The last time (and the first time) that I read Romeo and Juliet all the way through was last quarter during my Shakespeare class. Like many of Shakespeare's plays, it seems to me like a lot of problems would be avoided if the characters reacted in less extreme ways to things. There never seems to be much of a passage of time between when something bad happens, and when a character in a Shakespeare play decides to resort to suicide or murder. The only time when there was a lot of hesitation in carrying out one of these acts that I can remember is in Hamlet, and that was the focus of the entire play.
Like with the other stories that I read last quarter, I came to appreciate Shakespeare more than I had in the past. The difference in the way language was used then compared to how it is used now creates a barrier for many younger readers, or at least it did for me, but I was able to appreciate it much more here in college. When I had attempted to read this and other Shakespeare stories in secondary school, it had seemed over-dramatic, and confusing, but this time I was able to see that Shakespeare was really a genius with language, and was extremely witty. I was also able to pick up on how he would play against the norms of the time, and propose challenging ideas. For example, introducing humor in tragedies.
With this play, there is usually the question of whether Romeo and Juliet were really in true love, or just puppy love that they reacted to too strongly because they were just kids. Based on modern sensibilities, I would say they were just infatuated kids, but taking into account how other Shakespeare characters reacted to similar tragedies, and how people would get married much younger in Shakespeare's time, I think it is very likely that Shakespeare intended for the characters to be seen as in true love.
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