Romeo & Juliet: A Timeless Tale

“The most powerful love story every told.”  Or is it?  This phrase is the tagline in the trailer for recently released film adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, but I think many readers and audience members over time have questioned whether the lovers’ love is true.

Romeo & Juliet Meet
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film

The Bard’s Book Club finally tackled Shakespeare’s “timeless love story. ”  It’s easy to see why this is required reading.  The plot is understandable and the language is filled with great examples of Shakespeare’s writing.  But as one of Shakespeare’s most well-known works, it’s hard to analyze it without all of the stereotypes and preconceptions about the play.  When we went back to the text of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, there are the two questions I was most interested in: Is Romeo & Juliet’s relationship true love? and Whose fault is it anyway?

Productions of this play have taken many routes in portraying the “timeless love” of “Juliet and her Romeo.”  Some productions do portray their love as true, albeit reckless and impulsive.  Others show the lovers as angsty teenagers, a junior-high-drama-romance.  We had to remind ourselves that, taking into account the life expectancy of the time period in which the play is set, 14-year-olds are the equivalent of individuals in their mid-20s nowadays.

Overall, the text reveals that the story happens extremely fast.  Romeo & Juliet decide to get married after talking briefly at a party and then for about 10 minutes in secret with a balcony in between them, though the text does not specify the balcony.  Is this true love, lust, rebellion, or immaturity?  The lovers’ strong verse and shared lines do suggest strong passion and connection.  The text seems to support a true connection between the characters.  But how can a production justify the speed at which the lovers commit to each other?  I think that’s just the answer.  It all happens so fast, no one stops and thinks, not even the Friar.

Romeo and Juliet

Events happen at a rapid pace in this play once the lovers have made their decision.  But is there cause for such speed?  After the death of (*spoilers*) Mercutio and Tybalt, there certainly is need for urgency, but when Romeo first approaches Friar Lawrence in Act II, Scene 2, there is plenty of time for the Friar to, oh I don’t know, go speak with their parents.  Or with the Prince, who likely would have supported the union as well.  He could have convinced the young lovers to wait.  He could have spoken with them at length about their commitment.  While he does chide Romeo for his fickle inconstancy, as soon as the Friar realizes this marriage may mend the breach between the two great rival families of Verona, he agrees to proceed.

Hannah compared the Friar in Romeo and Juliet to another friar we’ve recently encountered.  Well, not a real friar.  Some parallels can be drawn between Friar Lawrence and the Duke from Measure for Measure.  Both actively deceive other characters.  Friar Lawrence convinces Lord and Lady Capulet that their daughter is dead just as the Duke deceives Isabella into thinking her beloved brother Claudio is dead.  He didn’t do a great job of guiding or guarding the children, although really they were so rash one wonders if he really had much of a chance or choice.

Juliet and Friar Lawrence
Hailee Steinfeld and Paul Giamatti in Carlo Carlei’s recent film

I think there are two important distinctions to make between Friar Lawrence and The Duke, which excuse the Friar in a way the Duke is not excused.  Firstly, Friar Lawrence has no real power.  He cannot for certain reveal his secret and make everything well.  The Duke, however, could at any time have stopped the confusion and chaos taking place in Vienna by revealing his true identity.  The Friar has no real sway or power of the characters or family, but he makes do by guiding them as he can.

The second distinction is based on circumstance.  For the Friar of Verona, time is moving fast.  Romeo feverishly murders Tybalt and the Friar must act fast to hide and help him.  Then Juliet shows up on his doorstep ready to kill herself.  In a moment’s time, the Friar must devise the plan to fake Juliet’s death and reunite the lovers.  On the other hand, the Duke of Vienna has the power to make time stop.  At any moment, he could have regained power and proceeded to set straight the corruption and confusion.  He chooses to wait and manipulate each character according to his own design.

“Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief.”
Olivia Hussey as Juliet and Leonard Whiting as Romeo in the 1968 film

Time runs out for Juliet when her father commands her to marry Paris in a day’s time.  Time betrays the lovers as Juliet’s sleeping draft wears off one second too late.  Time is short when Juliet decides to take her own life with “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief” (Act V, Scene 3).

Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous plays in the history of theatre and literature.  It is one of the greatest tragedies ever told.  It is a timeless tale of love (most likely), of conflict, of passion, and danger.

But more so, it is a timeless tale of time running out.

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