Allison Henry
March 17, 2003
English 3rd Period
Romeo & Juliet

       William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is truly a moving piece of literature.  It captures the struggle between class and culture, and demonstrates an extremely accurate portrayal of young love.  It was quite an enjoyable read.

            The struggle between class and culture is represented with Romeo Montague and his love interest Juliet Capulet.  Their families really don’t like each other and so basically forbid each other from seeing one another.  Then, at a Capulet’s party, Romeo dresses up as a knight and Juliet is a fairy, and the two lock eyes through a fish tank and become “star crossed lovers.”  The struggle is they love each other but can’t be with each other because their dads can’t stand one another.

            Being a young person, I believe the play does an excellent job of capturing what it feels like to have friends and be in love.  Romeo, or as his black friend Mercutio refers to him, “Ro-MAY-O,” decides to fight for his love.  In the end, Juliet fakes her death and then Romeo thinks she is dead and kills himself, then she sees what she’s done and kills herself.  It sounds confusing, but when you read it, you’ll get a much better idea of what I’m talking about.  At any rate, this is the one part I did not find believable that young people would do in real life.  For example, Juliet had another suitor that dressed up like an astronaut at her party that was very handsome and would have made for an excellent boyfriend.  I understand that Romeo is cute, but really, would she kill herself over him in real life?  Probably not.

            Overall, though, I enjoyed Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and would recommend it to anyone young or old, because if a rose was named something other than a rose.