Romeo And Juliet Comparative Analysis

In the 1960s portrayal of Romeo and Juliet, the two characters are barely able to stay away from each other, much less have a proper conversation without yielding to physical affection. Much of their time together is spent hugging, kissing, and practicing oblivion to the world around them. Romeo drones on about Juliet’s beauty in multiple scenes, reflecting that “The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars . . ” (Shakespeare 2.2.19-20) and “ . . . Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear” (1.5.54). We know that this is not the first time he has used these descriptive phrases; for Rosaline, he claimed the same, and yet Juliet is ignorant of his fickle affections and charmed by his eloquently-phrased declarations.

Then, when events

He did not, in fact, even introduce the story into the English language. A poet named Arthur Brooks first brought the story of Romeus and Juliet to an English-speaking audience in a long and plodding poem that was itself not original, but rather an adaptation of adaptations that stretched across nearly a hundred years and two languages. Many of the details of Shakespeare’s plot are lifted directly from Brooks’s poem, including the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the ball, their secret marriage, Romeo’s fight with Tybalt, the sleeping potion, and the timing of the lover’s eventual suicides. Such appropriation of other stories is characteristic of Shakespeare, who often wrote plays based on earlier

It is determined by the natures and choices of its two protagonists. Were Romeo not so rash and emotional, so quick to fall into melancholy, the double suicide would not have occurred. Had Juliet felt it possible to explain the truth to her parents, the double suicide might not have occurred. But to wish someone were not as they were is to wish for the impossible. The love between Romeo and Juliet exists precisely because they are who they are. The destructive, suicidal nature of their love is just as much an aspect of their natures, as individuals and couple.

Romeo and Juliet have been immortalized as the archetypes of true love not because their tragic deaths bury their parents’ strife, but rather because they are willing to sacrifice everything—including themselves—for their love. That Romeo and Juliet must kill themselves to preserve their love is tragic. That they do kill themselves to preserve their love makes them