Today,
I would like to introduce about “Romeo
and Juliet”, by William Shakespeare. This is his work of 1595, so very old
story. Also, this is one of the most famous love story in the world. And it is
the story about life and death, happiness and sadness, and the terrible hate
between two great families. Maybe, everyone know at least this title, and so
was I. I liked this book because this bring me various kinds of feelings.
Anyway,
I explain an outline roughly. The stage is set in the 14th-century Italian
city of Verona. There, the Montague and Capulet families are repeating fight.
Romeo of the Montague family was invited by a friend and sneaked into the
masquerade party of the Capulet family. There, he meets Juliet, and they fall
in love. He noticed that the woman he fell in love with was an enemy, he
appeared in front of her, and they swore their love. After that, Romeo commits
murder, and he was permanently expelled from Verona. Juliet’s father orders her
to marry Paris. She seek help to escape from this order, and she drink a drug. After
drinking the drug, she become an almost death-like state. The next day, Romeo
reunite with Juliet, and he misunderstand and dies. Immediately after, Juliet
wakes up and sees Romeo without breath, so she also dies. At last, the two
families regretted that the struggle between the families was killed them and restored
the relationship.
Next,
I am going to talk about three parts that remained in my impression. The first
one is; Romeo said,
“And
if I have your love, they can kill me. I prefer to die than to live without
your love.”(p.13)
“they” means Juliet’s relatives. In this scene, Romeo tells Juliet how
much he love her. When
I read this part, I thought he really loved Juliet and there is no meaning in
his life without her. Also, it was great to risk death for
romance, and he has strong will.
The
second one is; Romeo said,
“Ah, dear Juliet, why are you still so lovely? Eyes, look at Juliet
for the last time! Arms, hold her for the last time! And mouth, kiss her for
the last time.” (p.48)
This is one of the sad and famous scene
in this story. After saying this phrase, he commits suicide, because he thought
Juliet was really dead. However, she just pretended to be dead. If he had
noticed that, or if she had worked up a little earlier, they might have meet
and run away. I thought the timing was bad.
The third one is; Lord Capulet said,
“Give me your hand, brother
Montague. Let’s be friends.”
(p.53)
This is the last scene. I knew the ends for the first
time, but I thought this is good ending. By Juliet’s death, her father finally
understand his daughter’s true feeling. He is a stupid father not to face his daughter
properly. This story is a very sad story from the view point of Romeo and
Juliet, but thanks to their romance, two families could have a good
relationship ultimately.
I want to recommend this book,
because everyone can image the place, and character, and enjoy. This is too
long but easy to read, so please try it. Thank you.
