(This rant was previously posted in 2011, it has been revised.) One of Shakespeare’s most known tragedies, Romeo and Juliet is thrust upon us in our high school composition classes and then mercilessly shoved down our throats as a love to which we should aspire. It is not romantic. Romeo at Juliet's Deathbed , Henry Fuseli , 1809 It’s a story about two children who married on a whim and without their parent’s consent. They barely knew each other and died because they weren’t able to step back and think for half a second. It is, at its heart, an example of the ways in which parents fail their children. Romeo is an inconstant fool. He begins the play lovesick over Rosaline and within an act is mooning over Juliet. Juliet isn’t much better. She meets a boy at a party and is suddenly head over heels for him and vowing her love on a balcony (yes, you know the one). So, a fickle 15 year old boy and a cripplingly naïve 13 year old girl agree to get married in secret, having know
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