Romeo and Juliet: A Modern Perspective
Read Gail Kern Paster’s “Romeo and Juliet: A Modern Perspective” (linked here or found in your copy of the play). Does the essay complicate or clarify something about the play? Post a comment, question, or connection on the discussion page.
I personally thinks that it was very hard for Romeo and Juliet’s love to be known to their family and friends, and this is obviously because of their families long lasting feud. What made it even harder was the difficulty to express their true identity for themselves. Marrying secretly was irreversible at that time, and that was a very important moment for the both of them. They couldn't express that knowledge to anybody because of the fear of the repercussions that would occur. They were deeply in love and had a strong bond for one-another, and that is what really stand out for people who have read the novel.
ReplyDeleteThe essay clarifies the meaning and message Romeo and Juliet carries, and how Shakespeare has influenced so many generations of people through the emotional aspect of the play, and in part because of its relatability.
ReplyDeleteI think that this complicated things a little bit, because I had originally thought that, for the time period, Juliet and the other women had more influence than I was expecting. But the essay said that they were thought of as objects, and had no power. I agree that they were thought of as objects, but Lady Capulet and Lady Montague seemed to have a lot of power over their husbands.
ReplyDeleteI think it also had to do with age, Juliet was seen as less than because not only was she a woman but she was a teenager, and people didn’t see what she had to say as being something reasonable or valid
DeleteI wonder what the writer feels about this play. Were they angry? I also agree with Evvie that women seemed to have power in the play.
ReplyDeleteI had not noticed how much Shakespeare has the women in the play be objects. The other character act as if they are nothing. They only have a couple purposes in life.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how the writer describes there is always an obstacle with being in love. Romeo and Juliet's was a social problem and the only way they could have been safely married was to have a secret marriage.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t notice all the sexual jokes Sampson and Gregory made until now. Other than that, the essay was a bit confusing.
ReplyDeleteIt clarifies the message Romeo and Juliet carries and how Shakespeare has influenced so many people with this play in so many generations.
ReplyDeleteThe paper said something that made me think of the popular narrative "the fiddler on the roof"- where the Jewish daughters defy tradition and marry without having the matchmaker choose their husband. The paper suggests, "Secret marriage is the narrative device by which Shakespeare brings into conflict the new privilege claimed by individual desire and the traditional authority granted fathers to arrange their daughters’ marriages." I thought it was interesting to see how individual desire may play into societal changes.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF! You could use that story to compare with ROMEO AND JULIET for the upcoming synthesis assignment.
DeleteI never really realized how important marriage was back then. The fact that it was irreversible makes all of the plot points more tense
ReplyDeleteI agree. It adds a much needed weight to their actions and makes their intentions less pure in my opinion. It makes them appear more rebellious and secretive, knowing that what they did was permanent.
DeleteIt also makes me realize how much of a deal Juliet almost being forced to marry someone else was. She couldn't get divorced or run away. She would be stuck with him forever
DeleteThis is Kimball btw
DeleteIt simplify the message Romeo and Juliet have and it shows how the play have influenced so many generations
ReplyDeleteI feel like it solidifies my understanding of how Romeo and Juliet had such strong desires to be with each other, as marriage was much more important back then, and was seen as the main goal of life to most. On top of that, to host a secret marriage was almost sort of frowned upon at this time, so for them to self-isolate themselves from their families and friends in one of the most important times of their lives is pretty significant.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Shakespeare showed differences between the individualistic Romeo and Juliet and traditional authority in so many different ways. The fact that we never saw Romeo speak to his parents might seem rather insignificant, but it shows a key difference in their thought processes, and the different treatments of male and females. While Juliet was forced to speak to her parents (none of the conversations were actually things Juliet wants to talk about if you look back), Romeo doesn't feel obligated to treat his parents in any particular way. It's obvious that Romeo is more emotionally attached to his friends, while Juliet is confined to her family as she never got a chance to meet anyone else.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points! Thank you for drawing attention to the details about how our title characters communicate differently.
DeleteI also noticed these differences, not only in their interactions, but in where each scene took place. Romeo's scenes didn't take place in his home. He was usually out with his friends, at the Capulet's house, with Friar Lawrence, or in exile from Verona. Not only did he not speak to his parents, he was barely ever around them. On the other hand, Juliet is almost only seen at the Capulet house, with some exceptions. She's confined to her family both emotionally and physically throughout the play.
DeleteI think this clarifies how drastic the action of a secret marriage was then, and thus how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other. I had no idea how important the action of getting married was to their society.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see how social problems and feuds have such a huge impact on love and marriage. This concept makes up the entire story/plot of the tragedy, and helps us notice how the way we view others impacts someone, even if it is not yourself. Also, I had not realized before that and marriage was extremely different back in that time period from what is is now. It really helped me to understand and unpack the play more, and allowed me to connect more with the characters.
ReplyDeleteThe essay helped me understand the social structure of the Elizabethan era and its relationship with love and desire. If I were to reread Romeo and Juliet, I would better understand the motives of the characters, like how Romeo was conflicted between avenging Mercutio and making peace with Paris because romantic individualism is incompatible with adolescent male bonding.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s interesting how Shakespeare had to use his imagination to write about Juliet being disobedient. This helps me imagine about the time period Shakespeare was living in and why his plays gained so much attention back then.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that Shakespeare showed them in defiance to their parents, and how they are more independent than any other characters In the play, because they seemed like the only ones who had their own desires. The essay helped me understand the reasons behind why they act the way that they do, and the social structures of the time.
ReplyDeleteThis essay helped me understand the play better. The way that Romeo and Juliet act have a lot to do with the time period they were living in. Since our generation is so different from theirs reading the essay helped clarify a lot of things in the play.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in the polarization of marriage in the play. The marriage of Juliet to Paris seemed to be perfect to Capulet and Paris, but to Romeo and Juliet it was one of the worst things that could happen. On the contrary, the marriage of Juliet to Romeo felt completely right to Romeo and Juliet, but would have been completely wrong to Capulet and Paris. The essay said that Romeo chooses Juliet over Mercutio, and all of their actions solidified the love that they have for one another. But would Paris give up anything for Juliet? Paris was invited to come and watch Juliet as if she was an object on display, but Romeo went out of his way many times to be with her and marry her. It is surprising that Juliet is not as submissive as other women were at the time, and I wonder if this relates to how her mother does not always submit to her father, or if it is just the result of a loving relationship with Romeo.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if shakespeare was actually aware of the controversy he had created in the play, by making romeo and juliet act as individuals rather than with their family/ society. he must have been aware of how different this was, was he trying to make a statement, or was this because of the plague and how shakespeare was trying to spread individualism in a time where people were numbed to the importance of individuals(the last article we read).
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the essay really cleared up any of the social 'norms' at the time of the play, and actually made me understand some parts of the play better due to the context about the time period.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this essay complicated some aspects of the play because it revealed the deeper meaning of Shakespeare's writing. I hadn't thought about the tragedy as being Shakespeare's warning against marrying secretly and being an independent couple. But this also proved to me again that Romeo and Juliet were so in love that they were willing to do anything to be together, even if that meant doing something that society disapproved of.
ReplyDeleteMainly, I think this essay over complicated things more for me because of how deep the author took the meaning of the secret marriage and women to men relations. But just a small thing I didn’t know before was that the marriage between the lovers was final which cleared up for me the fact that the union was so powerful and monumental in its disobedience to their parents. But overall, I think how the author got into all of the Petrarchan poetry and idealization, consequences of desire, and romantic individualism just complicated simple things that I already knew, like how Romeo wasn’t really connected with his family and how Juliet was clearly more affected/had more of an impact in the story by breaking ties with her toxic family.
ReplyDeleteThis essay definitely impacted my perspective and opinions on Romeo and Juliet's relationship; I hadn't realized how different it was from the social norm (not including the family feud part obviously) and, although rushed and naive, it may have been way closer to real love than most other relationships (ie Samson and Gregory and Mercutio's sexual view of love and normalization of rape). This is something that I just never really thought about before.
ReplyDeleteI think this essay highlighted the points that Shakespeare was trying to send - that people should act upon their own values and interests rather than outside pressures. It shows the controversy Shakespeare created by writing Romeo and Juliet as well, as an idea like this wasn't popular in his time (and is still an unpopular idea in some cultures today).
ReplyDeleteThis definitely changed my perspective because I didn’t realize marriage back then was usually purely political and not because people are in love. This came as a shock to me because you’d think if you were forced into a marriage then you wouldn’t want to force your kids into a marriage but I guess that’s not what they thought back then. I feel like this justifies Romeo and Juliet’s impulsivity a bit more because although their love was quick it’s probably the most genuine relationship either of them would ever experience
ReplyDeleteThe essay pointed out the conflict between traditional authority and individual desire in the play, which helped me realize more of how Romeo and Juliet defied the norms of following in parental footsteps. They were both more connected with themselves and their own interests rather than listening to their parents’ textbook advice and command.
ReplyDeleteI think the essay really opened my eyes to the environment Romeo and Juliet were living in and I found that it helped me understand more why they acted the way they did. They were both burdened with expectations set from their families and the society around them, it makes sense they wanted to act on their passion for each other in defiance to those expectations.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this article emphasized the social in the town as a whole. Previously, I had really only though about the families in that way, how they're equal, but had never really broken it down. Then, as the article mentioned it, I saw it all lining up - how the boy cousins would fight in the street, the wives be told what to do by their husbands and the servants be roaming the streets finishing tasks for their masters. This made it clearer for me - that it wasn't just set up for the play, but was just the way their society worked. It made me think more though, do many families have rivals? Does each class have feuding pairs? It wouldn't surprise me, and I think after reading the article I would be even less surprised.
ReplyDeleteThis essay did clear things up a bit and helped me see what I missed from being just oblivious to it or because I didn't understand the language. I obviously knew that women were powerless and viewed as submissive and as property, but the many bawdy innuendos pointed out in this paragraph flew over my head originally. That helped me really see how crudely they treated women in Romeo and Juliet though considering what happened in history, it shouldn't have been a shock. As you get deeper into the essay, it connects to what we're learning in history which is nice yet it complicated the simple ideas I had a grasp on to not really.
ReplyDeleteThe essay was interesting, and eye-opening in that it showed very clearly how rebellious Romeo and Juliet were- Romeo rebelling against the attitudes of most young men at the time, who scorned love or used it as the subject of bawdy jokes, and Juliet rebelling against her parents and generally a society that didn’t want her to fall in love with anyone but who her parents wanted her to.
ReplyDeleteThe essay showed that marriage was very significant back then, and it made people notice that marriage is very important to people’s lives.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the essay was trying to tell us that Shakespeare made Romeo and Juliet a tragedy because of their (especially Juliet’s) disobedience to their parents (particularly Juliet’s father) in their marriage. But if Shakespeare is trying to signify value in a daughter obeying her father, then why did he sometimes portray the adult Capulets and Montagues as childish/immature in their actions? This is including Juliet’s father. Wouldn’t he instead show Lord Montague as a easily-empathized-with victim of his daughter’s betrayal? And yet, as the reader, I sympathized with Juliet more than her antagonistic, threatening father.
ReplyDelete- Anya C.
I thought it was really interesting how the author got into the social norms at the time and explained, for example how the death of Mercutio marked both the incompatibility of Romeo and Juliet, but also male bonding. Something I would not have been able to have gotten to really know without reading this. However, I do believe it over complicated somethings and really made me think twice.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the essay made the message of the play just a bit clearer and confirmed what I had gotten from reading it and discussing it in class. Shakespeare was making the two main characters rebels who embodied the fears of society back then (individualism, love over politics). By forcing the audience to sympathize with them, he exposed the flaws in that society's views. By having their rebellious love prevail in ending the petty feud, I think he was calling for the end of these fears. This was also accomplished by the fact that the characters the audience cares most about died due to the challenges they faced because of society, showing that society would have to change in order to save them and others like them in the future.
ReplyDeleteSomething I found interesting was the new perspective they introduced into not only the ordered power structure how rigid the hiérvete is even to the terms of battle “ clarifies the social structure: servants fight with servants, young noblemen with young noblemen, old men with old men.”
ReplyDeleteI think the essay helped me better understand patrs of the play based on the time period. The social norms were different back them and to us it may seem weird or unusual but it was really just normal to them.
ReplyDeleteThe article helped me better understand the family dynamics in Romeo and Juliet. Although the essay makes a point saying that women were supposed to be obedient however, I didn’t really see that come out in the play.
ReplyDeleteFor me the essay added an additional narrative and message into the play, as it successfully managed to point out references to things that I hadn't noticed connecting different parts of the play together (such as it's connection of Gregory and Sampson to Capulet and Paris) and it makes me curious if there are other connections and messages that I missed in the play which may have been easier to notice for someone seeing or reading it in the time in which it was written.
ReplyDeleteI think its interesting how I didn’t notice a lot of the themes that were there, and I think part of the reason for that is the difference in time period. His work would have had a much different impact when it was released that it does today.
ReplyDeleteThis essay made me more aware of how different our lives are now compared to back then in the 1500s when Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet. By understanding more of how societal standards and expectations impacted ones life it makes a lot more sense as to me why the end of the ancient family feud is marked by the death of Romeo and Juliet.
ReplyDeleteThe essay allowed me to more understand the social structuring and norms at the time, especially with the importance and significance of marriage. Also, it showed just how much the lives of people back then differed from ours. I feel that if I reread the play I would understand it more than I would have if I did not read this.
ReplyDeleteThe essay brought up many points that helped me to have a deeper understanding of the book. I realized that not only did Romeo and Juliet defy their family but Juliet defied all standards for women at the time.
ReplyDeleteThis essay really emphasized how incredibly rare their love was, and makes the ending (in which the families suddenly end their years long feud because of Romeo and Juliet's deaths) feel much more realistic.
ReplyDeleteThis essay really shows the depth of Romeo and Juliets actions. The fact that marriages were irreversible shows how passionately they loved each other and helps explain why they were so ready to take their own lives for each other. It makes more sense that their solutions to finding out the other had died was a permanent one because they had already made a permanent commitment to each other.
ReplyDeleteThe essay brings up the term “social management” and it connects it to many things that happen in the play. This helped me understand some things that are unexplained and the actions of the characters.
ReplyDelete