Book Review - Classic #4 - Romeo and Juliet

Earlier this year, before my goal to read twenty classics was set, I told myself that 2009 was going to be the year that I tried new things.  One of those things was to read -  not watch, not hear about -  but read a Shakespeare play.

My parents, who have his full works on display on shelves in their living room, suggested I start with Romeo and Juliet, because it's the most familiar and would be the easiest story to get used to his language.  If this is his easiest, then I'm in trouble.

Reading Romeo and Juliet ranks only slightly easier than reading a novel in french.  I have enough background in french to recognize many verbs, most pronouns and my vocabulary is probably that of a 1st or 2nd grader, so a lot of the time, I can get the gist, if not the actual meaning.  Sort of like, "He is ....something.  Or....They went.....somewhere."   O.K.  So I don't read a lot of french (but I wish I could!) 

I understood a lot more than that of Romeo and Juliet, but probably a lot due to the fact that I've seen Baz Luhrmann's movie where they speak the dialogue set in a modern day setting.   Do you remember Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes?  I love that movie!  It's really the only movie I like Leo in.  That scene, right after he kills Tybalt, after Tybalt had killed Mercutio - I loved his raw emotion!  Oh..wait.  I'm reviewing a book.  Hold on.

See, this is what I did while I read.  I'd read, remember the scene and then understand what was going on.   I'm not trying to paint myself as stupid, but without help, whether in visual form or from someone who can give a little background or definition to some of the forgotten or unusual vocabulary, Shakespeare is hard to understand.  The edition I read had footnotes and I used them.  They definitely helped and by play's end, I felt like I had read it.  Not skimmed it, but read and understood it.  Mission accomplished!


In addition to the actual play, which isn't very long, I read a half dozen pre and post essays written by experts in the field of Shakespeare.  Covering topics such as his own biography (men are never as good as I wished they were - even Shakespeare himself), the debate about his authorship,  the source of  Romeo and Juliet, the nature of trajedies and what the stage set-up would have looked like in Shakespeare's day, I felt at the end of all my reading that I had taken a hearty class about Shakespeare.  Of course, I would much prefer the interaction  you find in a class with a teacher, but I proudly admit to being educated by reading this.  I'm better informed and now hold knowledge that I think will benefit me in life.  Shakespeare's plays aren't only entertaining, but the phrases and plot outlines are used and recreated everywhere.  For instance, did you realize The Lion King is an adaptation of Hamlet?   

As helpful as the movie adaptations are (I love Hamlet with Mel Gibson, Much Ado About Nothing with Emma Thompson and Henry V with Kenneth Branagh.   I even like a more modern retelling like 10 Things I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew)), I think toiling through the language of Shakespeare is worth the effort.  Hard to understand?  Yes.  Lacking the emotion that comes with the intended acting?  Definitely.   But sometimes, you need to put the scripture readers down and pick up the scriptures.  The stories are nice and important, but getting the spirit from the original source, along with all the text, will remind you that even four-hundred years ago, the same prejudices, ignorance, mob mentaility, rivalries, young love and  20/20 hindsight existed.  In Romeo and Juliet, he just used a different  and more extensive vocabulary to describe it all.

I think Shakespeare performed a great service by commemorating 14th and 15th century life through plays.  By doing so, he connected generations of humanity.