William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been taught in schools around the United States since the early 1900s. William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom. When William wrote these plays, he had them performed at his theater, “The Globe”. One of these plays was the famous Romeo and Juliet, arguably his most well known piece of work. When William wrote these plays, he often based them off of the work of other playwrights, or recycled other stories. Romeo and Juliet is no exception, which was based off of “The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet” written by Arthur Brooke in 1562. Romeo and Juliet’s plot is about 2 star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, whose families have been at feud for many years. Their families feud along with Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other collide, and causes 6 different people to perish at the end of the play. Although some may say we should continue to teach teenagers about this tragic love story, others may argue that Romeo and Juliet should no longer be taught at schools. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet should no longer be taught at schools because of the outdated, complicated language and wording, it promotes unrealistic romantic relationships, and it involves the …show more content…
For example, the line said by Juliet in Act 2, Scene 2. The “Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”. The word “Wherefore” can be very easily mistaken for the word “Where”, but that isn’t what it means. Instead, it means “Why”. It is not clear whether Juliet is saying “O Romeo, Romeo! Why art thou Romeo?”. Another example are these 2 lines said by Friar Laurence in Act 2, Scene 3. “O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies”, “Within the infant rind of this weak flower”. The terms “mickle” and “infant rind” are not clear by modern English standards either. “mickle” means “great”, while “infant rind” means “young