I'm not going to pretend that I've read all of Shakespeare's plays because I'm not really into his kind of prose. I have, however, read this because it was a part of the English class in my sophomore year in high school.

What's funny to me is how many ignorant "lovers" liken themselves to Romeo and Juliet, which makes it clear that they don't really know the full story. They are aware that R&J are star-crossed lovers, but they aren't fully aware of the tragedy of the tale.

Juliet is 13, Romeo is a bit older. They come from warring families. They fall in love at first sight and marry in secret. Romeo accidentally kills Juliet's cousin, resulting in his banishment from Verona. Juliet is forced to marry Paris, so with the help of Friar Lawrence, she fakes her death. Poor Romeo doesn't get the memo, and believes Juliet to be truly dead. So he kills himself with poison next to her "corpse". Juliet wakes up and realizes that her true love has offed himself, so she daggers herself in order to join him in the afterlife.

Romantic? I don't think so.

This piece of literature is wonderfully poetic, but I wouldn't say I admire the characters Romeo and Juliet. They were just tragic from the get go. Romeo is deathly passionate--he kills Tybalt and Paris out of anger, and himself out of "love". That's scary. Juliet, though, barely a teenager is actually more mature and braver than Romeo.