A Tragically Stupid Love Story

     I first read Romeo and Juliet when I was in eight grade and I hated it. The words were beautiful, but the plot made me want to rip my hair out. Romeo and Juliet didn't even know each other. They met once and I use the word met loosely (looking into someone's eyes isn't really meeting them, is it). Romeo was in love with a different girl the same day he met Juliet. The kid- and I mean kid- doesn't even know what love is. Lust combined with the appeal of forbidden love only fueled their hormone- addled brains into romanticizing the little time that they had with each other- no, looked at each other. They speak beautifully, but think idiotically.  
     Their story is a tragedy. Neither of them had to die, but both were quick to be self- sacrificing. If Shakespeare was looking to create a melodrama, he definitely reached his goal. But I relent, even if it wasn't real love, they both thought it was. The ending is a bitter pill to swallow. The reader can't help but care what happens to the lovesick (lustsick?) idiots. It's tragic not only because of their death, but the fact that they didn't have to die. They were tragically stupid and stupidly hopeful. I hated their story, but I also fell in love with it. These sentiments haven't changed after reading the first three scenes. 
     When we first meet Romeo, he's depressed. His love, Rosaline, has decided to stay chaste. He's overcome with grief. His 'love' for her was all encompassing. He loves love. He describes it as a thing of beauty, but also a thing that causes great pain: "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;  Being purged , a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, A choking gall, and a preserving sweet." It drives him mad, but he craves it. He wants more than an attraction, but all he seems to have are strong, but fleeting ones. He's melodramatic. When he talks of how he has lost Rosaline, he says he has also lost himself: "Tut, I have lost myself. I am not here. This is not Romeo. He’s some other where." His parents, at least our first impression of his parents, is that they're not free thinkers. They have held a decades long grudge and don't look to be letting go of it anytime soon. Romeo is wide- eyed and innocent in his intentions. He expects love and romance. He jumps into love unrepentantly, baring himself to pain he knows he might experience. He longs for something more.
     Juliet displays the same wide-eyed innocence. She displays a thoughtfulness that neither of her power-driven parents possess, but she is less concerned with love than Romeo. She hasn't given much thought marriage or finding a husband-  "It is an honor that I dream not of."-, but respects the requests of her parents to do so:  "I’ll look to like, if looking liking move . But no more deep will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly." She respects the plans her parents have laid out for her, but it's not what she wants. She wants freedom but has little hope of attaining it.
Romeo will give her that hope, and in turn, Juliet will give him all- encompassing love. 

Images taken from Google Images