger character that related to modern day teenagers by going through some of the struggles that they face and responding to those situations in ways that today's teens would.
Amanda said ”Our whole modern understanding of adolescence is there to be found in this play. Shakespeare essentially created this new category of humanity, and in place of the usual mix of nostalgia and loathing with which we regard adolescents, Shakespeare would have us look at teenagers in a spirit of wonder. He loves his teenagers even as he paints them in all their absurdity and nastiness” (Brown and Schulten). Juliet and teenagers share similar personalities, attitudes, and emotions. Teens today have kept the same personality as they had hundreds of years ago during Juliet’s
time.