Juliet and Romeo

I am taking a Shakespeare and Classical Myth class and it is great. I really love it. [no sarcasm]
We've read A Midsummer Night's Dream (AMND) and today we wrapped up discussion of Romeo and Juliet. 
AMND was typical. I've read it three times now and seen the movie the same. So I'm not really going to write a review for it. Sorry. If you're curious about AMND, watch the movie with Michelle Pfeiffer and Christian Bale. It's pretty good and the screenplay is Shakespeare's work.

So, without further ado...

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Started:  February 12, 2014
Finished: February 15, 2015
Stars: 4/5

I was supposed to read this book freshman year of high school and I got to Act 3. In retrospect, I am proud of myself. I read this at a time when I did not like reading. I was lazy and thought reading was sooo not cool. And I also really hated the parts I did read. I thought Juliet was a ridiculous young girl who was an idiot for keeping everything a secret. I thought Romeo was equally as ridiculous. He was temperamental and a pervert for wooing Juliet in such cheesy ways.

Now that I have an addiction to reading, an astounding obsession with Shakespeare, a more mature mind, and less of an inclination to act cool around other people (because let's face it, reading is cool and those bitches are all missing out), I have a different perspective on Romeo and Juliet.

First of all, Romeo is still kind of ridiculous. He falls in and out of love so quickly. But his "melancholy" as we called in it class, almost like a depression is the cause of that. I won't get English-y on you and go into a character analysis for Romeo and turn this post into a analytical paper. So I'll just leave Romeo's character there.

But I will go in depth about Juliet. BECAUSE HOLY MOLY JULIET IS MY NEW FAVE EVER.

Yes she is 14. Yes she is under her father's authority. Yes her nurse takes the place of the mother-figure in the play.
Now that the background is clear, she is one strong character. She completely contrasts any of the other female characters/personas from this time period. And her character trope probably wasn't common until the mid to late-1900's. Anyway. Ignoring the fact that she was influenced by young love where things don't really make sense and the character is influenced by their feelings instead of logic, Juliet is defiant and independent.

First instance we see of this, is when her mom asks of her thoughts on marriage and Juliet responds "It is an honor I dream not of." WHAT??? She just said she doesn't want to get married to. her. mother. Her parental figure whom holds all control over Juliet unless Juliet's father is present. Her mother who plans her future marriages. Her mother who IS BASICALLY THE RULER OF THE FAMILY. Oh Juliet you defiant girl you.
Later, before her wedding night (her "special night" with Romeo) she starts her soliloquy and the whole thing is of how eager she is for the event. This is completely atypical of female characters from this period of time. It wasn't until the late 1900's, when female sexuality stopped being a taboo topic. If no one talked about it then it didn't exist. This is because it gave women some sort of power and equalized men and women (sorry for the slight feminism moment). But anyway, here's Juliet talking about sex and she has no fears, and she then takes the man's duty in their relationship by being the discusser of sex. In a Renaissance play, the female character is the one talking about sex, not Romeo the male character. Wow.

It gets better. Romeo is soooo distressed that he finds Juliet's "dead" body in the Capulet tomb and he is just smitten with the idea of death because he will meet Juliet in heaven and they can be reunited. *Swoon* [not] So he kills himself (without any inhibitions I may add) with a poison that he drinks. Dead. Then, Juliet wakes up from her not-death and she is heartbroken at seeing Romeo dead and then she has this long eloquent speech and then takes Romeo's dagger and stabs herself. SHE STABS HERSELF AND DOESN'T EVEN THINK TWICE. JULIET YOU STRONG CREATURE YOU. Wow. Like what. No hesitation no second thoughts, plunges a very sharp and deadly weapon into her chest.

I could go on and on and on and on and on about Juliet and even Shakespeare for his pre-feminism era ideas, but you're probably hoping I'll shut up and I'm still praying my professor will assign a character analysis essay prompt so I can in depth fully appreciate and analyze Juliet.

So now because I'm basically obsessed with Juliet, I'm referring to the classic play of Romeo and Juliet to Juliet and Romeo. Because she's basically the best thing to happy to me this year and she's a much better character than Romeo. Duh.

Okay sorry: for the rant, the nerdiness, the total irrelevance to you, and for the spoilers. I'm done.

Thank you William Shakespeare for Juliet Capulet.

SOP: Juliet by Joel Crouse
Hey Juliet by LMNT
  Love Story by Taylor Swift
{sorry I couldn't decide which one to put because they are all relevant and all soooooo goood.}