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Mood: Evil ]
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Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
Let’s get this clear, I hate the story of Romeo and Juliette. Loathe it to a depth of my being that you can’t understand. The year we were forced to study it in high school was only made bearable because I had an amazing English teacher who let us watch West Side Story.
So why do I hate this play? Because it enforces the wrong stereotypes about young love. That it lasts forever. That it is pure. That it was meant to be. That two 14 year-olds have it figured out more than the adults who surround them.
I teach 14 year-olds, and believe me, nothing could be further from the truth. What you feel at 14 is not love, it is infatuation at best, but is in most cases your hormones trying out this lust thing. Love is not intense feelings and violins in the background. Love is the man who gets up in the middle of the night and drives the baby who has been fussing on and off for six hours around in the car so you can finally get some sleep. Love is the woman who takes the kids so you can hang with the boys and play video games. Love is sacrifice and unselfishness. Of putting someone else before you. The hormone rush gets us to a point where real love can grow.
In reality, Romeo and Juliette by William Shakespeare, is about two young people who "fall in love" (and maybe they really do) but are prevented from marrying because their families hate each other. Yet, when presented with a way out, Romeo’s aunt in another city, they dither about, whining and indecisive until they both end up dead. (Ooops, spoilers!)
The two of them deserved their fates and we need to stop mooning over this story be anything more than a morality tale written to warn us to take control of our lives and grow the hell up.