Student Edition - Perfection Learning

Generations of English teachers have advised their students thatShakespeare and his audience were not as sympathetic to the actions ofRomeo and Juliet as we are today. The play, they have said, is partly acautionary tale about the importance of obeying one’s parents. But asShakespearean scholar Cedric Watts points out, the text itself does notsupport this interpretation.The love between Romeo and Juliet is necessary to bring aboutpeace between their families. And in the speech that closes the play,Prince Escalus does not place any blame upon the young lovers.Instead, he blames their families and even assumes some responsibilityfor failing to enforce the peace. If Shakespeare had felt that Romeo andJuliet were seriously at fault, surely he would have found a character tovoice this viewpoint. Since he did not, we can only assume that, likeEscalus, he blamed their families—and more sweepingly, a concept ofmarriage that did not properly value happiness. To a greater degreethan is usually admitted, Romeo and Juliet is a play about genderpolitics.There is even an interesting trace of feminism in Shakespeare’splay. In most romantic stories of his time, a dashing hero actively woosa beautiful but passive heroine. The hero gets to behave heroically andalso to speak splendid lines as he lavishes poetry on his rather witlesslove object. But Juliet is at least Romeo’s equal as an initiator of action,and her poetry often surpasses his in beauty. Consider her breathtakingpronouncement in the balcony scene: “My bounty is as boundless asthe sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have,for both are infinite.”Juliet’s strength and assertiveness seem all the more remarkablebecause her life is so limited. Like a typical well-born Renaissance girl,she can’t even come and go as she pleases, much less roam the streetsat night as Romeo does with his pals Mercutio and Benvolio. Again andagain, we are dazzled by her determination and resourcefulness.Juliet and Her Romeo 9